Stupid Computer Crash Due To Power Surge BROKE

[Kubi 0]

So I was working on the computer, I think it was doing Xisto stuff, can't remember, anywhoo, I Was working and all of a sudden my computer shut down, I'm like..oh great. So my sister and I opened it up, well, it was the power supply/mother baord(power surge). We didn't think it was the motherboard just yet, so we went and bought a new power supply, installed it, no go. So now we new it was once of the essensials. We took the harddrive into a control, it was fine, the processor was fine. Motherboard. Took it into the geek sqaud, boy, do I hate them, atleast the computer was under warranty.My mom wouldn't let me tell them it was a surge and the motherboard and power supply were gone, so it took them 4 days to dignious it, well they called. "Ya, your power supply and motherboard fried, probably a power surge". Well gee, isn't that what I already knew?So now it's ganna take them 2 more weeks to ship it out to replace the motherboard and power supply...Now I'm computerless for 2 weeks.rawr...

[xaetos 0]

Thats computers for you.. you get used to it after a while. Especially when other people are always the ones to mess it up.. then its even worse. I've never had a power surge or anything like that kill my computer, but I have had my parents and my brother do pretty stupid things to it before. My mom downloaded a "virus update" from an email with an unknown sender. That didn't end well. They're also after getting way too much adware on the thing..My laptops warrenty covers power surges, anyways, so I'm ok. I donno why you couldn't have told the guys what caused it, though.. that would have made more sense :\ Especially if its under warrenty. Its not like you'd have to pay for anything extra..

[rvalkass 5]

Even if it's under warranty, there are some companies that won't help you if the computer was damaged by a power surge, lightning strike or something like that. I was lucky when my monitor went a few days ago. Just phoned up the company and they arrived the next day with a new monitor.

[LoTech 0]

Good luck getting it fixed. If its under warenty it just depends on what is in your warenty. I dunno if power surges count as your fault as I suppose it is nothing you could control therefore, as it was not you who caused the damage it should be under warenty. Anyway, good luck!

[Kubi 0]

I was actually reading the warranty. It specifically said that it covers power surges. So I'm good there, I'm just mad that I have to wait 2 weeks for them to swap a motherboard, if I had the motherboard I could do it myself in 30 minutes!

[iwuvcookies 0]

My computer had a surge once. It was on a Gateway Astro. The all in one just monitor computer thing. lol. Anyways i saw a lightning flash and then my computer just like shut down the monitor but the harddrive was still working cause i could hear the fan and stuff. Then i coudln't connect to the internet. It fried my modem. I was on that 56 internet too. lol. oh memories.

[icemarle 0]

Gah... that's pretty harsh. I never had that happen to me, though... The only thing that ever crashed my computer... was... well... me... I was a 9 years old, and my dad gave me a 30GB HDD which I loved to pile a lot of stuff into. Virus softwares didn't exist in my vocabulary back then, and I kept downloading a lot of crap, so to say... I got a lot of games for my pleasure. Then I crashed my drive, and the virus spread causing widespread destruction, so to say. I'm the only one who ever uses the computer in the first place, so it can't blame other people for ruining it. I can only ever blame environmental factors or myself. Though... my dad uses it sometimes... When he does, adware says hello to me. :ph34r:You're lucky you got it in a warranty, though. I don't think my warranty says anything about power surges in it... I'm not even sure where my dad placed the warranty! You're still lucky, nonetheless, even though you have to wait for some time to fix up your beloved PC.

[LoTech 0]

Well I guess the best thing is prevention really, but a power adapter with a serge protector this time Well luckily you covered and thats good The 2 weeks thing sucks, but bear in mind they probably have hundreds of repairs to do!

[Sprnknwn 0]

Yeah, I?ve had a power-surge twice and there was no warranty for me as long as they were not caused by a lightning of something like this. It?s considered your fault although it?s really a problem of the electric company or your installation that isn?t ok, etc. I hated when it happened, fortunately the most common damage is in the power supply and not the board.

[wariorpk 0]

I know what you are saying. My computer has been destroyed because of a power surge. I was on the computer when there was a bad thunderstorm (worst time to possibly use a computer). Then all of the sudden there was a power surge and the whole computer was wasted. I was kind of asking for it but in your case that really stinks because there was nothing you could have done to prevent that.

[kevlar557 0]

The best thing you can possibly do for a computer is to go out and buy a good UPS (Uninterruptable Power Source). Basically, it is a battery hooked up to your computer. The good thing is, is that if you have a power surge, it will put the load on the battery, instead of your computer. Anyway, we had a Brand-New 24-port 3COM switch go bad because of a power surge today at school. It really sucks, because it was like a $400 dollar switch.

[Kubi 0]

Well I did have a surge protector which was odd, don't understand why it still surged, the surge protector was like 4-6 years old though so that could have been a problem. I did buy a brand new one. The next thing I should buy is a UPS...probably be more saftey for me..

[callum 0]

I had to replace my last computer because of a power surge...even though I had a surge protector. How stupid is that?!? It must have been a faulty protector or something...

 

The surge destroyed my whole computer - the only thing I could salvage was my floppy disk drive (yay!). Ended up having to fork out hundreds to get a new computer...I'm still using the same surge protector though...

 

Callum

 

Notice from KuBi:

Don't know how to put this..uhm, don't sign off with your name, new rule implemended, warning issued.

Edited January 22, 2006 by KuBi (see edit history)

[terminal2k 0]

i wouldn't keep using a surge protector that didn't do any protecting before, its kida like using a bulletproof vest that didn't work before..... I must say tho in my 18 or so years of computer usage i've never encountered a surge. only started using a surge protector with my latest one (coz it came free with the pc. yes i'm a tightass), and i've never met a person who has had a surge issue (that they've told me about, i don't walk up to every person i meet and say "g'day, had a surge hit your pc before" lol) so maybe i'm just lucky, or maybe its the power system here in sydney. dunno, but I hope i never do end up getting surged....

[bureX 0]

If you have a piece of s**t for a power supply, then the surge protector can't protect you! Some low-quality (and, yes, very cheap) power supplies are widely used and they sometimes "decide" themselves to burn out and damage a part of the motherboard, or any other PC components that are connected to it, just by letting in a higher voltage come through the MB. Those cheap power supplies are made out of very cheap and unreliable parts, and most of these parts will work for only a year or two... Remember, power supplies come FIRST, followed by surge protectors and UPSs. If you are searching for a good power supply, be sure to check out Chieftec!