lol, after a telephone call with mr zee this morning,
1st potential diagnosis is a faulty IEC Connection, Symptoms - no lights coming on on tower, but monitor etc working
so i asked him to unplug the IEC and give it a gentle tap to dislodge any dust particles that may be affecting the connection, and then to gently blow into the connection socket at the back of the tower, then plug the IEC lead back in, for a short period of time the tower powered up, but then shortly after went off, which leads me to beleive that its either an iffy IEC connection or possibly a break in his IEC lead somewhere.