I recently purchased a Galileo board from Fry's in Tempe, AZ.
All the things that rmm200 said were suppose to happen did happen on my board.
I powered up the 5v with the wall adaptor, plugged in the microUSB-b to my PC, and the LEDs lit up.
I updated the firmware and even ran the Blink example.
With everything apparently working I found that I could not just shut down the program so I pulled the microUSB-b and then the 5v plug and then set it all aside.
Several hours later I plugged in the 5v plug but the LED did not light up.
I looked at the 5v with a volt meter and found 0v at the plug.
I pulled the 5v plug and checked it with a 100 ohm load.
It measured 5v.
From my point of view the board some how got shorted out.
From the responses that I have read, it seams that the firmware is a typical culprit.
As far as I know, the firmware should not be able to brick the whole board and even if it could, there is no reflashing a board that has no power.
I returned the board to Fry's for a full refund, no questions asked.
I want to get another board but I am reluctant too untill I hear from the community that this is not a recurring issue.
From what I have been reading, it seams to me that it might be a good idea to cut the 5 volt line in the microUSB-b cable. At least that would stop the out of order power up. Considering that the wall adaptor is spec'd at 3 amps and most PC's won't do that on the USB line, it sounds like the board would be starving if run from the USB anyway.
Regards, Sundevil1