If it was a massive voltage surge created by the AC utility,
then you are replacing microwave ovens, clock radios, all
kitchen and bathroom GFCIs, furnace and air conditioner
controls, etc. Virtually every household appliance. Most of
those items will be damaged by a utility created surge before
computer is damaged. Computer power supplies are that robust
as even required in Intel specs.
But if a lightning strike (and most strikes leave no
appreciable indication) did the damage, then utility has no
obligation to replace anything. IOW that type of transient
damage would be directly traceable to homeowner who failed to
install 'whole house' protectors AND who bought plug-in
protectors such as a UPS. Utility then has no obligation for
this 'one time' type of event.
As for that UPS warranty; manufacturer will do everything
possible to not honor the warranty. Newsgroups list people
whose warranty was not honored due to fine print exemptions in
those warranties. Exemptions that are often not provided with
the ineffective protector. What is the difference between
well proven, highly regarded protectors verses those that
don't even claim to protect from all types of surges? The
latter offer a big buck warranty with fine print exemptions so
that the warranty will not be honored. Real world protector
manufacturers, instead, offer no warranty. 'Real'
manufacturers offer real world protection. 'Real' protectors
are characterized by a 'less than 10 foot' connection to
common earth ground.
If your cable modem was properly installed (properly
earthed), then incoming transients would not enter the
building. So where did the destructive transient enter - if
not via cable? That UPS (that uses same circuit found in
power strip protectors) provided the transient with more
potentially destructive paths to earth via adjacent computer.
Yes, plug-in UPS can even complete the surge destructive
circuit through an adjacent and powered off computer.
How to identify ineffective protectors: 1) no dedicated
connection less than 10 feet to single point earth ground, and
2) avoids all discussion about earthing. A plug-in UPS meets
both criteria for ineffective. No earth ground means no
effective protection. So instead that manufacturer offers a
big buck warranty so that consumers somehow assume a myth:
surge protector is same as surge protection.
What kind of surges are so destructive and not the
obligation of the power utility? Typically they "only
happened the one time and never again" because destructive
transients occur typically once every eight years.
Which is smarter? A UPS that does not even claim to protect
from the typically destructive type of surge and that offers a
warranty chock full of hidden exemptions? Or a 'real world'
protector that instead actually protects from all types of
destructive surges - and therefore does not offer any 'hype'
warranty.
Why did you have damage? UPS was only as effective as its
earth ground - which all but did not exist. No earth ground
means no effective protection. But then you already have that
"now expensive" proof.
