Murphy's Law...

[Eric the Grey]

Just a bit of whining... :sorry:

A $300.00 PICTURE TUBE WILL PROTECT A 10 CENT FUSE BY BLOWING FIRST.

Well, it certainly seems to be true. We had a power spike today when, a power transformer blew close by. We lost power, don't know for how long because I was asleep, during the day today. The transformer (or lightning strike, or whatever it was) woke me from a deep sleep because it was so loud.

When I finally got up for work, I found my computer shut off (understandable) and it now will not turn back on.

So, it appears that my $250 power supply blew in order to save the $10 surge protector/power strip. I suspect that the power strip is not doing it's job as a surge protector, which means it will also need to be replaced. *sigh*

Tuesday, I'll take it up to the shop and have them diagnose the box to make certain it IS the PSU and not something more serious, like the MB. It's possible it could be either. I'm hoping for the psu only because it's easier to replace (and less hassle due to having to re-enable Vista...)

I remember a while back making the statement that I was afraid to say it couldn't get any worse.... *shakes head*



:cool: Eric the Grey

[Crazeyal]

Check the type of strip. Some come with an equipment replacement guarentee

[digilight]

If its one of the cheap ass 10 buck strips they aren't worth a tin shit on a surge. You really need the added protection of a UPS box (around 50-100 bucks) the battery side allways filters and has a nice clean line of power.

[lordlundar]

*sigh*

A power strip offers surge SUPPRESSION, not surge stopping. This is because (despite labelling to the contrary) they were not designed to block surges. Their primary function is to allow more outlets. This pulls more power through the bar. THAT is what the fuse/circuit breaker is made for. To make sure a fire won't start from having too many VA being used. Because of it's design, a quick spike will zip through before it can be tripped.

If you want proper surge blockage, you need an Uninterpretable Power Supply or UPS (not to be confused with the shipping company:D) If there's even a hint of going over the level, it kills the connection and runs on battery power. In the event of an overload, those are specifically designed to take the brunt and fail before the power can get close to the system. It's part of the reason why they are so big.

Do yourself a favor and shell out the extra money. If I didn't have one when I needed it, I would have lost my entire rig, which is roughly $1500-2000 worth of equipment. A hundred dollar UPS in exchange for saving that much is a pretty small price to pay.

[edible_hat]

Seconded on the UPS! They can also prevent damage caused by power failures by giving you enough power to shut down gracefully.

[MadMike]

Damn, that sucks. I fried mine last winter, and all I did was press the reset button. I felt a static electricity shock, the thing shut off, and after that nothing would come on but the fans.

Believe me, I wasn't happy that day.

[lordlundar]

Damn, that sucks. I fried mine last winter, and all I did was press the reset button. I felt a static electricity shock, the thing shut off, and after that nothing would come on but the fans.

Believe me, I wasn't happy that day.

Good application of physics there. You are able to take 800V of electricity before you feel it. A computer component will be fried with 100V. The general rule of thumb is if you feel a shock while touching something on your machine, you fried something.

[LostMyMind]

Actually, it's not voltage you feel, it's amps. In either case, electronics don't like high amps or high voltages.

[lastofthesummerwine]

Sorry about your bad day. I find that I can hang a bit better now that I've discovered Peter's Laws:

http://www.gweep.net/~slarti/peterslaws.html

[Gerrinson]

One thing you can try, although there is every likelyhood it won't work in this scenario, is to turn off the switch for the power supply itself (located on the back of your desktop) for approx. 30 seconds.

I had this happen to an older PC twice during a period when the neighborhood was suffering sporadic brown outs followed by power surges, all I had to do was shut off the switch to the power supply then everything came back up.

If it doesn't work, you're still in the same boat. If it does work, well, it's a much cheaper fix.

[Eric the Grey]

Check the type of strip. Some come with an equipment replacement guarentee

The strip is old enough that it no longer has any information on it. Hell, it may not even be a surge protector, although I seem to remember it being one (all of the strips I've ever purchased have been).

I do agree with having a UPS hooked up. Actually, the way they work is, power coming in from the plug is used to recharge the internal battery, and the battery is what powers your equipment. I used to have one but it died and stopped powering anything. Never did replace it. I guess I should. :ashamed:

It's getting a diagnosis done at a local shop. He only charges $25 to do one, and has the tools to check more than I can. He did say he's had a rash of similar problems lately. I suspect I was not the only one to get hit by this.

I fully intend to replace the surge protector and look into getting a UPS once I have the money.


:cool: Eric the Grey