I could hear my et9000 HDD constantly accessing whist the box was on standby, so i restarted the box and it went down hill from there.
When plugged in, the centre light of the box would flash 3 times and that was it.. no boot, nothing.
The fault is a cap on the PSU failing which needs to be replaced. Cheapest place is Ebay (£2) and no.. Maplins do not sell the correct value.
The value youll need is 4700uF 10V 105c and is available from here> EBay item number: 161256444847
Solder out old one and replace with new making sure of the correct polarisation.
Info on original one>
Code:
http://www.elektronik.ropla.eu/en/magazyn/magazyn/?ic=SMY0210
If your box is also a few years old and has the same failure characteristics, then this is where i would look.