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[ianfreddie07]

Well, the PC won't turn on. For some reason the lights don't flicker and the PSU fan doesn't turn on.

You think the PSU failed? And I'd also like to ask how long they last. I don't exactly remember the voltage of mine, but my PC specs are like this:

Pentium 4 2.0GHz
Inno3D GeForce 2 MX 400, 64MB
512MB DDR1 RAM
A Red Fox motherboard

The PC I think is... 5 or 6 years old.

[dosraider]

Originally Posted by ianfreddie07

And I'd also like to ask how long they last.

Depends ....
If over the years you let them gather dust inside they'll heat up.
If they are too light to supply your hardware with the needed juice they'll heat and burn up sooner or later.

Etcetera etcetera .... blahblahblah .......

A nice tool to keep an eye on your hardware temps:
http://majorgeeks.com/EVEREST_Free_Edition_d4181.html

Basic rule: keep them cool and clean, they'll last longer..
Basic rule²: cheap PSUs don't last long.

[arete]

"Hello, IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?"

You need to see if it's your hard drive or if you've burned out your power supply - or if you need a whole new cpu or motherboard

[dosraider]

Originally Posted by arete

"Hello, IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?"(

I don't have a 'turn_off/turn_on_again' key on my keyboard ..... HALP.

[arete]

The IT Crowd - funniest brit TV show ever. You might not appreciate it, having been born a Frenchman and the enemy of all things English...

[The Fifth Horseman]

Originally Posted by ianfreddie07

Well, the PC won't turn on. For some reason the lights don't flicker and the PSU fan doesn't turn on.

You think the PSU failed? And I'd also like to ask how long they last.

The first culprit to check is the PSU. Second is the motherboard. Third - and last - are the hard drives (more specifically, the diodes used as surge protection on their circuit boards - once shorted, they prevent the whole machine from powering on).

How long a PSU lasts is dependent on too many factors to give a definite answer - some can be okay after a decade and a half (the 200 watt AT PSU from my first computer? It's still in use, powering my mother's Win98 system), others can blow in less than a year (several not so glorious examples I've had to do with).

[Kugerfang]

Last time this happened to my old PC, I bought a generic power suppy and slapped it on the PC. It worked. And what diodes are you talking about, Fifth?

[The Fifth Horseman]

It's not a LED, if that's what you think. It's a small module on the PCB, between one of the voltage pins and the ground pins.