I need some advice for a buddy's computer

This morning, one of my co-workers came up to me and was asking me about his daughter's computer.

He told me that over the weekend, he was doing some work on the electrical in his house, and that he had unplugged his daughter's machine - not only from the wall outlet, but from the surge protector as well. He turned the main power off and did whatever, then when he turned the power back on, and hooked up the computer, he said the power LED on the case would light up for a second and then nothing.

He told me he's done this before and had no problems at all, and that in the past his surge protector would beep when it was turned back on, but not this time.

So he was essentially asking me what might be wrong. I took my best guess and suggested that there may have been some residual electrostatic charge in the computer either before he unhooked it, or after the main power was turned back on, and that maybe the PSU shorted out, or even the whole system. He was asking me too about reset switches, and if hitting that would do anything to fix the problem. I told him probably not, but it couldn't hurt.

Just for reference, the computer in question is seven years old, bought as a complete system at Best Buy, with an Intel something or other (his words) possibly made by Lexmar (he knows that's who made the printer and monitor) and said something about it is a 600, 700, or 2300 model. He couldn't be any more specific.

So was I in any way correct in my assumption, or am I way off base? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Sounds like it gave up the ghost.

Irrational thought aside, what are the amps for the outlet the rig is plugged to? Will the PC run on another socket on a different fuse? Sounds like an electrical problem, not a PC problem.

Did he try plugging it in straight into the wall, as in without the surge protector?

I asked him about the amp issue, and he didn't know about that but said he was working in the room next to his daughters room, but that everything else in her room is fine, just not the computer.

Yes, he did plug it into the wall with no protector, and got the same results, but a friend of his who works on computers told him he may simply have an old surge protector. He may also take it to someone to see about whether the PSU needs to be changed out, or if the MoBo got shorted. If that's the case, he may just buy a new machine.