Well what u have here is called the yellow light of death or also called (YLOD). Here is a couple ways to tell if it is a power failure or the motherboard malfunction. If you listen carefully well you turn on the system if you hear the fans turn on then the system turns of after a couple seconds that is a motherboard malfunction the system will realize that the system is broken. But if you turn the system on and the fans do not spin and turn on then you have a power failure. That could happen when your power cord/the AU 3 pin power cable gets damaged. Another way a power failure could happen is when the power from the power cable can't pass through the system and reach the main power circuit. But you got lucky there is a way you could fix this. You could get the PS3 repair kit or you could bring it to Gamestop or a system repair place and they will take a look at it.