Power issues
Aug. 11th, 2006 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oneirophreniaFirst of all, thanks to all the folks who posted suggestions and tips on the previous entry. Many of them revolved around power-supply issues, and that's been the approach that I've found most likely for these problems since they all started. But by this point I've eliminated power issues as the problem.
First, the wiring in my house is actually more or less new--it was put in around 2001/2002. When I moved in here, I used a friend's voltimeter to check the various outlets around my house to be sure they could handle my power needs, and they were all fine. All of my hardware is plugged into two power strips, both of which can handle LARGE spikes in power (up to 1600 volts or watts or whatever), and they both have diagnostic lights that indicate if they've intercepted a surge, how much of a voltage fluctuation there was, and so forth. They've been tripped a few times by fairly moderate power spikes, but each time they intercepted them perfectly fine and nothing was harmed.
Also, both monitors were plugged in to the same power strip. If some kind of power surge hit one, it would've taken BOTH of them out. But the smaller monitor is perfectly okay. And the two external drives that are plugged into that same strip are fine as well. None of the individual outlets on the strip were tripped in any way...so there isn't a power issue coming from either the wall socket or the power strips.
If there is a power issue, it would HAVE to be coming from the power supply in the computer's case. But, again, I don't know how a voltage spike from the power supply could've, say, killed the monitor without killing everything else. Consider: the spike would've had to pass through the motherboard and then through my video card to reach the monitor via the monitor cable plugged into the card. There's no way a voltage spike could've kicked the monitor without frying the motherboard and the video card.
Unless the problem is not with the case's power supply at all, but somehow involves the motherboard's own wiring. But I don't even see how that could be possible.
All I know is that I've already eliminated the wall socket and power strips as sources of damage. I'm definitely taking everyone's suggestions and getting a UPS as soon as I can afford one, just as an extra measure of safety, but....
First, the wiring in my house is actually more or less new--it was put in around 2001/2002. When I moved in here, I used a friend's voltimeter to check the various outlets around my house to be sure they could handle my power needs, and they were all fine. All of my hardware is plugged into two power strips, both of which can handle LARGE spikes in power (up to 1600 volts or watts or whatever), and they both have diagnostic lights that indicate if they've intercepted a surge, how much of a voltage fluctuation there was, and so forth. They've been tripped a few times by fairly moderate power spikes, but each time they intercepted them perfectly fine and nothing was harmed.
Also, both monitors were plugged in to the same power strip. If some kind of power surge hit one, it would've taken BOTH of them out. But the smaller monitor is perfectly okay. And the two external drives that are plugged into that same strip are fine as well. None of the individual outlets on the strip were tripped in any way...so there isn't a power issue coming from either the wall socket or the power strips.
If there is a power issue, it would HAVE to be coming from the power supply in the computer's case. But, again, I don't know how a voltage spike from the power supply could've, say, killed the monitor without killing everything else. Consider: the spike would've had to pass through the motherboard and then through my video card to reach the monitor via the monitor cable plugged into the card. There's no way a voltage spike could've kicked the monitor without frying the motherboard and the video card.
Unless the problem is not with the case's power supply at all, but somehow involves the motherboard's own wiring. But I don't even see how that could be possible.
All I know is that I've already eliminated the wall socket and power strips as sources of damage. I'm definitely taking everyone's suggestions and getting a UPS as soon as I can afford one, just as an extra measure of safety, but....
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-11 05:36 pm (UTC)2) Power *spikes* are not the only concern. IN fact, its a pretty minor concern. Changes in the voltages which are too low to cause a spike also cause damage to transformers (which are in *everything*) and systems.
3) You have two monitors on the same strip - fine. Are they identical? Same components, same history, manufactured at the same time to the same tolerances? Probably not.
4) Motherboards do crap out. There are a lot of capacitors on there you may have noticed.
This doesn't mean external power issues were the cause but considereing the problems you have been having then I would look at power issues as being a possible source of them.