Check your surge protector

I didn't. Lightning is not good for computers...especially if they're plugged
directly into the wall. Thought the tangle of plugs behind the table next to
my desk ended with all my equipment being plugged into the surge protector.

Somehow only the cheap stuff was on the surge protector...much of the expensive
stuff was not.

So far: computer power supply and network card, router, cable modem.

Hard drive and motherboard ok and I'm back up and running. No programs or data
lost.

I wuz lucky.

dondi3
(one plug in the wall, now)
DONDI enterprises. BUY, SELL, TRADE. RARE COINS & PRECIOUS METALS
Member COINNET, CSNS, ANA, INA, MOON, ILNA.

DONDI3 wrote in message
...
I didn't. Lightning is not good for computers...especially if they're
plugged
directly into the wall. Thought the tangle of plugs behind the table next
to
my desk ended with all my equipment being plugged into the surge
protector.

Somehow only the cheap stuff was on the surge protector...much of the
expensive
stuff was not.

So far: computer power supply and network card, router, cable modem.

Hard drive and motherboard ok and I'm back up and running. No programs or
data
lost.

I wuz lucky.

dondi3

I will add that you should put a surge protector on your telephone line or
cable line. That is an area where most people whom have surge protectors
for the electric fail to miss. We had an episode a couple of years ago
where a lightning surge took out our modem and caused other minor software
problems. Even though we replaced the modem the computer never ran
correctly on dialup. It is just fine now on cable but we don't have to
worry about it not disconnecting and tying up our phone line for hours like
with the modem.

Dave Parrish

"DONDI3" wrote in message
...
I didn't. Lightning is not good for computers...especially if they're
plugged
directly into the wall. Thought the tangle of plugs behind the table next
to
my desk ended with all my equipment being plugged into the surge
protector.

Somehow only the cheap stuff was on the surge protector...much of the
expensive
stuff was not.

So far: computer power supply and network card, router, cable modem.

Hard drive and motherboard ok and I'm back up and running. No programs or
data
lost.

I wuz lucky.

dondi3
(one plug in the wall, now)
DONDI enterprises. BUY, SELL, TRADE. RARE COINS & PRECIOUS METALS
Member COINNET, CSNS, ANA, INA, MOON, ILNA.

Dondi,

My experience was similar... lost the motherboard, power supply, modem,
and all the memory... I went one step further than surge protector, I now
have a small UPS for the CPU and monitor, cost about $120.00, but it gives
me time to power down gracefully in emergency, and cheaper than the repairs
to my PC.

-Buck F.

Take it from one who has been managing company's computer systems for
years. The only...and I mean only 100% certainty against power
surges, especially from lightening, is to unplug your system from the
wall, and unplug the phone line when there is a chance of
thunderstorms. A high quality surge arrestor will help, but not
against close lightening strikes. These Wal Mart style power strips
are useless. A battery backup unit is the best quality surge
protection, but as I said they are not 100%.

On 09 Jul 2003 06:49:20 GMT, (DONDI3) wrote:

I didn't. Lightning is not good for computers...especially if they're plugged
directly into the wall. Thought the tangle of plugs behind the table next to
my desk ended with all my equipment being plugged into the surge protector.

Somehow only the cheap stuff was on the surge protector...much of the expensive
stuff was not.

So far: computer power supply and network card, router, cable modem.

Hard drive and motherboard ok and I'm back up and running. No programs or data
lost.

I wuz lucky.

dondi3
(one plug in the wall, now)
DONDI enterprises. BUY, SELL, TRADE. RARE COINS & PRECIOUS METALS
Member COINNET, CSNS, ANA, INA, MOON, ILNA.

----------------------
Mickey W

----------------------

Ouch, good luck getting everything back up.

Our apartment doesnt have very many plugs at all, so we've
been using surge protectors all over the apartment to give
us more plugs. Hopefully if we get a power hit, the only stuff
that wont fair well at the moment are ... my clock radio, and
a norelco recharger

In article , DONDI3 wrote:
I didn't. Lightning is not good for computers...especially if they're plugged
directly into the wall. Thought the tangle of plugs behind the table next to
my desk ended with all my equipment being plugged into the surge protector.

Somehow only the cheap stuff was on the surge protector...much of the expensive
stuff was not.

So far: computer power supply and network card, router, cable modem.

Hard drive and motherboard ok and I'm back up and running. No programs or data
lost.

I wuz lucky.

dondi3
(one plug in the wall, now)
DONDI enterprises. BUY, SELL, TRADE. RARE COINS & PRECIOUS METALS
Member COINNET, CSNS, ANA, INA, MOON, ILNA.


--
______ ______
..-----.|__ ||__ | eXistenZ32
| -__||__ || __| e@: usenet-at.-transparentmeat-dot-net
|_____||______||______|

(RAV) sez....

Surge protectors provide protection for power surges in the line from the
power company, but not for lightning.

No kidding.....You beat me to it this AM.

To really guard against strike damage, you need a LIGHTNING ARRESTER.

Or a "real" power line conditioner and "some" forms of UPS.

Always here for my fellow syngraphist or oenophile.
--=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=----=*=--

In article , reknib
wrote:

Take it from one who has been managing company's computer systems for
years. The only...and I mean only 100% certainty against power
surges, especially from lightening, is to unplug your system from the
wall, and unplug the phone line when there is a chance of
thunderstorms. A high quality surge arrestor will help, but not
against close lightening strikes. These Wal Mart style power strips
are useless. A battery backup unit is the best quality surge
protection, but as I said they are not 100%.


I second that assessment. Most powerstrip surge protectors react too
slowly to offer any significant protection against a strong surge.

If you are unplugging everything, don't forget to disconnect the phone
line or cable connection. I've seen a lot of network cards replaced
that were blown due to a commmunications line spike.

--
Antho

Anthony Carlisle (ANA #R192251; APS #194515)
A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother.

Has anyone had experience with the surge protectors that have a guarantee with
them that promises to pay for replacing damaged equipment up to a fixed limit?
If so, have they paid as promised? Thanks!
Dave

I didn't. Lightning is not good for computers...especially if they're
plugged
directly into the wall. Thought the tangle of plugs behind the table next to
my desk ended with all my equipment being plugged into the surge protector.

Somehow only the cheap stuff was on the surge protector...much of the
expensive
stuff was not.

So far: computer power supply and network card, router, cable modem.

Hard drive and motherboard ok and I'm back up and running. No programs or
data
lost.

I wuz lucky.


I've only lost a few modems to lightning... Always coming through the phone
line. Just last year, I lost 2 in the space of a week from two different
storms. Since I telecommute from home on slower days, work buys me my modems.
I had one fry, and brought it in to the office to swap out. The very next
week, I brought that one in after IT was fried. After that, I dug out an extra
cord and ran the line through the surge protector (always had the plug for the
phoneline... Don't know why I didn't have it through there in the first place).

The most expensive computer lightning damage happened to my dads computer when
I was a kid. It was an Epson 386/66 (impressive, huh?) Lightning hit, again
through the phone line, and took out the 1200 baud modem, and the SPF card it
was attached to. Epson had a controller card the controlled the serial,
parallel, and floppy drive. It cost close to $800 for a new card... But that
was back when a 386 WAS something!

Robert Shaw
--
Does olive oil really help with corroded coins? Check out my experiment at:
http://www.mindspring.com/~robe294/o...xperiment.html

"BobbyShaw" wrote in message
...
I didn't. Lightning is not good for computers...especially if they're
plugged
directly into the wall. Thought the tangle of plugs behind the table
next to
my desk ended with all my equipment being plugged into the surge
protector.

Somehow only the cheap stuff was on the surge protector...much of the
expensive
stuff was not.

So far: computer power supply and network card, router, cable modem.

Hard drive and motherboard ok and I'm back up and running. No programs
or
data
lost.

I wuz lucky.


I've only lost a few modems to lightning... Always coming through the
phone
line. Just last year, I lost 2 in the space of a week from two different
storms. Since I telecommute from home on slower days, work buys me my
modems.
I had one fry, and brought it in to the office to swap out. The very next
week, I brought that one in after IT was fried. After that, I dug out an
extra
cord and ran the line through the surge protector (always had the plug for
the
phoneline... Don't know why I didn't have it through there in the first
place).

The most expensive computer lightning damage happened to my dads computer
when
I was a kid. It was an Epson 386/66 (impressive, huh?) Lightning hit,
again
through the phone line, and took out the 1200 baud modem, and the SPF card
it
was attached to. Epson had a controller card the controlled the serial,
parallel, and floppy drive. It cost close to $800 for a new card... But
that
was back when a 386 WAS something!

I remember those times. In fact I had a 286, a Tandy. I bought it in 1986
or so. It worked from two 5 1/4" floppies. You booted it from the floppy.
I broke down and bought a 20 Meg hard drive that cost me $600. Now you can
buy a whole computer for that. It had 480 K of memory (that's K not M) that
was expandable to 640 K by installing a 8 20K memory chips, IIRC. Actually
that was a fantastic machine. In fact, it had some great games that I
played often. It was still working about 2 years or so ago when I gave it
to the Salvation Army. I occasionally played some of the old games like
Donkey Kong or Pole position on it. Plus I also had a number of programs
in BASIC I wrote for it. But I decided I wanted a modem so I bought a new
computer in 1990 or so. Ah! Those were the days.