Is this a harddrive issue?

Its not a PSU issue. I had the exact same problem you are describing. It is a hard drive issue. If it was a PSU issue there would be a beep. Get a new hard drive and you will be good to go.

PSU issues rarely beep. The only real way to eliminate a PSU problem is to try a different one. For all we know a 12v rail could have died so there isn't enough power to give video to the screen. I have seen this be a PSU many times in the field. Also remember, age means nothing when it comes to if a part works or not. Some don't work strait from the factory, others die in a few minutes, others weeks, others years. It's luck.

I think AR is right on the ball with suspects. The only thing that we have crossed off the list of possibilities is the HDD. Look at Motherboard, RAM, and PSU as the most likely causes.

The motherboard may have physical signs of failure. Look at all the capacitors on it (they look like real small soup cans), if they are bulging at the top, blown open or leaking your motherboard is bad.
 
the HDD? He also unplugged and reconnected the PSU and that made no difference. I don't know what the problem is for sure but I am making sure not to rule out anything. I am trying to help him as much as possible.
 
The only real way to eliminate a PSU problem is to try a different one. For all we know a 12v rail could have died so there isn't enough power to give video to the screen.

Yeah, I had that happen to me a while ago, wasn't enough power to run the GPU.
 
the HDD? He also unplugged and reconnected the PSU and that made no difference. I don't know what the problem is for sure but I am making sure not to rule out anything. I am trying to help him as much as possible.

Unplugging and re-plugging a PSU will do nothing if it's flaky. But booting up without the HDD (which he says he did) completly rules the HDD out as the cause of the problem.
 
Let me explain this to you jarlmaster. If the HDD was causing the no boot condition, the system will at least post to the BIOS if the HDD is disconnected from the computer. A computer only needs a working video card, CPU and memory installed on the motherboard to post.
 
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