Juat to check the obvious, you do have the leads in the right sockets on the DMM. You've not got them in the current (amps) sockets? Most DMMs have one common socket (black lead goes in here), one active socket for voltage and resistance (you want to put the red lead here for the measurements you're doing) and one or more sockets for current (red lead goes into those for current measurements). There is normally a low-value (<1 ohm) shunt resistor between each of the current sockets and the common socket. And this is not switched by the range switch (so as to avoid having to be able to switch high currents on said swtich). So if you've got the red lead in a 'current' socket and then try to do a voltage measurement, you effectively short-circuit the supply you're measuring. This may blow a fuse in the DMM, trip the overcurrent circuit of the PSU, or whatever. Once I blew an expensive power transistor by doing this (I'd been measuring current, wanted to check a voltage, and forgot to move the leads...) Some FLuke meters beep if there's a plug in the 'current' socket and the range switch is set to a voltage (or resistance?) setting. -tony