I'm keying on a foreign laptop instrument this morning in a dark dining room. My longtime fruitful desktop bit the dust yesterday during a handful of brownouts.
In case you were wondering, brownouts are the opposite of surges (too much voltage). Too little voltage or loss of voltage can shut down your electronics and then to make matters worse, they can be followed by spikes/surges that can literally "fry" the tiny parts in your machine. Put a couple of cycles of these events together and you could be left with a heap of useless machinery. These guys happen just as frequently as power surges but they don't get the same recognition. I think it's discriminating.
I refuse to believe there is anything wrong with my desktop other than a fried power supply, which is the part with a moving fan on the back of a desktop. If you haven't seen this part inside the chassis then all it is is a box with lots of wires protruding from it to plug into the various components inside the desktop providing a power source distribution. The main power cord's female end is plugged into the back of the box and then into a wall outlet. Thus providing the necessary low voltage direct current (DC) conversion before distributing to the tiny parts inside. This device "wears out" after many years of use. It can get weighed down with dust or depending on user habits - leaving the machine on during non-active times vs. shutting it down - it may get continuous use - for years.
One other contributing factor is the desktop's environment. This power supply runs the cooling systems inside the machine which is critical to keeping the machine safe and running. Providing adequate ventilation and air-conditioning for your desktop means that the internally cooling system does not have to work so hard and draw so much power. In my previous life, as an A+ hardware student and technical support, I would come across desktops that were caked with a brown sticky substance that turned out to be second hand smoke deposits. Yuck.
So how do you prevent total annihilation you ask. Surge protectors do a good job of regulating the voltage and grounding your device but not do nothing when the power drops out. Purchasing a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) ranging from $60 - $100 can save your machine. Is it worth the insurance? Yeah. This device provides a couple of functions that can give you peace of mind. One, of course, is the surge/brownout protection and two, a battery backup. If the power goes out or drops out completely, then the device will continue to provide continuous power for about 6 to 7 min. for a lower end model. This gives you enough time to get to the machine and safely shut it down or wait out the outage. These devices should be replaced every two years.
The last question you might ask is, why weren't you using yours? I admit I have one but I use it for the TV, WI and cable box. These devices seemed worthier. I've learned my lesson - buy a second one if needed. Now I have to replace my machine and fast. I was planning to buy the machine I use at work from my employer because I've had it for 3 1/2 years already and all the developers will be receiving brand new AWESOME machines soon anyway. But I don't have the new AWESOME machine yet so I may be stuck with a work laptop for a little while at home.
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