This is going to sound unbelievable but tonight only 2 days after going through my issues with 2 other ASUS motherboards (http://computing.net/hardware/wwwboard/forum/11782.html) I still went out and bought another ASUS (A7N8X) motherboard, thinking that it is no way possible for this exact some problem to happen but it did. I put the processor in the MOBO and the heat sink and the Case connectors and what do you know…the same freaking problem! I have come to the solution, stay away from ASUS motherboards!!! Unless someone can tell me what I am doing wrong.. FYI I took the same processor and heat sink and put it in a Gigabyte board and the BIOS beeps came through fine!!

I think I know what your problem is. Weird, the same exact thing happend to me believe it or not. You know what the problem was? I had too many stand off on the case, which didn't have any screws to ground them. What I mean is that I believe the A7N8X has 9 holes for screws. Well someone told me it would be fine to put in extra stand offs in the case for added motherboard support when working on it (so the mobo doesn't bend so much). Well because the screw wasn't in some of the stand offs to ground them, it fried two of my A7N8X's in a row. I then realized that what I did. Lemme know if this is what happend to you.

Amazing, I think you are 100% right...I did add 3 stand off screws to secure the board more..Wow I would have never thought, but what do I do about it now? I tried clearing the CMOS and using another Case to start it so I am assuming the board is all ready shut. Do I take out the 3 stand offs and try again with a new motherboard or is there a way to fix my existing MOBO?

No I'm sorry but you fried your board. Just return your mobo and let them know it's DEFECTIVE, and TAKE THE EXTRA STAND OFFS OUT. Also I would go with the A7N8X Deluxe, and use two sticks of memory and put them in slots 1 and 3 to take advantage of duel channel. Buy PC2700 RAM so it runs in sync with your CPU bus speed.

Just to make sure I am correct here (I am a little Paranoid ) because I added 3 of these pieces (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=www.dansdata.com/images/llpc60/standoff320.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dansdata.com/pc60.htm&h=234&w=320&prev=/images%3Fq%3DStandOffs%2BMotherboard%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN) it caused the motherboard to fry? If so you are suggesting that I remove these three standoffs and just use the screws in the ones that are provided only and I should be cool on the next board?
If so thanks a million, who would have ever thought someone would have had the same dam problem.

And by the way nice web site.

Peace and thanks again!

OK I'm a little confused now, I don't know what that picture is of. Listen: Just BE SURE to ONLY put in stand offs in the case that will MATCH UP with the HOLES in the MOTHERBOARD. I THINK the mobo has three holes on the top, three in the middle, and three on the bottom. So ONLY put nine stand offs in the case, NO EXTRAS. And yes, if you have an extra stand off, and no cooresponding hole in the mobo so a screw can ground it, then your motherboard will fry. If you want more help add me to MSN IM.

always a good idea to start with the mobo outside the case. The psu connector supplies the ground.

i got a mb from asus, and it arrived not wrapped in antistatic bag. it was dead, and i sent it back. i have now got a abit sg-71, and am very pleased with it. highly recommended.