Transient Power Confuses Computer User

I just got a call at work from my mother. Her power just went out, and now her computer doesn’t power up. The monitor and printer have power lights on. The router’s still up, I can ping it. She has power. Her computer just made a grunty spluttering noise (fan? drives?) when she hit the power button the first time, then nothing but silence. The power supply might have gotten toasted by a spike on the line. Or it could be the board. This is not going to make for a pleasent night.

Yup, the PSU was dead. Tried it with another working machine, ziltch. It’s possible that the motherboard is dead too, I can’t tell right now. Matt is going to ferry over a spare 250w powersupply tonight, and install it for her. Hopefully the machine will post.

As for me, I’m drinking my French.