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We had a small disaster here. Click here for background music

At a quarter past 11 last night, we suddenly heard a bang and some sparking noises coming from the area near the computer. What exactly happened,we don't know. But the results are:
-Computer has apparently melted. The Vista won't respond to the on/off button. The monitor and speakers are apparently still working. I'm fearing for the life of the terabyte external drive, since if we lost that as well we may have lost a lot of photo and film material.
-TV is out. It'll go on stand by, but when it's turned on the power light will flicker. VHS, DVD and CD-i all seem to be working, but it's hard to tell. Fortunately we brought my great aunt's television.
-Dad got a wireless phone set for his birthday just a few months back. The receiver's out. The phones themselves still work (although both were in the power slot) but with no receiver working they're of little use.
We hooked up our old phone. When Dad turned on the TV this morning (temporarily forgetting what had happened), the power light was still blinking, but on top of that he heard strange tones. They appeared to come from the phone. It had automatically gone on speaker mode, triggered by my father's attempt to use the TV.

In the past month we lost our coffee maker (which caused a power failure in the house), our car, and now TV, phone and computer. Tough times.

I think I'd panic if my computer melted . I hope you can figure out what it was so that it won't happen again.

By now we've done a small investigation:
The television, phone and PC are in no way connected to each other at all. They're not even on the same electrical outlet.
After plugging in the wireless phone, it worked again.

We had no such luck with the PC (not working) or TV (stand by is manageable but nothing else, and it operated the phone from a distance). We've opened both. There seems to be nothing wrong with either: no obvious burns in any compartment or anything.

We hooked up an old TV (a portable TV/radio/cassette thingy with a black and white screen with a smashing thre inch diameter), which works.
We hooked up Gran's XP computer. It's slow, but it works.

The only thing that would really make sense if there had been a bit of a power peak, that we were briefly given 260 volts instead of 240. So we phoned the electrical company and they're sending someone over to investigate.

It's mind-boggling, also considering how other equipment that was hooked up at the time (my laptop, the lamps, VHS, external hard drive etc) is still functioning.

But it scared us badly, we were scared to sleep because there might just be a short circuit setting the house on fire.

I really hope the electric company can help you (and that they don't try to pin it on something else to avoid any responsibilities if it turns out to be from their end)

The guy couldn't do anything for us, there's nothing wrong with our distribution board and we need to call the company on Monday.
Power peak is extremely rare and would probably blow out more than just three things. It's possible we temporarily got a little less power.
Still doesn't explain how come the phone suddenly was switched onto speaker when we tried the TV.

...Poltergeist?

BBP wrote:...Poltergeist?

Lol, I was just about to suggest the same (non serious) idea .

Space aliens? Dutch government resuming seating? The kryptonite in my pocket? *shrug*

Seriously, sorry to hear about all this, Bonny. That really sucks. I have no idea what could have happened to give you these results! I hope the electric company work this out quickly for you. *sends positive vibes and hugs*

Out of interest, did you have a surge protector on your computer?

No, but those things in reality rarely serve purpose. It's extremely rare for an electrical company to give too much power, so such things are primarily used by companies around here.
We're looking for a new computer PSU.

DeadPoolX wrote:Out of interest, did you have a surge protector on your computer?

+1.

Rare or not, you want one especially where there's a computer. It's going to stop any strange surge from frying your electrical devices.

Better safe than sorry.

A really good surge protector is good to have for a variety of reasons. Normal line fluctuations are not going to be noticed by most devices, but something like a PC is different. These fluctuations can cause instability or flakiness in an otherwise stable system. Bu most importantly, it can be a last line of defense against catastrophic events. Perhaps buried utilities are less vulnerable to things like lightning strikes. things can still happen. I am not sure how the power distribution is setup there, but here we get 2 out of phase "hots" at 120 VAC and one neutral. To get 220 VAC the two hots are used, but if these lines are crossed two can get more than 120 on one line, sending this charge on one line to a device designed for 110-120 VAC. This can happen to buried utilities, too. It is far cheaper and easier to replace a surge protector than a PC.

It's all been very odd: if an extra surge was given by the power station (which almost never occurs) then there would have been more people on the block with issues, and other equipment would likely be out as well. But other sensitive equipment, like the microwave and the fridge, still live. We should also have seen flashes and blinking lights, but we didn't notice anything like that.
Since there was no lightning anywhere it was probably not a power surge.

At any rate, we found that electrical fuses in both TV and PC are dead. This breaking could indeed be caused by a power surge, but since that is probably not what happened we are completely at a loss. We haven't lost hope: we're installing new fuses in the appliances, and if that doesn't work we've located a PCU for the Vista.

BBP, you have the worst luck of anyone I know.

Could luck with fixing things and i hope it doens't happen again .

Aw Dot my dear, I guess it's all that Donald Duck I'm reading.

When we put the new fuse in the TV, there was a big spark. When the electricity can't get to the television past the fuse anymore, it stays locked in there, and it suddenly discharged causing the spark. No injuries or damage thank heavens, but it's very frightening, you know how much them things hurt.
The new fuse is in the TV but we haven't tried it yet: the PC is more important.

So, after having taken out and taken apart the PSU and removed the dead fuse...
-Insulated one leg on the new fuse. Was tricky.
-Soldered the fuse on the green PSU board
-Fiddled the board in position and screwed it on
-Made sure the spaghetti wiring went in the right direction (through the hole, except for the ones attached to the fan)
-Unscrewed and cleaned the fan, then screwed it back on.
-Carefully reassembled PSU
-Assembled PC.
The cable between the electrical outlet and the PC was in the outlet on one end when we put it in the PC.

Spark.

PC didn't respond: totally dead.
Cause was the PSU board which was not exactly in the right place, so it made a short circuit. The old fuse didn't show any sign of damage besides the fact it was completely dead: now the new fuse is jet black.

And that is why, when you go to get small electrical parts like resistances and fuses, you should buy more than one. Ho hum.