My Motherboard was Smoked -- What should I do?

[MattJNew]

I tried to build my first machine from scratch and I failed very badly. I didn't know I was supposed to install stand-offs on between the motherboard and the case, and when I turned on the power, smoke came up from the motherboard. I had my video card, RAM, and CPU attached, and power-supply attached, and now I'm not sure if any of them work. I'm not even sure how to tell if they work. The components were pretty expensive, and now I'm not sure where to pick up.

I'm an older gentlemen with not much experience with building computers, and the only thing I have ever done is hook up a barebones system from newegg. I would really like to learn how to build a computer from scratch. Do you think it's best perhaps to start again with a very cheap system? If so, do you know of a parts list for a very cheap motherboard, cpu, etc. On the other hand, do you think I should just try replacing this motherboard and starting again with my current parts? The problem is I'm not sure what parts are fried. This is what I purchased:
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (dual-core)
Crucial 4096MB (4GB) PC8500 DDR2
eVGA Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB DDR3 PCI-E
Western Digital 640GB 7200rpm SATA

Any advice from you would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Proximon]

I'm sorry you ran into troubles. The checklist at the top of the forum is a great thing to read prior to building, that will help you avoid common mistakes.

Also, at the end of my guide, also stickied at the top of the forum, are links to various guides.

You can RMA your board, or even return it to the vendor for exchange. that would be the first place to start.

 

[skora]

Youtube is a good place for some visual guides too on building.

I wouldn't abandon your other parts just yet. Getting a new mobo would be a good start. Since you're running nVidia GPU, You only need 1 PCIe x16 slot. Look at one of the top Gigabyte P45 boards. Save you a few bucks over the one you had if the RMA process doesn't pan out.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2%2050001314%2040000280%20107172615%201071740132&name=Intel%20P45&SpeTabStoreType=1&ActiveSearchResult=True

 

[jsc]

Yes. A UD3L would save you $40 if you need to buy another board.

 

[jay2tall]

Like said above. I would check out the sticky's in the forums, they offer alot of information for beginners. I would start with trying to RMA your motherboard, I would leave the part out of the description were you didn't install the standoffs. If these parts are from Newegg, they are pretty good about RMA's. I always call them and they've always offered return shipping.

You can always work off this thread when you get the mobo back. Alot of times the mobo is the thing to smoke, your other component "might" have survived. Sounds like you just shorted the mobo.