Computer meltdown.

[Enigma]

This past Tuesday, a garbage truck driver wasn't paying attention and snapped two electrical poles while dumping it's load into the back all the while still moving. Anyways, long story short, power surge rendered my inlaws' computer dead. It won't turn on even though the PSU is still good. Would the source of the failure be the motherboard? If so, what kind if collateral damage could it cause? Any help would be great.

[The Yosemite Bear]

yeah, that sounds like a fried (or should I say a cajun fried) Mobo to me. Experienced more then a few of them. (note the Bear is static electricity incarnate, which is why he gets others to handle hardware for him.)

[Uraniun235]

If it won't turn on, how do you know the PSU is still good?


If it still won't turn on with a known-good PSU, though, it's entirely likely that the motherboard has been damaged. As for collateral damage, a sufficiently powerful electrical surge could destroy every component in a computer. The true extent of damage will be difficult to assess without individually checking each part.

[Netko]

If its the motherboard you're better off scrapping the old computer and getting a new one, especially if your inlaws have basic web/mail/media needs - you can't be sure that the motherboard frying didn't damage the other components and you can't really check for anything other then memory and HD. Reusing components from a motherboard that died from electrical damage is a recipe for instability. As is reusing the PSU that is theoretically still good - you can't really tell that just by the fans still running - reusing it if it was damaged could result in additional damage to new components.

All in all, when the mobo goes from electrical damage, you're better off getting a new computer.

[The Yosemite Bear]

To the above.

I've experienced the Fan turns on, and whirs, no input to the monitor, the HDD light does not come on, the powerlight in front does not come on, no dying beeps from the Mobo, dead computer before. Usually everything is fried at that point.

[Enigma]

The PSU is still good because I used it on my computer to test if it was working. I used my PSU and the one my inlaws bought yesterday on their computer and it wouldn't turn on.

[Serafina]

The best way to prevent this is to invest in a good power supply unit - those will shut down the power when overloaded.
Saved my computer more than once.

[Enigma]

Is Antec any good?

[Uraniun235]

Not always.

Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling - these are solid brands.

[[R_H]]

The best way to prevent this is to invest in a good power supply unit - those will shut down the power when overloaded.
Saved my computer more than once.

And a power strip with surge protection

[The Yosemite Bear]

The best way to prevent this is to invest in a good power supply unit - those will shut down the power when overloaded.
Saved my computer more than once.

And a power strip with surge protection

make sure it also shields your phone line if you have DSL

[Haruko]

You should consider it a priority, if you are going to buy one of those computers geared towards "basic tasks," or even one of many budget gaming computers, to ditch the crappy power supply that will inevitably come packaged with it. When searching for a new power supply, pay more attention to the quality of the unit (e.g., is it 80 Plus Certified?) rather than the amount of watts. That said, view this list for the ranking of power supply manufacturers: http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx. I recommend going for a power supply from a company under "Tier 2" in that list I linked you to. I have a gaming machine so I got Corsair's 550watt VX model from Newegg for $90, which was more than enough to handle one of the latest powerful graphics cards. If you are using a computer for basic tasks, you can spend as little as $70 for Corsair's 450watt VX model. Corsair's $55 400watt CX model is not listed, but even that would be much better than the typical stock power supply.

[Enigma]

It is a gaming rig. The setup is pretty much the same as my computer since it was me who built it.

At the moment, my inlaws are going to have it checked by an expert since it's death was the garbage company's (WM) fault. Once that is done and the company ponies up the dough then a new gaming rig will be built.

Fortunately my computer hasn't been affected as far as I know. My wife and mother in law tells me that there's a graphic glitch when they use my computer. AFAIK, it hasn't done the same to me. But I did notice an intermittent high pitch squeal\screech coming from the computer but I can't track it down.

[Enigma]

Found out the cause of the malfunction. The video card shorted out from the surge. My inlaws replaced the card with an EVGA Geforce 9400GT 512 MB.

I'm also thinking of replacing mine (my Vid card is a Geforce 8400GS 512MB) but since I do not have a lot to spend I was thinking is this card, the one my inlaws bought any good? What about the 1GB version? Or the 9500 GT 512MB? Or is there not much of a difference?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

The 9500GT is such a lousy card, that even an additional 512MB won't even save it.

[Haruko]

Get a EVGA GTX 260. You can get the regular one with 1GB of memory for under $200 at Newegg. Make sure it'll fit your case, though; like seemingly all modern powerhouse graphics cards, it is monstrous in size. Will also need that quality power supply to keep evil instability at bay.

EDIT: Nevermind. Skimmed over you being short on money. How about a EVGA GTX 250? Not sure how that card is. Might be worth checking out. ... Oh, those cost over $100, and the card you suggested is at $60. Hmm.

[Haruko]

Enigma,

I was just watching episode 103 of "Tekzilla," and there was a segment where one of the hosts, Patrick Norton, has a discussion with Jason Cross about graphics cards. For this topic, of interest is the point of the discussion where Patrick asks Jason for his recommendations for basic cards under $100. His recommendations:

- Radeon HD 4770

There is also the previous...

- Radeon HD 4850

which is faster and has dropped in price ($95 on Newegg) Says Jason, it'll run everything that's out there really, pretty well.

[Edi]

Radeon HD4850 or 4870 is the thing to go with in that range, depending on how much the price difference is. I'm not current on the very latest, but when I bought the HD4870 a year ago, it wiped the floor with everything else in a comparable price range. The Nvidia cards you suggested: Urgh...

[Vertigo1]

Not always.

Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling - these are solid brands.

Fortron Source is another solid brand. I've bought four of them over the last few years, and every single one of them still works like the day I un-packaged them. (btw, PC Power & Cooling is OCZ now.)

As for power protection, I recommend a decent UPS over a surge suppressor. Along with a power conditioner, you'll have atleast some up-time while your power is out to save whatever you're working on. On-top of this, usually you get a pretty decent warranty to cover anything connected to the unit, up-to a set dollar amount.

[phongn]

Fortron Source is another solid brand. I've bought four of them over the last few years, and every single one of them still works like the day I un-packaged them. (btw, PC Power & Cooling is OCZ now.)

FSP is pretty solid though lacks some of the niceties of more premium brands. OCZ may have purchased PCP&C but the the latter company runs semi-autonomously, IIRC.

As for power protection, I recommend a decent UPS over a surge suppressor. Along with a power conditioner, you'll have atleast some up-time while your power is out to save whatever you're working on. On-top of this, usually you get a pretty decent warranty to cover anything connected to the unit, up-to a set dollar amount.

If you get a line-interactive UPS (e.g. APC's SmartUPS) you get automatic conditioning.

[Darth Nostril]

As for power protection, I recommend a decent UPS over a surge suppressor.

The fuck? What have you been smoking?
To anyone with more than two braincells to rub together I'd recommend getting both - a six socket surge protected power strip is about £20, a 900W PSU is at the £99 mark.
The PSU will protect your computer & monitor and provide usually up to quarter of an hours power in the event of a power outage, enough time to save what you were doing and shut your computer down safely.
The surge protected power strip protects your PSU at the same time it protects your printer, scanner, router/modem and all those other devices that aren't protected by a PSU but are still connected directly to your computer, make sure you get one of those strips with the ethernet adapters too, don't want to forget that and have a lightning strike fry your entire system through the phone line.

[phongn]

As for power protection, I recommend a decent UPS over a surge suppressor.

The fuck? What have you been smoking?

Considering most decent UPS units have a number of ports one can probably dispense with the surge suppressor.

[Uraniun235]

The surge protected power strip protects your PSU at the same time it protects your printer, scanner, router/modem and all those other devices that aren't protected by a PSU but are still connected directly to your computer, make sure you get one of those strips with the ethernet adapters too, don't want to forget that and have a lightning strike fry your entire system through the phone line.

I hook my router and modem into the UPS as well, that way even if the power's out the internet's still on; desktop goes off, laptop comes on, and I've got a big enough battery to last a good while.

Considering most decent UPS units have a number of ports one can probably dispense with the surge suppressor.

Unfortunately the SmartUPS (or at least mine) doesn't have non-battery connectors, so I can't hook my battleaxe Laserjet 4MP to it.

[Darth Nostril]

As for power protection, I recommend a decent UPS over a surge suppressor.

The fuck? What have you been smoking?

Considering most decent UPS units have a number of ports one can probably dispense with the surge suppressor.

My current 900w UPS has two battery supported outlets and one surge supressed, thats enough for one computer and one monitor battery backup, second monitor (in this instance it's used for external HD use) is only surge protected. External USB 1Tb drive, printer, scanner, modem/router etc are hooked up to a surge protected power strip, as is my ethernet connection, there's just too much for an UPS to support.

[Vertigo1]

As for power protection, I recommend a decent UPS over a surge suppressor.

The fuck? What have you been smoking?
To anyone with more than two braincells to rub together I'd recommend getting both - a six socket surge protected power strip is about £20, a 900W PSU is at the £99 mark.
The PSU will protect your computer & monitor and provide usually up to quarter of an hours power in the event of a power outage, enough time to save what you were doing and shut your computer down safely.
The surge protected power strip protects your PSU at the same time it protects your printer, scanner, router/modem and all those other devices that aren't protected by a PSU but are still connected directly to your computer, make sure you get one of those strips with the ethernet adapters too, don't want to forget that and have a lightning strike fry your entire system through the phone line.

Please crawl out from under whatever rock you've been sleeping under. This is 2009, not 1995. Even the most basic UPS comes with either, or sometimes both, phone and ethernet protection. Also, basic UPS models offer straight battery power + surge on one side, and pure surge on the other. I purchased an APC 1500VA (865W) for $135 locally a couple of years ago, which maintains my gaming rig, both monitors, telephone, mouse cradle, etc. I also have an older 650VA model (just shy of 400W) protecting my file server, and network equipment.

Also, if you bother to take one apart, you'll notice that the battery runs to this thing called an inverter, which just like the surge side, is protected by A FUSE. The key differences between a cheapass surge surpressor, and a UPS, is that the UPS will keep your shit online long enough for it to be powered down safely, offer actual power protection in the form of conditioning, and THEY HAVE A WARRANTY THAT'S WORTH A DAMN should something go wrong!

Please, THINK before you type.