MEPIS Community Forum

The surge suppressor was what got fried in the washing machine, it has been temporarily bypassed by my friend who had a small appliance repair business, he said they could be rewound but, buying a new one was better

Wait, wait. Short answer- Telephone Modems and phone lines do not equate to cable and Ethernet. E.g. Phone lines on a pole get zapped much more often then underground cable.

There is still hope.

It didn't work off to buy a new mobo, If I get one that is compatible with the cpu, RAM I should just be able to swap the board, do I hear any dissenting opinions, or alternate advice ??

A bit of a mystery here the wireless router was still up and talking to the laptop just no line out through the ethernet, I saw the fry marks inside it, but the motorolla cable modem is still running

Sorry this isn't going your way. Even if the device is still partially functioning, fry marks would suggest the device is living on borrowed time. PCs resemble people in that they are both delicate and simultaneously robust. If the surge was that dramatic, there may even be non-visible, non-apparent damage that will only surface over time. It sounds like you are now in the realm of 'hit or miss'.

Per your question, yes you can just swap out the mobo but I suppose you should prepare yourself for the worst. Use memtest from the Mepis Live DVD to check your RAM, put the CPU through its paces, and use a manufacturer supplied diagnostic on the hard drive as well.


Please forgive my earlier evidently misplaced optimism. I just hate to see a good PC die.

Optimism forgiven I had a suspicion that it was going to be a replace job, I have 4 HD's the music partitions was accessible and played through amarok b4 a shutdown, I have not checked the other drives but I will have to check them with my laptop through the USB.

I have had half a mind to set up a new rig with a serious level of RAM on a 64 bit OS which means new mobo, cpu and RAM, this might be the time and I am also ready for a self build. I beleive the brains trust here is up to the task I steering me in the right direction with components and assembly of a pure GNU linux system. I believe there is a system component compatibility site can anyone tell me the name of it

Let's hope for only needing heart surgery.

This site may help: http://www.linux-drivers.org/

Best protection for any appliance is typically found in its power supply. But unfortunately, a power strip protector can compromise or bypass that protection. Read the numeric specs for any plug-in protector. It does not even claim to protect from any typically destructive surge.

Two problems to address. First is to fix (or replace) defective items. Best way to determine what can be fixed is to first define the incoming and outgoing path through each appliance. Surges seek earth ground. That would be one path. Now, what was the incoming path that used each appliance as a connection to earth?

Another defined a most common path via computers. Incoming on AC mains. An adjacent protector can bypass protection inside the power supply. Now the connection to earth is via motherboard (often not damaged) and modem (damaged) to earth ground via the phone line.

Moving on to averting future damage. The only protector that does any effective protection must connect short (ie 'less than 10 feet') to single point earth ground. No power strip or UPS has that earth ground. Those other 'solutions' claim to stop what three miles of sky could not. Or claim to absorb hundreds of thousands of joules when rated for only hundreds of joules. Total nonsense.

How does near zero protection stop destructive surges? Well, it is just above zero. That means it can claim 100% protection in advertising. They know a majority will ignore numbers. Only believe the advertising. Read each numeric specification. It does not claim to protect from destructive types of surges. Its hundreds of joules say near zero surge protection.

Informed homeowners earth one 'whole house' protector from a long list of more responsible companies including Square D, General Electric, ABB, Intermatic, Siemens, and Leviton. A Cutler Hammer solution sells in Lowes and Home Depot for less than $50. Do you want protection for everything? Or more mythical devices with near zero numbers?

Each damaged items made a connection from an incoming surge to earth. That path to earth determines what can be fixed and what is best binned. This you also know. Nothing can provide effective protection once that energy is permitted inside the house. Nothing.

Either earth hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly outside. Or that energy goes hunting destructively. Selects appliances that make a best and destructive connection to earth. Protection is always (as was true even 100 years ago) always about earthing energy harmlessly outside. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground - an all so critical 'less than 10 foot' connection.

For those who wish to get up to speed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surge_protector

Not a bad idea to look over this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterrup ... wer_supply