A systems administrator is troubleshooting a server that will not turn on. The LED lights are not blinking, and no status light indicators are available. Which of the following components is the MOST likely cause of this problem?

The situation describes a server that does not power on, with no LED lights blinking or status indicators showing any activity. This strongly suggests a lack of power reaching the server's components. The most likely cause of this issue is a power supply failure.

The power supply is responsible for converting the electrical power from the outlet into usable power for the server's components. If the power supply is defective, it will prevent the server from turning on altogether, resulting in the absence of any LED activity or status indicators. Other components, such as CPUs, memory, or network interface cards (NICs), require power to function, and a failure in these components typically does not inhibit the power supply from working. In scenarios where the server powers on but fails to post or operate normally, other components would then be examined; however, in this case, the server does not power up at all.

Understanding how power supplies operate and their critical role in server functionality is essential for diagnosing issues of this nature efficiently.