In the last month, there have been 4 computer problems in my house. First, I had two bad memory sticks in mine (before and after new memory was put in), a family member's 2 year old Dell LCD died without warning, and another family member lost her hard drive. The interesting thing is all the computers were using surge protectors (and nice $40 ones, too). There are frequent thunderstorms in Louisiana which cause the power to go out for less than a second sometimes. We were thinking this was causing the problem. I heard a surge protector would be of no use to us.

I also thought it's possible there could be something wrong with the power itself. This happened to us when my family lived in south Texas.

Can someone help me here. Is there a way to save our computers from this problem? You would think the surge protectors would stop everything, but they don't.

Battery BackUPS are a must in the Southern US. Due to alll the summertime thunderstorms. Worth the investment that you make in the good ones.

My mom got one for her computer. I guess I'll have to puck one up two. Does it matter how many minutes of back up power it has? I don't want to spend $80 for a UPS if I can avoid it.

If $80 dollars saves you a few hundred, then isn't it worth the money? Cheap BackUPS are a waste of time IMHO. Mine will last 30 minutes. This gives me time to power down all the systems safely, or engage the generator if need be. Usually though you can catch them on sale.

it also depends on how much power your PC and monitor take. you may not need one that lasts 30 minutes, but a nice one that will last 5 to 10 minutes should protect you enough and they run about 50 bucks online. I use APC ES 500 backups here at work which are good enough for our infrequent outages. It also does a nice job of protecting against over voltages and power surges along with noise.


Just recently we had a power jump when 2 of our phases combined into 1 in one of our suites. Went from 110 lines to 220 lines, the computers in back that where not on Battery Back UP put out a nice amount of smoke and we fried a few CD players and what not. The fridge was like the light of god when we opened it up, so bright heh.


If your looking for something to last you till you can get your power generator on then yeah you might want a 30 min one, but ussually a 5 to 10 minute one will give you time to shut down since you loose internet 9 times out of 10 by the time power goes out.

Will a UPS protect my computer from things a surge protector won't?

I believe so yes, not only that but there is software the allows you to hook the UPS to your computer and it will automatically put you in hibernation when power goes out as well as keep track of how often and reasons for loss of power.


we had 3 computers blow powersupplies that where on surge protectors that did not even blow the fuse when the lines became 220. and some of the surge protectors actually melted.

I could be wrong but don't the BEST surge protectors hold no warranty for acts of nature?

Not sure why your power is so off....Maybe have a certified elctrician come check the house for faults in an outlet....

I once had a ground problem that my computer would shock me to the touch if I touched it while standing on the uncarpeted part of the floor....

Turned out that one of the outlets in the circut was wired backwards....Effects the whole circut....
Let us know what you find...

His problem is that he has very inconsitent power durring storms, it goes out and probably surges. yes most surge protectors have coverage for something like that, but good luck proving its the fault of the surge protector doing its job. Also it burns out things to have the power turned off and on a lot, so being on all the time and shutting down properly instead of just loosing current will prolong the life of his hardware.