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Thread ID: 58370 2005-05-29 12:25:00 Big stupid power surges every 5 mins....? george12 (7) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
359595 2005-05-29 12:25:00 OK, over the last 15 minutes there have been 3 of these and lots of random streetlights turning on and off (and blocks of HOUSES flashing on and off). What's goin on?

There was a kindof flash, and my PC rebooted and all the houses I could see except in the far distance went black - EXCEPT ours. There are streetlights dotted around that are on, but our street is black.

My house is the only one nearby I can see that is still lit (who knows why).

Then it happened 2 more times, with random whole blocks of houses and streetlights turning on and off in between.

Whats going on?
george12 (7)
359596 2005-05-29 12:42:00 yeah it's being flickering here as well(in the hutt) plod (107)
359597 2005-05-29 12:43:00 you might want to turn your PC off and call it a night.... andrew93 (249)
359598 2005-05-29 12:54:00 Your in the Welly area aren't you George & Plod? Short but vicious thunderstorm out here in the Hutt . UPS kicking in & out, Family puter booted, TV went off then on . One absolute cracker of a bolt split the air outside, no delay from flash to crash .

Shut everything off, even pulled the ph line though I have a UPS .

All gone now :thumbs:
Murray P (44)
359599 2005-05-29 13:17:00 Yeah it's all fine now but the rest of my neigborhood is still totally out. We're fine though, so it's all good :p george12 (7)
359600 2005-05-29 13:29:00 Yea, its been doing it for the past 30 mins here in Palmerston North. Killed the External Modem for about 10 mins. was wondering my my internet died.

some PCs have good PSUs..The PC wont actually reboot from power fluctuations or brown outs. i think my PSU has that feature as the VCR and TV went on and off whilst my PC stayed running fine.
Jams (1051)
359601 2005-05-29 14:55:00 some PCs have good PSUs..The PC wont actually reboot from power fluctuations or brown outs. i think my PSU has that feature as the VCR and TV went on and off whilst my PC stayed running fine.

Mine has BRILLIANT surge/brownout protection....... Its called "laptop battery" :D
personthingy (1670)
359602 2005-05-29 20:17:00 errr........do you also have a wireless connection ?........cause ifyou have that nice phone cable connected you aint protected at all and 'zap catchers' DONT stop lightening....... drcspy (146)
359603 2005-05-29 21:31:00 Mine has BRILLIANT surge/brownout protection....... Its called "laptop battery" :D

heh heh

Man, who'd want to live in Wellington :eek:
Greg (193)
359604 2005-05-29 21:53:00 errr........do you also have a wireless connection ?........cause ifyou have that nice phone cable connected you aint protected at all and 'zap catchers' DONT stop lightening.......Modem? Yes flaptop came with one of them, but i dont send faxes, so i've never used it. Don't even know if it works! I think that the chances of lightening producing surges on the all-underground cable-internet line that are big enough to get through the cable modem and fry my network card are very slim. The cable modem is vonerable from ground surges, but then again, moreso is the eathed cable TV box. I'm yet to hear of lightning taking one of them out. Worst likely scenario i can see is if one of Jade Staduims 4 huge lightning rods takes a phenomonal lightning strike, then the ground current may induce a nasty voltage on the local cable TV system, there may be a burnt out cable TV decoder or 2 in the area (if any of the local junkie peasant community HAVE cable TV), i may have a burnt out hired cable modem for Telsta to replace, and if that lot doesnt take it all then eth0 might be at risk....... O well nevermind Start again. :eek:

Anyway, i thought the issue was with power fluctuations, not damage from induced monster spikes? :yuck:
personthingy (1670)
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