Any Plans Today Unregistered?

[starlaugh]

Originally posted by Raj

still struggling mate? what with now?

Well i was downloading stuff last night, i left my pc running as i went out for a pint and smoke... well i came back and it was making a funny sound, when i got me screen on again it was frozen at the boot screen saying "detecting IDE drives" I think a hard drive is fooked!

So again i am not a happy bunny! shouldnt be to bad though as i have two hard drive in there, one for my music and videos etc and one for programs. So i might be able to rescue something

Oh my last problem was just screwed memory Raj....

[Raj]

Blah - have you got a surge protector on your machine? sounds like your electrics need one....

[dennerley]

hey what are peeps up 2 tonite? any partys goin off anyware

[starlaugh]

No mate... is it something i should be looking at getting one then?

I have never rellay had issues like this before with out, i do think that one of the hard drives was on its way out as when i was reformatting it i noticed it was installed with windows 98 so it has probably come to a gracefull end. (also i maybe shouldnt have played with the overclocking settings )

[Raj]

Surge protectors are a cheap [and therefore disposible] form of protection for your pc [about £15 in a local hardware or pc or supermarket ] which you plug into the wall and then plug all your pc devices into....if the house power supply surges for any reason then it will burn out the surge protector instead of the surge damaging your pc components...

I have then scattered about the house as our power supply can be a little spiky at times and its a lot cheaper to replace the surge protectors than repair the electrical goods they are protecting

Its possible that the two problems you have had are unrelated but the fact they are so close together makes me think you would benefit from a surge protector [if there have been more than 2 probs in the last 8 weeks I would run out and buy one now ]

[starlaugh]

Well i think i will take your advice and when i get paid i will get my pc and stuff wired through one..

I always wondered what they were for and could never imagine why anyone would need one, i think i may have found that out now...

[Raj]

I found out the hard way - a power surge blew up lightbulbs [2] and a toaster [that was spectacular - it went out with a loud bang] and damaged the pc I had at the time

[General Lighting]

that sounds like a phase cross (400V where there should only be 230V!)

if you have your power on overhead poles than these are essential.. in some areas the infrastructure of the electricity network is the same as it was 60 years ago

[Raj]

I was on a spur line which ran past me to a dairy farm - and when the dairy switched on/off the power surged madly for about 90 -120 secs and then settled down....eventually the engineers got it sorted so well done them

[starlaugh]

If you do get a power surge would it effect everything plugged in and turned on then?

[Raj]

you plug the surge into the wall and treat it as a 4 or 6 way board - anything you plug into it will be protected.

Try and get one with an indicator light which will tell you if it has been surged or a test button so that you know when to replace it [and remember to check it regularly ]

[General Lighting]

Originally posted by starlaugh

If you do get a power surge would it effect everything plugged in and turned on then?

yep, and it is not nice at all (used to work in a place where we ended up repairing or replacing the power supplies of customers' equipment when this happened).

[Raj]

oops didnt read the question properly

[General Lighting]

as for today just the usual work stuff, probably having a chilled out evening but hope to be partying this weekend...

[starlaugh]

Well everything else seemed to work this morning just my PC was belly up so i am gonna hope it wasn't a power surge. (just remembered there is a spare protector in a cupboard at home)