The Not-So-Fun Side of a Power Outage

See the dead computer? Not a pretty sight.

When our power outage began, my desktop was plugged into a UPS-Backups surge protector. I shut it down the proper way. But when the power came back on, the computer, she was dead. Middle son and computer geek Austin made a trip home to check it out for me.

[Back in the old days, every family wished for a doctor or a lawyer in the family. These days, everyone would like a computer geek. I could write a book..."Grow Your Own Computer Geek". Just kidding, Austin. You're invaluable in so many other ways.]

Anyway, after much examination, it was determined that the power supply failed and then fried something on the motherboard. Not good. The power flashed back on a couple of times during the 16-hour outage, so that may have something to do with it. Now we shall see whether the UPS-Backups lifetime guarantee is even worth the paper it is written on. I am jumping through all the hoops. They are sending me a new surge protector unit, and I am to mail them the old one with a written report so they can test it and see what happened. I can't wait to see what it costs to mail a 13-lb. package. But at least I get a new surge protector out of it. Depending on what their tests show, they may pay for the computer repair. I will keep you posted on whether this company has integrity. Thankfully, in the meantime, I've got the laptop.

After this experience, my recommendation would be this: Once a power outage has begun, or a lightning storm approaches, unplug the computer or surge protector completely from the wall. I don't know if the problem happened during the initial loss of power or during the two flashes of power restored, but it couldn't hurt. Research shows you should also unplug your telephone or cable lines from the computer because a surge can come through that way. This is good advice for ALL of your electronic equipment like printer, monitors, tv, dvd players, etc. And for heaven's sake, keep a good backup. I currently have a portable hard drive, and it is proving to be worth it's wait in gold. We are also considering installing a panel-mount surge protector in the main electrical box.