What's more likely to be dead - CPU or motherboard?

[NQurious]

I also think mobo is likely candidate, but not worth the money to replace

Maybe, maybe not - cost me $250 or so to have motherboard replaced, but it was a $3800 machine with a close to $4400 current replacement cost, so for me it well worth the cost. I'll always risk $250 to Make $4400

 

[Scataphagos]

Maybe, maybe not - cost me $250 or so to have motherboard replaced, but it was a $3800 machine with a close to $4400 current replacement cost, so for me it well worth the cost. I'll always risk $250 to Make $4400

OP's 10-yr old workstation likely worth ~$100 if working. (I bought an old T3500 on eBay a couple of years ago, likely same vintage as OP's, for $75 including ship.) Not worth replacing mobo.... not to mention the old technology.

 

[Turveyd]

My Core 2 Duo's got to getting upto 10years and will fail 1 day been over clocked since day 1 so amazed it's lasted this long.

Got a 2nd Computer Game Spec, but can't be arsed to transfer everything, so 1 for work 1 for games.

I'd say Chip gone as no beeps, once they over heat, new paste won't fix.

Try pulling the ram and any other slot out and cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser / rubber.

 

[ETJ]

Memory sticks are the most common failure at our shop.

 

[JSOP]

I have a 10-year old HP workstation, worked great until it would not start up. The power came on the shell's button for 2 seconds, turned off, then shell button lit up again, and fans turned on. But computer did not boot up, no BIOS or anything. I got a new power supply and hard drive, but same thing happened.

The last 2 components to try are the motherboard and CPU. If you were to guess, which one is more likely to need replacing?

I'll plan to replace all the components (PSU, HDD, CPU, mobo) eventually, so it is not a critical question. I am just interested in guessing which part actually is necessary to replace, and only spend money on that for now.

If you're concerned -- I got a new computer, and hooked up drive recovery kit to the old HDD. I was able to retrieve old files off it, so old data is not lost.

It's most likely the motherboard especially if you can't even get to the BIOS.