New Athlon XP motherboard?

[Bloodwych]

Definitely seems like the motherboard.

Sounds like you've ruled out many causes. The leaky caps were a common issue of that era of boards and if they do look bad the motherboard needs replacing regardless as it's just a matter of time before they fail, even if it's not the current issue.

I know it sounds silly, but some motherboards won't post if the CMOS battery is dead. Most will and just won't save the settings and lose time, so I doubt it's that but I just thought I'd bring it up.

mATX boards fit ATX standoffs fine - they just don't use the bottom set.

Can't think of where you'd get new Socket A boards from. Some manufacturers do refurbished units, but it would probably be cheaper grabbing something off ebay as you've mentioned.

Had a quick look on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=250170205979

New and 100% tested. DDR 333 will work fine at 266. Need to check manufacturers website for CPU compatibility if it's a fast Athlon XP.

Some second hand ones ending soon:

http://computers.search-desc.ebay.co...refinesearchZ1