Fried my computer--help!

It's official.  I'm an idiot. 

I plugged my dual voltage Dell desktop I brought from home in the US into the wall of my London flat.  Sizzle.  Pop.  Dead.  If only I had seen that tiny recessed voltage switch near the base on the rear of the tower!  What do I do?  Can I save the computer?  Where can I take it in NW8 to get it repaired?  Or should I just give up and buy a new one? 

I was so careful to only bring dual voltage electronics here and so far everything has worked flawlessly.  And nothing else has had any kind of voltage switch.  I'm so frustrated I didn't realize I needed to switch the voltage on the tower before it was too late.  Help!

What do I do?  Can I save the computer?  Where can I take it in NW8 to get it repaired?  Or should I just give up and buy a new one? 

Hi,

I wouldn't give up just yet; it may just be you need a new power supply.  If I were in your shoes, I'd go someplace like www.thetechguys.com, who apparently have a store on Tottenham Court Road.  I'd imagine they'd be able to look at it and give you an idea of what's wrong and what it would cost to fix it.

good luck,
Carl

No advice here, but I DID switch the voltage on my computer in the UK.. and as soon as I plugged it in it caught on fire.  That was two years ago, and it's still working. 

madeira:  It caught on fire even after you switched the voltage?  Did you buy a new cable w/ a UK plug or did you have your same US cable w/ a UK Adapter on the end?

iscodiva:  I am not a genius when it comes to computers but I would think that to have that kind of power surge it would have toasted the Power Supply & Motherboard.  The Hard Drives may have survived!! 

I am with camoscato... Take it into a place that can see what damage has been done.  They can at least take out your Hard Drives to put into another computer to see if they will boot.

I just had an adaptor on my (Japanese) computer. 

I agree with the others in saying you may have just fried the power supply and, if you're lucky, avoided any damage to the motherboard (this happened to me once, it killed the psu and then fried the USB ports )

Much can depend upon the design of the power supply in the computer and the precise way it failed when presented with double the expected input voltage.   If its protective circuits prevented excess voltage from appearing on the outputs, then you'll get away with just replacing the power supply unit itself.

I DID switch the voltage on my computer in the UK.. and as soon as I plugged it in it caught on fire. 

It sounds as though something suffered damage during transit.