Recently I went to use my desktop (Gateway tower) and couldn't turn it
on.  The light behind the power button was off, and nothing I did
worked.  It was plugged into a surge protector with a number of other
things, all of which still have power.  I've tried using a different
power source, resetting the European/US voltage switch, and holding
the button in while unplugged to discharge static electricity.  This
situation followed the recent (Late January '03) weekend that an email
virus or worm was hitting many computers, and there was a power outage
at my home that Sunday.  Gateway Tech support conclude that I'd had a
power surge and the motherboard is fried.  Is there any way that I can
be sure of this?  If this is the case, would the ethernet card have
been hurt too?  I'll also take any suggestions on the cheapest way to
buy just a new tower that will be compatible with my current monitor
and speakers etc... (all those things fairly standard?)  Thank you.
Scott

Hi scorwitz,

Tough luck. Here are a few things you can try (#11 sounds hopeful):
http://www.clickx3.com/images/Power%20Supply_1.html

http://ework.com/content_article.cfm?article_id=150

http://howto.lycos.com/lycos/step/1,,139+25579+19040,00.html

If you're up for some humour to help lighten the load:
http://rinkworks.com/stupid/cs_power.shtml

Good luck,
hummer

It is very unlikley that this was caused by a Virus. It is most likley
caused by the power surge, this could have if you were unlucky damaged
your motherboard, and quite possibly any other cards attached to it,
however i would think that your power supply (at the back of the pc
where the power goes in to with the big fan) could be the thing that
is causing this, i would replace that before spending a whole load on
a new pc etc. This would normally cost about £30 ($50).

It is hard to tell if the ethernet card was damaged too without first
trying it in another system.

You Monitor will be compatible with any pc (assuming its not an apple
mac - this needs an adapter), your speakers also use standard
connections so i would think they would be ok.

If you do have to replace everything then i would suggest you look for
somewhere that just sells the tower with the components and minus the
monitor etc as this would save you money.

Just a quick suggestion that might work.  I had an old Gateway tower,
and one day, out of the blue, the same thing began occuring.  I
declared the computer as dead, and was all ready to order a new one. 
Then I opened the case, and noticed some type of switch hanging in
midair.  It turned out that the power switch had come loose, and that
whenever I pressed the plastic power button on the case, it was
hitting the switch.  I used a gluegun to reinstall the switch and the
sysyem works fine now.  Before you decide the give up on the system,
check to make sure the power switch is in tight.  You can do this by
removing both sides and then pulling off the plastic front of the
computer.  Good luck!