A good supply of power is critical to continued reliable operation of your computer hardware.

Computers use something called a "switching power supply" to supply power from the wall socket to the electronics inside.
It is critical that the power supply to the electronics is clean, sufficient and uninterrupted.  Any deficiency in any of these areas will result in some form of computer failure.  Most common computers require voltages of  +12Volts, +5volts -12 volts -5 volts +/-5%.  Newer computers and some brand name computers may use even more different voltages.  Keeping your computer within the voltage tolerance as written in your specification section of the computer manual or main board manual is very important.  To do this requires a variety of different precautionary and maintenance understandings.  The most common of all power supply failures can be attributed to power supply fan.  Without the power supply fan pushing the required air through the supply,  the power supply can overheat and inevitably fail due to a condition known as thermal runaway.  When thermal runaway occurs an electronic component i.e. transistor will heat up, as it heats up it passes more current and current makes it even hotter, consequently the temperature begins to run away and the component fails or switches out.  Keeping your fan dust free and pushing the required amount of air at all times will ensure you of adequate power supply ventilation and cooling to your system.

Some of the power coming out of your wall sockets may not be as clean and reliable as you may want for your system. Fear not, there is a solution.  In areas of somewhat questionable electrical power we recommend the use of a battery back up system.  These systems will provide clean and regulated power to your PC and monitor in the event of a power failure giving you the time you need to shut down the system, saving your work and system files.  The type of battery back up system you may require depends upon the total requirements of your system and/or network.  For example a file server serving 5 to 20  workstations using critical programs should have battery on the server that can last a minimum of 30 minutes and have soft power down software.  Each workstation should also have its own battery back up system to provide ample time to close all mission critical files and applications.  For home PCs the use of a battery back up may be considered a luxury, however the cost of a battery backup system can far over shadow the luxury of having to reconstruct all your files in the event of a major failure.

Another precaution more commonly used but of lessor overall protection is known as the "surge protector".  Now these devices range in quality and effectiveness (you pretty much get what you pay for).  Lesser quality surge protectors or surge strips contain the least number of components to protect your machine against a single event, thus rendering it useless for a second event. Higher quality surge suppressers can provide continued protection against most events but you pay a little bit more for them. Top quality surge suppressers will have a bank of metal oxide varistors, fuse, thermal fuse, RFI coils active line monitoring, and a time/current breaker switch.  These are generally considered very good surge protectors, key word surge. These do not protect you against outages they only protect you when the voltage or current exceeds a set amount.  However they too have limits and can fail if they are hit with far too much voltage.  For example if the overhead power lines leading into your home or business are hit by lightning while your using you're computer not only will it more than likely fry your surge protector but your computer and possibly you (please don’t use your computer during thunderstorms).  Your best line of defense against a thunderstorm is to unplug your computer and modem and maybe any other electronic devices around you. A surge suppressers' effectiveness at dissipating large amounts of energy is rated in Joules.  (a measurement of capacity of energy) the higher the joule rating the better protection you will have. Other considerations for clean and uninterrupted power would be line conditioners and possibly even gasoline/diesel generators.  If your emergency power were supplied by a generator, it would be very important to know how clean the generator output is.  Fluctuations in voltage, current, frequency and load conditions in generators can put undue stress into your computer power supply causing your system to act erratically.  A good solution would be a line conditioner capable of supplying the total number of watts your system needs plus 100%.  For example if your system requires 700 watts of power it is recommended you look into a line conditioner designed for 1500-watt usage.

When reassessing your computer needs, consider the cost of these types of precautions, against the cost of total system failure due to some power anomaly.  With the recent changes in the supply of electrical power throughout this area we need to begin to take more serious action when it comes to protecting your system and data. Contact your computer service provider and discuss the needs to protect your system from power related events.

Copyright Alpine Computer Service 2001