After wrongly changing the memory settings in the BIOS, I now can't boot the machine at all. I've cleared the BIOS by touching the contacts on the motheboard (after removing the power and battery), but still no good. The machine starts up, hard disks spin and fans start, then beeps, then turns off. Any idea what might be broken? Corrupt BIOS? Permanently damaged memory?

Different BIOS have different beep codes (Yes, those "beeps" can actually mean something). Go here: http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/beep/index-i.htm

i hav an A7V too, ahh those Tbird overclocking days... newyas to the point... I think depending on what settings ur talking about, may or maynot hav damaged ur RAM... personally i don't c how ram can be damaged... other than when it was shipped out. another thing u can DO is goto the asus wbesite (its a bloody slow one.. 4 me neways) and pickup a set of the new bios and flash program, u never know those new bios can really do some good :D its always worth a try...

heh how could he flash the bios if he can't even pass post at all?? the machine will turn off on its own.. first of all, can you tell me what settings did you change in the bios that cause your computer not to boot up at all anymore?? you try to overclock it or change the timing for the ram? what you could do is take out all of the ram from your computer and put it back in see if it works

oops.. misread it, u know u could also borrow ur mates rams or something and put it in and see if it boots up... eliminate the possiblility. Or if u can't figure it maybe u can take the m/b back to the shop and ask for a replacement if u still got the guarantee on it :D

certain bios versions have fan speed check enabled in the default bios settings witch makes the board shut down as soon as it starts up.It is a common problem with this board.Try a new cpu fan first.When you try to run this board with settings it does not like it defauts to a failsafe mode,thus enabeling this setting