...and we're back

[velessa]

Computer fixed. The power outage messed up the voltage or overclocking on the motherboard? Something like that, I don't know. Dad had to come over and get it to boot up from a disk and then fixed whatever the problem was. Phew! I think I'll go ahead and get a UPS to avoid more of this, I didn't realize just having the computer plugged in even if it was turned off was enough to make bad things happen. =p

ETA: But grrrrr, two of my external hard drives (out of four) aren't turning on now! All four of them were plugged in to the same power strip, WTF?

Comments

[fullburn.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear there was no permanent damage to your main at least... the HDs have even less of a "buffer" against damage than your PC does, and there's not necessarily an easy way to repair them, but on the plus side your data won't have been damaged, just the control circuit if anything.

A lot of it depends on where you live, and how well your part of the power grid is maintained, right down to how good the wiring is in your place, but the rule is if you have one problem somewhere you'll likely have more. UPSes start around $50, but to power a whole PC and equipment you'll want to go a bit above that, to the $90-ish range. If you'll have that PC, monitor, and 4 HDs plugged in, look for 400 or 450 watts. An average PC takes about 200 idle, 300 under load, and each HD about an extra 20, and monitors I'm not sure but would guess 20-50. APC and CyberPower are the most well-known, something like this might be right for you: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842101311

Good luck... ^^;