Okay, I am on motherboard number 3 from ECS (K7S5A). I think they are complete and utter junk at this point. The first two came DOA (I think
).
The last I was ultra-ultra cautious. I wanted to do the bare minimum to get it to post to see if it was alive. I didn't even screw it in, I just hooked up the RAM, Power switch, Power, and Vid card. Posted fine. I took out the CPU to put arctic silver on it. Posted fine. Now, I started to screw it in to the case (Enermax). On the third screw, the screwdriver, a smallish one, fell into the motherboard. Its been de-magnetized. I hit the side of the case and the bottom end of the mobo at the same time, and a capacitor bent about a millimeter. Now it will not post. When I screwed it in, I didn't screw any of them too tight. I put plastic washers that came with the Enermax case on the screws. The screw holes are actually lined in metal. Is it possible I shorted it out?
Is ECS just ultra-sensative? I have worked with computer components in the past, installing video cards, RAM, Video RAM (on an old Matrox Mystique, wow, 6MB!!!), sound cards, CD-ROM drives, hard drives, floppy drives so many times I cant even count. I even put together a Pentium about 5 years ago. I have never lost a single part to static. I was working on a tile floor. The video card and RAM are still fine. I wouldn't think its static. But obviously, I am doing something very wrong.
On a side note, I am glad that I trie dto post it after each step. Now I know (at least I think I do) where I messed up.
Are there other boards that may be less sensative? Are there special screws I should use to screw in the mobo, such as nylon?
Has anyone ever had this problem before? Although I have built systems in the past and am a software engineer, I consider myself completely green in building computers at this point, but able to learn. Thank you for any help 
). The last I was ultra-ultra cautious. I wanted to do the bare minimum to get it to post to see if it was alive. I didn't even screw it in, I just hooked up the RAM, Power switch, Power, and Vid card. Posted fine. I took out the CPU to put arctic silver on it. Posted fine. Now, I started to screw it in to the case (Enermax). On the third screw, the screwdriver, a smallish one, fell into the motherboard. Its been de-magnetized. I hit the side of the case and the bottom end of the mobo at the same time, and a capacitor bent about a millimeter. Now it will not post. When I screwed it in, I didn't screw any of them too tight. I put plastic washers that came with the Enermax case on the screws. The screw holes are actually lined in metal. Is it possible I shorted it out?
Is ECS just ultra-sensative? I have worked with computer components in the past, installing video cards, RAM, Video RAM (on an old Matrox Mystique, wow, 6MB!!!), sound cards, CD-ROM drives, hard drives, floppy drives so many times I cant even count. I even put together a Pentium about 5 years ago. I have never lost a single part to static. I was working on a tile floor. The video card and RAM are still fine. I wouldn't think its static. But obviously, I am doing something very wrong.
On a side note, I am glad that I trie dto post it after each step. Now I know (at least I think I do) where I messed up.
Are there other boards that may be less sensative? Are there special screws I should use to screw in the mobo, such as nylon?
Has anyone ever had this problem before? Although I have built systems in the past and am a software engineer, I consider myself completely green in building computers at this point, but able to learn. Thank you for any help
