Surge Protector don’t have one hehe better get one!

[Oboy]

Well I am one happy camper today! I had some type of grounding problem with the outside wiring to the house and when I turned on the puter and went to get a cup of coffee, I came back to the nice smell of burning wiring. Needles to say I had a shit and was thinking that my puter had bit the dust, but my surge protector gave its all to save the puter. So the morel to the story is, if you don’t have one get one and if the one you have is one of the cheepO’s, get a better one! You have a lot of money invested in your puter, so spend some money and get a good one.

Oboy


[This message has been edited by Oboy (edited 08 April 2001).]

[isochar]

Make sure you keep the receipt and packaging/contents for the surge protector. (Otherwise they won't reimburse a damage claim)

Also, consider spending a little extra cash to get a UPS. My APC Backups Pro 500 USB has a nice feature which detects improperly grounded electrical wiring. (They sell for about $100)

[xortam]

Better yet, get your electrical fixed before you burn the house down or worse, somebody gets electrocuted.

[az]

I once had the PC on and at the same time my modem, TV and VCRs when a lightning struck somewhere nearby... the TV died, the VCRs went off (I guess their fuses saved them), the modem died, and I already imagined the PC lying down in smoking shatters, but when I went up and touched the mouse, it awoke from standby mode as if nothing happened - was I just lucky, as i had (and still have) no surge protection, or is this normal?

AZ

[SteveC]

I think that should be normal - if you look at an internal modem, the phone line circuitry bit is physically separated from the chips n stuff bit (Highly technical here I know, but it is Sunday afternoon! ) And so the PC should be safe from anything nasty coming down the phone line.

------------------
Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Wombat]

I'm not too sure about that. An incoming surge is still a nasty situation. I know a couple of people that lost (only) their modems, and even then they got lucky.

[spoogenet]

I would suspect that any half-ass or better power supply would have limited surge protection built-in. If nothing else, a decent PS would fry before allowing the other components to fry.

This is, however, what I would expect/like. I certainly am not sure of whether it is actually the case....

b

[EvilDonnyboy]

az, maybe you got one wicked ass power supply.

[SteveC]

Wombat - that's what I mean - only the modem will get fried - any surge won't go past the line part of the modem.

------------------
Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Wombat]

Steve,
It rarely won't get past the modem, but I was trying to point out that it can and sometimes does.

[az]

Do you think it was the Modem? Would that have fried the TV? (Ok, the TV was on cable, but the modem was on a phone line.. both do come from Deutsche Telekom, though...)

AZ