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I'm having issues with my father in law's computer. Yesterday, the power flickered in the house and his computer shut down. But now it won't boot up. It's dead quiet with only the PSU's LED glowing green. Is it toasted?

I've sometimes had my computer not start until I change which socket of the power strip I've plugged it into. Then later it happened again and I fixed it by changing back to the first one. I don't know why that worked, but it did. It can't hurt to try.

Though I suspect that something in the computer is broken.

Sounds like the power supply unit is toast.

Replaced the PSU. It booted up and it was running for about ten minutes before dying again. It won't boot up, no fans running, dead quiet. Possibly blew the replacement PSU. Back to square one.

It's been a while since I took the case off a computer; do PSUs still have fuses? That's what I'd check first, in a suspected "new PSU blown" situation. There might be a short or ground somewhere.

SpottedKitty wrote: ↑2019-07-06 11:14pm It's been a while since I took the case off a computer; do PSUs still have fuses? That's what I'd check first, in a suspected "new PSU blown" situation. There might be a short or ground somewhere.

When I assembled mine there weren't any obvious fuses visible but then I wasn't actively searching for a cover or something like that, the PSU I got is this big black box with a power switch on it.

Though if the PC bricked (or so it seems) a brand new PSU there's probably some other issue and bricking the PSU is just a symptom of that issue.

So what's killing it? Bad motherboard?

Enigma wrote: ↑2019-07-07 10:18am So what's killing it? Bad motherboard?

Based on your descriptions that is hard to say. I'd have to actually look at it to tell you anything for sure. However, if putting in a new power supply immediately bricks it then the problem has to be on the motherboard somewhere. A power surge can cause damage almost anywhere so you might not be able to locate the actual problem.