Today, whilst trying to find the worst possible PC logic board I could find in the IT department room, I stumbled across a stack of old PC's with Intel Celery processors. I picked one up and tried it.
Nothing. Stuck at the Whendoes 98 boot screen. Well, this would just not do.
I move onto the next PC - plugged in the monitor, keyboard and the AC cord... nothing. How strange.
I suspected a blown fuse in the AC adapter. Tried a few more cables - then I found one that DEFINATLY worked. Still nothing.
So, my friend Simon decides that it must be this recessed red switch with '240v' written on it that was causing the computer not to turn on. He flicks it... and we hear a pop!
I said "Yeah, that was the fuse you just blew there Simon".
As I unplug it... BOOM. Light, smoke, noise - it was like a bomb had gone off. The PSU was blown quite severely, thus rendering the unit completely useless.
The upside of this story? One less PC!