Computer Died

Gus R

@Mike-Amos Mike, is your house grounded? Are your outlets grounded?

Mike Amos

All outlets are linked and grounded. It's a standard required for ALL rental properties now, the last place I stayed did not have this feature but the gas safety engineer simply rubber stamped the safety forms. I got that place checked by my energy supplier and basically it bankrupted the owner.
A similar situation back in 97, Sara and I stayed in an attic bedsit. The idiots owned six flats in two adlacent buildings and denied everyone access to the gardens. When we left, the fire service and council fit for rental scheme handed them work orders that were in excess of £30k per flat. Our skylight was not secured to the rafters and opening the skylight basically took it out of the roof.
When we left, the owners wife came out and flipped the bird, I said to her it was rude and should I report it to the police. Grovelling apology.
Some people really are sad.

Gus R

@Mike-Amos Place I'm at isn't grounded even though it's a three prong plug. I'm certain. It's not a rental property anymore it's a 100+ year old house.

I think my only option for protection is either a UPS or I found this one outfit that builds non-grounded surge protectors. Called "ZeroSurge." Only problem is their 2-plug version is $263. I called them up today to double check and the man said, yes. No need to be grounded.

2 Outlet - ZeroSurge

ZeroSurge® 2 Outlet Product Page ZeroSurge 2 Outlet, 15 Amp Surge Protector 2R15W – #002-00703 2 Always on outlets with 15 amp capacity 6 Foot, 14 gauge power cord Flat, space saving plug Heavy duty, magnetic shielded steel enclosure Non-sacrificial filter technology

ZeroSurge (zerosurge.com)

You or Rich think a UPS alone would work?

Mike Amos

I'm not an electrician so cannot say and the last time I came into contact with UPS it was work related. ALL hospital departments have to have a UPS local to them and all the homes I have lived in as an adult were grounded to some degree or other. Any elctricians in the forum membership?

Mike Amos

Pardon me, dyslexic tryping fingers. Electricians...... Doh.

Gus R

@Mike-Amos said in Computer Died:

I'm not an electrician so cannot say and the last time I came into contact with UPS it was work related. ALL hospital departments have to have a UPS local to them and all the homes I have lived in as an adult were grounded to some degree or other. Any elctricians in the forum membership?

I'll consult the tech that's dropping off my computer on Thursday.

L i am

Found this if it is of use

It depends on your situation. There are those who will disagree, but I believe that in most of what we call the "first world", the power grid is reliable enough that a UPS doesn't provide much additional protection beyond what a good surge protector will give you. A rare power failure isn't going to damage most things.

Where a UPS really shines is in situations where you have a lots of small brownouts — the power doesn't cut out entirely, but it wasn't all there for a brief moment either, and this happens frequently (numerous times per day). This can happen in places where the power is less reliable. For example, you may be in an older building, a very rural location, or in a country where the power situation is less stable. In that case, a UPS will definitely pay for itself quickly, and you want to get one that not only provides stand-by protection but also what they call "sine wave output".

And, of course, you might also be going for a high-availability solution. In that case, a large UPS (and maybe even generators) is a must.

Gus R

@L-i-am

Thanks. You know, I think I caused it by unplugging the backyard spotlight on the same dual outlet. I might have sparked it. I'm going to leave the single extension chord connected to one outlet and shift the spotlight to another outlet across the way. I think I did that last time and I ended up having to reset the BIOS. This is an old house. I tried getting someone to check the ground yesterday but as usual he never showed up. He's always late.

Gus R

This sucks.

Rich O Brien

@Gus-R said in Computer Died:

This sucks.

Yes, mirrored backups would save you a ton of time and frustration.

I use this to create images and sync weekly.

Windows 11 doesn't do a good job letting a user know its available as it pushes you to use their OneDrive option. But if you launch classic Control Panel you'll find it under System & Security.

Won't help you with your current situation but for future its probably worth it.

Gus R

@Rich-O-Brien Is that an external drive?

Rich O Brien

yeah, its a Samsung Portable SSD T7

Gus R

All systems go. Ready for Autocad.

Surprised at how much was saved.

Gus R

@Gus-R Lost the start menu. I give up.

Rich O Brien

Windows Start menu? Run Terminal with Admin and try:

sfc \scannow

Maybe a recent OS update didn't finish correctly. I get Explorer issues now and then in Windows 11and its always after they release a patch.

Mike Amos

Windoze crapdates seem to be at the heart of a lot of issues...

Gus R

I created a new profile (user) and it works. I don't know what I did. I've tried everything. Including doing a Window.iso install. Nothing changed. It wasn't the OS. It's the profile. That means moving everything over to the new profile.

Gus R

Looks like moving everything over to a new profile will be a real nightmare.

What's broken:

Start menu broken
Search in start menu broken
Calendar won't open
Can't create new user in normal Windows boot

Everything else is working fine. A new profile won't pay the bills.

Microsoft of course doesn't have a straight answer. It's not like the old days when you could re-install something from a disc.

Rich O Brien

Anytime I'm refreshing my device with a clean install I never sign in to microsoft.

There's a tool I use by Chris Titus that runs a series of commands to completely debloat windows and turn off all of its telemetry etc.

Digital Downloads

Having Fun with Technology

(christitus.com)

There's also Microwin if you feel brave.

Gus R

@Rich-O-Brien Thanks Rich.

I either forget about these problems and just work with what I have or I start all over again with a clean install. I'd have to get an external drive since my current work profile is huge and it includes my documents directory. Everything else is still on my work hard drive which is separate. I think if I copy over to a new profile it might be a big mess. I don't know what to do yet. I suppose I have to figure out if transferring everything to the new profile or starting over would be easier. The original repair was $639.

I should have become a mailman.