[SOLVED] Surge Damage

Jedimaster52082

Distinguished
Apr 25, 2012
8
0
18,510
A while back, there was an electrical storm. Little did I know that my surge protector had crapped out. (Live and learn huh?) Both me and my wifes computers were affected. My GPU was fried and hers had been acting up. The DVI port on hers stopped working but the HDMI port was still working. I pulled my GPU and ran with my integrated graphics and everything else seems to be working fine. I also noticed that my wifes computer maxes out on ram usage quickly when it didn't before. My question, is there any way for me to diagnose the rest of my hardware for damage? Can't really afford to take it to a professional. Tax money is going to other things, including replacing my GPU and upgrading my wifes. Thank you.
 
Solution
Try using Resource Monitor and Task Manager (just one at a time) to monitor the RAM usage on your wife's computer.

You may discover some application, process, or service using RAM and not releasing it when no longer needed.

Possibly a result of software corruption caused by the surge/power outage - especially if her computer was on.

Another thing you can do on her computer is look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for error codes and warnings.

Especially any errors, etc. that appeared and continue to appear after the surge.

Overall if your respective computers are working that is a good sign.

Yes there may indeed be some hardware damage but at a threshold where all will work, even during testing, and then some sudden...

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Try using Resource Monitor and Task Manager (just one at a time) to monitor the RAM usage on your wife's computer.

You may discover some application, process, or service using RAM and not releasing it when no longer needed.

Possibly a result of software corruption caused by the surge/power outage - especially if her computer was on.

Another thing you can do on her computer is look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for error codes and warnings.

Especially any errors, etc. that appeared and continue to appear after the surge.

Overall if your respective computers are working that is a good sign.

Yes there may indeed be some hardware damage but at a threshold where all will work, even during testing, and then some sudden failure....

Ensure that all data is backed up and verified to be both recoverable and readable.
 
Solution