Computer Q: Powersupply frying system?

Factual Questions
1

Recently, I ordered parts for a computer and, when they all arrived, giddily began piecing them together.

I hooked up the motherboard, put in the RAM, etc. When every essential piece was in, I turned it on. It booted! Well, it started to. I got the beginning of the POST (listed CPU, counted RAM) then a couple seconds later it went to a blank screen … and that’s it.

I tried all sorts of things, but to make a long story short: either the motherboard or the CPU (or both) had suddenly died. (System will not boot. CPU fan spins, so the system is getting power.)

I’ve gotten parts dead on arrival before, but I’ve never gotten something that works for a few seconds then dies. I was very careful about static, and made sure to ground myself before touching anything. I triple checked the jumper settings on the motherboard. I tried using only one stick of RAM, then tried the other, then tried the other RAM slot just in case. While it’s possible that the RAM is the culprit, I find it unlikely that both sticks would die simultaneously. I’ve put computers together from parts successfully before, and I was more careful than usual this time. I don’t believe that I caused the death of the part(s) through my own negligence.

Then I thought - what if the powersupply was bad, and fried the motherboard / cpu? (I’ve had power supplies go bad before, but not brand new ones. Moreover, when they’ve gone bad in the past I’ve had some clue beforehand - a very unstable and crash-prone system, for example. But it’s never just completely fried anything.)

So my question is:
How likely is it that my powersupply was the culprit? Is it common (or at least not unheard of) for a brand new powersupply to hose a system like that? Also, is there any way of testing the powersupply to see if it’s putting out the proper voltage or whatever?

Motherboard was a cheapie:
Syntax SV266AD AMD DDR
CPU:
Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67Ghz)
Power supply:
TigerPro 350 Watt

2

Not very, the most likely fault in a power supply is to simply not give any power, not to supply too high a voltage.

Yes, do you have access to a multimeter? The output voltages of a PC power supply are not dangerous, just test the voltages between the chassis and the contacts of the power connector strip.

3

It’s not quite that simple. A power supply almost always requires an attached load for operation. You’ll have to have a drive or two connected to the supply before it puts out power. A supply can also be damaged if it’s powered up without a load.

4

i once had a psu that vaguely worked. the problem was the pins in the motherboard connector. one wasnt properly attached inside the plug. i think it was making intermittent contact with the socket.
although by the time i’d figured this out the psu didnt work at all.

5

This probably isn’t an issue since you’re building from scratch, but be aware that Dell used a non-standard ATX connection for a period of time. If you try to mix one of their non-standard PSUs with a standard MB or vice versa, you’ll fry both. I smoked a good machine because it never occurred to me that Dell would tinker with so basic a standard. I’d expect that the PSU connectors you’ve got are standard, but it might be worth checking since I expected the same thing from Dell.