You guys have been so sweet! I'll get a newsurgeprotector. I feel really lucky that my
desktopcomputerrevived. In the meantime, however, my old laptop died. The hard drive
started clunking, and now it won't boot up; I get a message that there's no operating
system. It, too, was about 7 years old, and served me well.
Changes are the disk drive has simply died with no relationship to
AC power.
Meanwhile, just because it is called a surge protector does not mean
it also provides surge protection. Protection is earth ground.
Protector is simply a device to connect surges to earth. But plug-in
protectors don't have that necessary earthing connection; may even
earth surges destructively through the computer.
If concerned with such AC electric anomalies (that typically occur
once every seven years), then you need one protector for everything in
the house that actually has that earthing connection. 'Whole house'
protectors are sold only by more responsible companies, are located
where your utilities enter the building, and have that short (ie 'less
than 10 foot') connection to earth.
You phone line and cable already have those protectors installed for
free. But AC electric does not until you have it installed.
Responsible names include GE, Siemens, Cutler-Hammer, Intermatic,
Leviton, Keison, Square D, and others. Not on that list are less
responsible companies such as APC, Tripplite, Belkin, and Monster
Cable. Products from the latter have no dedicated earthing wire AND
do not even claim to provide surge protection in their numeric
specifications.
Appreciate the difference between a protector and protection.
Effective protection ends up costing about $1 per protected appliance
AND actually does earth a type of surge that is destructive.