hi all i didnt expect to return to pchelp forum but i have lol
my old faithfull a system built desktop completely died the other
week,but a couple of weeks earlier before dying,it been havin a problem
starting up it used to make clunking sounds when starting up(i use this desktop as a server for my lappy and multimedia box),anyway before the final days of dying the pc was frozed,ie couldnt
log in,so i rebooted by pressing the reset button underneath the main power switch,still nothing happened so i turned it of from the mains,left it
about 10 mins to cool down etc etc,started it up the post screen said it
never reckonised the drives (ive 2 an 80gig which had xp pro on,the other drive was a storage 250 gig drive),then it was a blank screen,so i tried again still said same not seeing the drives then a blank screen,but i noticed the hdd was clicking,so i rebooted again then nothing on screen,no post screen beeps just a blank screen and hdd clicking,so i thought it was the hdd with xp pro on had gone,so i replaced the 80 gig
drive with a 250 gig hdd,made sure the jumper was set right,cable firmly pushed in,even cleaned all the dust up around the cpu,ram,psu,mobo,made sure cpu was firmly seated,turned the pc on, no post screen,monitor saying no signal,power is lightning the pc up ie display is lit up,fans are spinning,dvd drive lites up,it wont boot from a xp disc nor a floppy boot disc no post screen nothing.
after a bit of searching (about 5 hours or more lol) i seemed to think it could be the psu or the cpu.....any ideas please

destop about 4 years old
asrock mobo
1.6 ghz cpu ?? (i cant remember of hand)
778 gig of ram
it had a 80 gig maxtor hdd but swapped with a 250 gig hitachi hdd (ide)
xp pro was on the 80 gig drive but nothing on the 250 gig
dvd rom
dvd rw
floppy disc drive

So, the hdds(test em on other comp?), dvds, and floppy are good. Ram, mobo, and psu are in question. I think it's really unlikely that the cpu would die just like that, but I've no experience with dying cpus. This leaves us with mobo and psu. Since you think it's cpu/psu and I think it's mobo/psu, that means it's psu

I bet the psu was barely pumping enough power through to your hdd and so it started clunking, then when it finally failed, so did everything else that required the power from the psu.