Question Motherboard "just stopped"

Hi,
My motherboard has ceased to fulfill its purpose. I have tested all components, such as ram, PSU, CPU etc in the appropriate ways, as well as tried to reset the CMOS both by removing the battery and using jumpers (although it doesn't really matter what method anyway). The problem is, I was booting into a Linux Mint live DVD, and it just sorta stopped while it was loading. I left it for an adequate amount of time, then turned the PC off. However, when I turned it back on, it span up the fans and DVD drive for a moment, then turned itself off. It continues to do this, but sometimes just stays with the fans blowing a cool breeze through the room. It should be noted that when it turns itself off, it is the point where, when it used to work, the fans would stop, start again and I'd get the POST beeps and it would load.
I did have Windows 10 running the morning this happened. However, I was trying to install Linux Mint onto a new HDD that I have now discovered to be faulty (it wasn't recognised in another PC, so I tried to use it in the PC that is now broken). I'm not sure why it stopped when loading Linux ... It wasn't the install process, but simply booting from a live CD. Once again, all individual components are still working fine apart from Motherboard and that faulty HDD. I just cannot see how a HDD could break the motherboard, or simply loading an OS for that matter.
All help is appreciated, I'm well and truly stuck here.
Conan
 
I understand that, but up until now there has been absolutely no problems. Plus I only bought that motherboard around 6 months ago but it was unused, sure it's old, but it was all good. I only got it because it was cheap. Up until the day it froze (yesterday), it was very stable (didn't crash once) and for day to day use it was more than capable. Also, visual inspection shows no damage, capacitors are all good, no blow parts etc. I would hate to say goodbye to it.
 
According to your other thread, you have verified that the PSU is functioning properly....?

Do keep in mind that, there is the potential that the motherboard was manufactured long ago and stored since that time....with the capacitors slowly drying-out the entire time--and storage environment makes a huge difference in the actual fitness for operation by the time you received it. On such a purchase, my instant reaction would have been to summarily replace all the capacitors before putting the board into service.

If you have tested and verified that everything else works, I'm afraid that you are probably looking at a MB that just never had a chance at life; and, while you may be able to replace the capacitors at this stage of the game, I'm not certain that you wouldn't be wasting your money and time to do it.

Honestly, I am surprised that it was able to run W10--particularly on 4GB of RAM......I'm willing to bet that it was pretty slow.
 
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Yes the PSU is working fine. As for the RAM, yes 4GB is small, but actually, for day to day YouTube, browsing, and the occasional gaming (on games of the same era as the PC components) it is actually very good. Many reputable brand pre-builts still have 4GB, although typically ddr3/4 now. I don't have the knowledge to replace capacitors... So maybe it is game over after all. I will give it a go with a different CPU again over the weekend, just incase, but anyway, thanks for your help.
 
Ok well the 'faulty' HDD I talked about is actually fine, it's SATA 3, which doesn't appear to be compatible with my SATA 1 PC. It's fine though because I bought it from Cex for £4 incl postage, but it's a SATA III 7.2K so I can probably make a profit if I sell it on through eBay hehe.
Anyways, I tried the CPU on my 'backup' pc and it's working fine. I think I have now confirmed that I have a dead motherboard. It's a shame really. Cheers for the help guys.