well i tried using my old card that i was using in my old motherboard and still no luck. same thing happened.

I woke up this morning and decided to give in another go before I went to work. I noticed that the CPU was not in all the way, one of the prongs on it was slightly bent, which was keeping it from making a smooth connection, and part of it was not completely set into the AM2 slot on the motherboard. I was able to straighten out the prong without breaking it off (WHEW! that was like brain surgery! Broke a sweat trying to be gentle!). Unfortunately after I got that set in there work was calling so I havn't been back to my house to mess with it anymore. I'm sitting here at working looking at ASUS' website, reading forums, and I have read 2 forums related to this motherboard regarding people who have ordered it, only to find out it was DOA(dead on arrival). I'm hoping I won't have to go through the same process of calling and returning and reordering a new motherboard. I have waited for about a week for this one to get here! I'm ready for some gaming!

If you substituted the graphics out and it still happened then there is a strong possibility that you have a bad motherboard. Just to be on the safe side..see if the new graphics will install in another computer. That will eliminate the possibility that the graphics might be bad as well!

The bent pins on the CPU could still be a problem as it could have damaged the chip when it powered up!