So yesterday we had a power surge which kicked off our power for a day. Now my compy won't start up. When I press the power button it just clicks like it's trying to start but keeps clicking. It was on a surge protector though. Scale if 1 to 10 how screwed am I and any suggestions? Fortunately this new iPod has wifi and our neighbor isn't password protected lol.
At least your upcoming purchase of a new computer should help build optimism in our otherwise dim economy outlook.
Actually, I'm sort of surprised. I've never had a computer fried that way. On the stovetop, with a bit of garlic butter, sure, but... Do you have a recovery disk or something? Try to boot it from that. Or (better) talk to a professional. It might be salvageable. barfo
For some reason it's not letting me reply with quote sorry. But Barfo yes I do have stuff backed up thank goodness. My old roommate is a big computer guy who usually helps me with this stuff. DPGB do you have recommendations? Something tells me I won't want this crap to happen again lol
Never had that happen before. I've burned my video card in my laptop with a game that was too graphically advanced... I've lost a laptop to a wicked virus..... come to think of it..... all my laptops have had problems and both of my desktops have been like Sherman tanks.
Battery back up with a built in surge protector. You can get them on sale for around $40. You should have one for your computer and a separate one for the home entertainment system. The battery acts like a buffer. Making sure your computer always has 110 volts of it's precious go go juice. Nothing more, nothing less. FYI, brown outs (a slight drop in voltage from the power company) are much more common and harmful to your electronic toys. If you get a nicer battery backup it will have a little LCD screen that shows you in real time what you're getting from the power company. You be shocked at how often and by home much the current drops and surges. BTW if you have to buy a new computer the good news is Black Friday is almost here. Suppose to be insane sales this year.
That's some good advice Sly. I'll have to look into that for my entertainment center and my PC. Also, you should build your next comp Wheels. It's cheaper and you get more bang for your buck. I built the comp I'm on right now and it's amazing. You know exactly what you're putting into it. You should visit newegg.com or someplace similar and do some price checks.
The video game had graphics that were so intense that it literally fried the video card. I think it also did damage to the motherboard. The problem with laptops is that they don't have the same air circulation as a PC. That was what ultimately did in my Dell. The virus was on an old compaq. It was old and outdated at the time, so I retired it so I could build a PC.
Pick up a random PSU or ask for your friend's. If it boots up then you know what the problem is. Any lights/noises coming off of the mobo? Do you hear your harddrives at all? Blah, blah, blah. Open up your rig and take a pic, will make it easier. Give your PSU a sniff and tell me what you smell.
This. Also, you don't want plug a laptop into a battery backup. I found this explanation on a technology forum: What kind of ups units are these? Not all ups units can be daisy chained. Only certain makes and models of ups units can be daisy chained. The ones that can be daisy chained are basically sinewave machines. To find out if your ups units use sinewave, stepwave or simulated sinewave contact your UPS manufacturer. From what I know only high end UPS models use true sinewave, the rest use simulated sinewave. If you are gonna daisy chain 2 of these models that use simulated sinewave together, and if your UPS goes into battery mode, this is what is gonna happen: 1) UPS1 1 will output a modified sinewave. 2) UPS2 will interpret the modified sinewave as a power surge. 3) UPS2 will channel the current back to UPS1. 4) UPS1 basically gets fucked and in some cases UPS2 as well.
Not if you want a licensed OS. But yea, this is a good option sometimes. Especially with a Frys in the PDX vicinity, you can get tons of cheap computer parts there.
