Power Surge Protection

[James Knott]

Devin Whalen wrote:
> Hey,
> 
> My motherboard just recently blew out (or whatever you want to call
> it).  My computer just stopped working and when I looked at the
> motherboard there was this thick grey dust all over it (well centred
> around the cpu).  Needless to say, I had to buy a new motherboard and in
> turn a new cpu,memory,power supply and hey why not a new case...so 400
> and some dollars later and I have a working machine again.  I was told
> that it was probably a power surge.  Currently, I have a power bar, but
> I am told that this is not enough.  What should I get to ensure this
> doesn't happen again?  What does everyone here use?  Thanks.

You can get proper surge protectors, not those cheap power bars, with 
MOVs in them.  However, don't be too hasty in your conclusions.  You 
mentioned dust, which can cause the CPU to overheat, or it could have 
been something unrelated to the environment.  Some components fail on 
their own.  I recall a problem with capacitors blowing, a few years ago.
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml