Tonight half my town had a power-outage, and all is well now. Well, almost all...my PC refuses to turn on all of a sudden. I hit the power-button, but it won't react. I also tried to remove and reinsert the network cable, which usually turns the PC on, nothing...
Which causes me to believe something's been fried.
Now, before I take it apart and try each part individually in every single configuration known to man, I'll ask you what you think is most likely to get fried during a power-outage...

By the way, if it matters, the PC was turned on when the power went away.

Nothing is very likely to be fried during a power outage (unless it was caused by a lightening strike that took out a transformer or something similar..but then things like you TV and microwave would be toast too)....it is when things come back on that most problems occur.

In that case the most likely component would be the power supply.

I habe that happen whenever the power goes out when the computer is on. Give it a couple hours to 2 days and it will turn back on. (you do have to press power though.)

Yup, mjc, that's it alright, just took the side off of my new and old PC, dragged the power-cable from the old PC to the mobo of the new, and suddenly it played another game...

Thanks, killercow, you just saved me from ordering a new power supply

You could use a copy of my diagnostic flowcharts.
Send me a personal message requesting them [zipped or not] and giving an e-mail address to send them to.

Here’s one route through them.

STARTUP
1. Is the PC dead? Yes. Go to the SYSTEM chart.

SYSTEM
1. The PC is dead. Does the fan run? No.
2. Are the PSU voltages correct? If yes then the fan in the PSU is faulty.
3. If the PSU voltages are not correct then disconnect all peripheral’s adaptors and the system board.
4. Does the fan now run? If not the power supply is faulty. Go to the POWER SUPPLY chart.
5. If the fan does run then:
6. Re-connect the system board. If the fan now does not run then the system board is faulty.
7. If the fan now DOES run then:
8. Re-connect one device.
9. Does the fan now run? If not this last device connected is faulty.
10. If it does run, then:
11. Are all devices connected? If they are then re-test the system.
12. If they are not all connected then repeat from step 8 until all devices are tested, all faulty are excluded, all ok are included then re-test the system.

POWER SUPPLY
1. The PC appears dead with no fans & no lights.
2. Is the mains power supply ok? If not fix it.
3. If it is ok then check the mains lead from the wall socket to the PC.
4. Is it faulty? If it is then fix it or replace it.
5. If it’s not faulty then:
6. Short the switch connections on the motherboard.
7. Does the PC now run? If it does then the switch is faulty. Replace it.
8. If the PC does not run then:
9. Remove the motherboard power connector & short the green & black wires.
10. Does the PSU fan now run? If it does you have a motherboard fault. Replace the motherboard or leave the short in place and use the board.
11. If the fan does not run then your PSU is faulty. Replace it with a good one and re-test.

OOPS, NOT QUICK ENOUGH!

Originally posted by killercow
Give it a couple hours to 2 days and it will turn back on.
Are you sure? Beginning to be a while now...

that's what happened when it happened to me. Just went to school came back and turned it on. Try plugging it in another power outlet.

Done. Power outlet and cable are not flawed, the power supply is...if it's not OK tomorrow I'm ordering a new...they are relatively cheap anyways...

Good Idea

When you smell burning, the chances of that power supply rising from the dead in a couple of days is pretty small... I would go ahead and order that new one. However, be careful about ordering a cheap one. The cheap ones are often not even worth the cheap price you pay. You are better off paying a couple of extra bucks now than having to buy another one later. Check out this INFO (http://members.shaw.ca/need4speed/Power%20Supply%20Choices.htm) for details about what to look for and this ARTICLE (http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html) can give you an idea of how brands compare.