I fried my motherboard -- what now?

[MattJNew]

Hi everyone,

This is the first time I've ever built a computer, and I failed miserably.
When I attached my Gigabyte GA-EP45-UP motherboard to my case, I didn't use the stand-offs because there was nothing in the Gigabyte manual about them. When I turned my computer on, I just heard a "pop" and I saw some smoke coming from my motherboard.

My question is I'm not sure where to go from here. Can you tell me how much damage I have done? My RAM, video card, and CPU were all connected to the motherboard. Are they fried too, or is there any way to tell? Did I hurt my power supply too?

 

[o1die]

People screw up sometimes. It's probably better to limit your $$ on a first build. To test, I would start out with a newegg open box board and try it out of the case on a non conductive surface, everything but the optical and hardrives connected. They have some for about $38 shipped if you're using ddr2. Check Tuesday-Thursday nights.