here is my system specs:

Celeron D 340 2.93ghz (s478)
vantec tmd hsf
2x512 ddr400 ram
onboard Intel crap video
80gb ata100 seagate HDD
40gb Maxtor drive
sony dvd burner (forget the name)
500watt psu

Now, this system is 2 days old. I put it together orginally with a 350watt just so I can install windows. everything ran fine until today. My friend was installing a cheap ati 9000 video card. When he restarted the pc after the driver install, the resolution was set to 16 colors and 640x480. He set the resoultion to 1024x768 and rebooted again. this time it didn't want to boot!

I figured it was the psu since 350watt is too little for the system, so I bought a 500watt from my local pc store. We tested that out and still the computer will not boot at all! i was so mad that I brought my computer, my original 350watt and the new 500watt back to the store. I asked if they could test it.

Well..... the tech took the board out of the case and hooked his psu. guess what it didnt boot! he tested all 3 psu with a tested and noticed that all 3 was fried, the 5v rails were blown. i got a replacement for the 500watt, and the board is fubar so the tech says.

Has this ever happened to anyone? the board breaking the power supply? I thought it was the other way around. what could have caused this? sorry for the long post.

Coincidentally, I've just been reading up on PSU testers. Apparently, new PSU connectors sometimes don't carry a signal on the 5V wire because new motherboards don't use it. So a PSU tester might report a "fault" on the 5v signal when, in fact, it's not supposed to have anything coming down that wire. I wonder if the tech knows that. Don't take that as gospel but it's what I've just read!

ok thanks, i didn't know that either. either way I rma'd the board. Well the psu didn't work after so I'm still guessing its the end of its life.