PSU or Motherboard ?

[Fro]

I have a problem with my PC: I was using it yesterday, then it just died out of the blue. The PSU made weird tapping sounds for a few weeks now. I've wanted to buy a new one anyway, because it's a cheapo 450W Huntkey that I got with the PC when I bought it 2nd hand in November, but I don't have enough money at the moment to buy a new PSU and a 2nd hand motherboard.

When I press the power button, the circle of my xbox remote lights up for a split second and the CPU fan spins a half revolution. I had a similar thing happen a few times where the fan would spin a bit more and my LED strip would go on then off, which isn't happening now. Do you think it's the PSU or motherboard? I don't have any other components to troubleshoot them.

If I buy a motherboard I'll look to get a decent one. The H81 chipset 'board I have now is very bare when it comes to features. So, it will be around the R700 - R1 000.

 

[ponder]

Probably psu but you will have to test to be sure.

 

[sajunky]

Disconnect all power connectors from the motherboard, but leave power plugs connected to the hard drive and optical drive (if present). Look at the ATX 24-pin connector and locate green wire pin. Short this pin to the one of the black wire pins. PSU should start and you should heard hard drive rotating noise as long as the above pins are kept shorted.