POWER OUTRAGE.....What happens if....

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TOMMY

When is the most dangerous time working with a computer and having a power
outrage?e.g.: Restoring XP, Installing a software, Formatting the hard disk,
saving files ,......?

And what shall a fellow do if the case happens in the middle of one of
theses activities?

Regards.
 
from the wonderful said:
When is the most dangerous time working with a computer and having a power
outrage?e.g.: Restoring XP, Installing a software, Formatting the hard disk,
saving files ,......?
Click to expand...

Converting from FAT32->NTFS or vice versa.
Flashing a new BIOS (or other firmware, e.g. DVD drive).
I guess restoring, upgrading, etc. would be in there too .. you may be
left in an 'in between' state that isn't workable.

Anything involving a lot of disk activity isn't too clever anyway - with
FAT32 you may corrupt the disk (less likely with NTFS, but you may still
lose file(s)), and occasionally you can physically damage the disk
(modern disks are a bit saner about it that the early ones used to be).
And what shall a fellow do if the case happens in the middle of one of
theses activities?
Click to expand...

Cry. Pray. There really isn't anything useful you can do - at the point
the lights go off the damage is already done (or not). Best thing to do
is get a UPS before you do this stuff. Second best thing, check the
weather (and round here the time - 'scheduled' power blips seem to be
done on the hour, for some reason).
 
Depends on what value you place on each of the categories you listed. Get
yourself a UPS. Some are selling for as low as $30.

At any rate, without a UPS, a power outage during the middle of some process
that includes writes to your hard drive will result in the loss of some
data.
 
Becareful with UPS's though. I just bought on a few days ago. It says
it'll last 19 minutes, but that is only with an IMac with a 15" LCD screen.
My computer, a high-end power sucker, with a 19" CRT monitor, will only get
less than 2 minutes of power. As well, I am returning it to the store,
since, if my computer is in standby and the power goes out, the computer
will wake up, and then hibernate. This sudden requirement for power will
trip the circuit breaker for my UPS, since it thinks there is a power surge.
I'm not sure about all UPS's, because mine was the APC Back-UPS EZ 350, and
only cost $75.00 CND. In short, an 'eco-UPS' :-P.

--
Check out http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com for amazing tweaks and fixes

Member of "Newsgroups are for everyone" (Perdita X. Twitt is a
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Change the obvious to the obvious.
------------------
Hi

Any outage when a PC is turned on can be disastrous - best to invest in an
UPS - that way you will have time to save any data files that you are
working and be able to shut the PC down properly.

If you in the middle of an install, with XP, the install 'should' pick up
where it left off - but that can't guaranteed - a piece of hardware could
have been fried by then. With a format, again you 'should' be able to pick
up... unless the HD is fried...

Will
 
I do agee with you.... but the problem is with those half rewritten files
which are flied away in the middle of the work..you know...
 
The computer makes a copy of the data to the new location, *then* deletes
the old data. If there is a power outage, the computer will clean up the
half written files.

--
Check out http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com for amazing tweaks and fixes

Member of "Newsgroups are for everyone" (Perdita X. Twitt is a
self-appointed, self-righteous, ruthless, bitchy net-cop too!)

Email address is fake to prevent SPAM.
Real email address is pcyr2000 AT hotmail DOT com
Change the obvious to the obvious.
------------------
 
Becareful with UPS's though. I just bought on a few days ago. It says
it'll last 19 minutes, but that is only with an IMac with a 15" LCD screen.
My computer, a high-end power sucker, with a 19" CRT monitor, will only get
less than 2 minutes of power.

PCyr:

Use APC's UPS selector to size a UPS:
http://www.apcc.com/template/size/apc/
 
If you invested the money to buy a computer, invest to protect it and the
data on it. Use surge protectors for peripherals such as printers. Get a
good UPS that will endure a few minutes of outage (sometimes the outage is
very short).

Brands and prices vary so shop around. Find a good buy on www.pricewatch.com
(other + backup supplies).

Al
 
Good advice. That's what I was saying. Guess I wasn't clear enough.

--
Check out http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com for amazing tweaks and fixes

Member of "Newsgroups are for everyone" (Perdita X. Twitt is a
self-appointed, self-righteous, ruthless, bitchy net-cop too!)

Email address is fake to prevent SPAM.
Real email address is pcyr2000 AT hotmail DOT com
Change the obvious to the obvious.
 
In this respect, as well as 'surge protectors', you get what you pay for.
Good UPS solutions cost BUCKS.

-
PCyr stood up at show-n-tell, in (e-mail address removed), and
said:
 
I think the most dangerous time working with a computer is when you are
on top of a ladder in the middle of a room with a laptop and the lights
go out. I think you should wait until the lights come back on before
trying to climb down.

The worst time to suffer a power outrage when using the computer is when
you are doing a BIOS upgrade. Could be time to replace the motherboard.
That is certainly an outrage.

Next is restoring or defragmenting a hard drive. Formatting doesn't much
matter since you can just do it again. But screwing up your file system
could lose you a lot of data.

Why not get a UPS? and a flashlight, while you're at it.
 
When is the most dangerous time working with a computer and having a power
outrage?e.g.: Restoring XP, Installing a software, Formatting the hard disk,
saving files ,......?
Click to expand...

Doing any major system reinstallation, or operation like using a
partition manager to resize a partition. Or something that is making
certain types of modification to the registry, eg in the middle of a
system restore. Formatting the disk is no problem, because you would
just start over, and installing software can again be restarted to
complete copying files etc. If you have been working on files and it
happens in the middle of a save you will lose the modifications, but
the process usually makes at least a temporary backup
 
If a surge protector is supposed to protect by shutting off power to
the computer. By what you people are saying that a power failure of
any type could damage your computer. This is not nice to know.
Should I not use a surge protector? Is the bug cause by a nt based
system?


For Info.
An emachine 2040w will work fine after a power failure. XP may not.
You may have to use F8 to restore to the last good configurations.
Worse case you may have to restore from back up.
I ran check disk afterwards. No bad sectors.


Tip if your in a middle of partition and
the restart disk don't work.

DATA WILL BE LOST, if not already.
Get a win98se bootdisk. Use fdisk.
Fdisk the whole drive. (You redo your partitioning later)
Now reboot
Format c:
wait about 30 to 90+ minutes depending on the speed of your drive.
the
sys c: (do this regardless of what system your going to use)
reboot than restore from backup.
otherwise you have to reinstall from scratch

This is my experience.

Greg P Rozelle

Snipped.




Disclaimer
My advice is as-is. It could trash your system.
 
A surge protector keeps voltage surges or spikes from reaching your
computer.
It does not shut the computer down.
Protection from loss of power is obtained by using a UPS (Universal Power
Supply).
A good surge protector will also filter your phone line.
 
I guess the power fluctuating to low levels can mess up your system. It did
to mine and other people I know.

--
Check out http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com for amazing tweaks and fixes

Member of "Newsgroups are for everyone" (Perdita X. Twitt is a
self-appointed, self-righteous, ruthless, bitchy net-cop too!)

Email address is fake to prevent SPAM.
Real email address is pcyr2000 AT hotmail DOT com
Change the obvious to the obvious.
------------------
 
Greg said:
If a surge protector is supposed to protect by shutting off power to
the computer. By what you people are saying that a power failure of
any type could damage your computer. This is not nice to know.
Should I not use a surge protector? Is the bug cause by a nt based
system?
Click to expand...

A surge protector just bypasses the surge of high voltage caused by a
(fairly near but not TOO near) lightning strike, or the like. Which is
more likely if your power comes in by overhead cable than if by buried
ones. Its main purpose is to protect against physical damage. It does
not help with momentary power drop outs, and a strike may still leave
enough disturbance to cause the system to power down. If you have a lot
of those, the need is for an Uninterruptable power supply (UPS). I seem
to get something of the sort maybe once a year - and the system has
always powered back up. AND I have a complete backup, reasonably
recent, of the system partition on a DVD, from which I could put things
back - if necessary on completely new hardware. That to me is the most
important precaution
 
I was trying to hack into this wireless network and I was looking for a
signal. ;-)
 
Hi Joan

'In between visits' ATM. When are you going to venture into the ..general NG? BTW - 3rd series of 'The Osbournes' starting soon. - I know, but thought that you might too know <VSG>.

Will
 
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