How do I know if I fried my Arduino Uno? - SMD and DIP

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

Hey folks,

So I recently purchased my first Arduino (both an SMD and ATmega328). As a newbie what kinds of things should I DO/NOT do to keep my Arduino alive? And, what are some indications that my Arduino is fried? Is it that in most cases when an Arduino is fried, it doesn't turn on?

This would help me greatly, thanks in advance.

2

One thing that fries lots of Arduinos is drawing too much current from a I/O pin.
Another is shorting a output pin to 5V or ground.
Never power servos from the Arduino.
Keep voltages higher than 5V isolated. No pullups to 12V!
A good sign that a arduino is dead is uploading failing.