Is the computer blown?

So, my dad gives me a call yesterday and tells me that his computer won't turn on. Being computer illiterate, I figured it was just a switched he forgot to turn on, or something very minor. So i asked him exactly what happened, and he told me that he was playing a few games on the computer, then decided to shut it down and go watch t.v. Well, as he was sitting there watching t.v, he said he heard a loud bang coming from the computer room, so he went it to check it out, but didn't notice anything wrong. Then later that night, he went to turn on the computer, and it wouldn't start up. I suspect that the power supply has blown. The system specs are: intel pentium 4, 128mb sdram, 128mb radeon 9000, and win xp pro. If you guys could give any help in the right direction, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks alot.

Seems to me that what he heard was a capacitor exploding from the PSU.

I figured it had something to do with the power supply. Correct me if i'm wrong. If it was any other component that was fried, then the computer would at least turn on. I think your guess is pretty accurate crimson. Thanks for the quick response.

No problem, JaYbIrD; glad I could help.

tell him to open the case - or even just "smell" around the computer, friend electronis have a unique smell.

I actually have the computer at my house right now. I opened up the case, and I couldn't smell anything. Although, this happened last week sometime, so the smell could have already escaped fromt he case by now. I just ordered that new power supply, so we'll see if it does the trick or not in a few days. I'll post back, and let you guys know. thanks again

One more thing to remember by the psu dying like that it could have taken the motherboard with it too. Just keep that in mind when you install the new psu.

Yes, if a capacitor or two have blown, the feedback from the stored energy could have damaged circuitry or chips on the mobo. That would be the most likely reason for the computer not booting up after you've replaced the PSU.

I've had a situation where the psu took the hard drives too

I sure as hell hope thats not the case. We'll have to see when the new psu comes on wed or thur, and i get it installed. Wish me luck.

can you not try your PSU in the system before buying a new one

Well how can I try the psu in the system? I don't have any kind of volt meter or anything.