won't boot up after power outage

Hello out there, I could use some help on the experience playing field. We just had a power outage in the neighbourhood. My Mac G4 was asleep at the time, the power went out, came back on briefly, then went out again for about an hour. Now my hard-drive refuses to boot up. The light on the front will go on if you hold it down, but the minute you release it it goes dark again. I have unplugged and replugged the computer, changed the power cord, held the on button for a while, all the tricks I know. The printer, monitor are all showing lights. My roommates computer (which I am using right now) is working, but he has a backup power source that keeps it okay during power outs. This is not the first outage my computer has been through but it is the only one that it has refused to work after.
Any ideas or info out there in the Orchard?

It's hard to say. Power outages themselves are generally not destructive, it's the surge they cause when power goes on and off that usually causes damage. Your power supply could have taken a hit, or the hard drive may be damaged, or possibly the logic board. It could be a combination of them.

It took a power hit, and fried something. If it were the hard drive it would power on but not boot up. Other parts may prevent it from powering on at all, so likely it is NOT the hard drive. That's too bad because you can replace a hard drive easily enough, but doing anything else is not likely to be worth the money.

Try zapping the PRAM, holding down Command, Option, P and R keys all together immediately after the chime. Keep held down until after the third chime and fingers crossed.