Power failure causes major computer problems - help!

[Sean453]

Yesterday there was a split-second power failure and when I tried to turn the computer back on by pressing the power switch, nothing happened. So I figured the power supply was probably dead. I wasn't sure how this could happen since everything is hooked up to a surge protector. So then I took my old 300w power supply and put that in. That got it working again. Then today it suddenly wont start up again. But the computer was off before this happened. No power failure or anything. So then I tried unplugging everything and plugging it back in. That got the power switch to work. But then the computer would hang when trying to detect the IDE drives. So then I tried switching in different IDE cables and putting power supply cables with different drives and eventually I got the damn thing to detect them all. So that's where I am now. My computer is working and is stable but who knows for how long. I'm wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else and what could be the problem. Thanks.

 

[Hessakia]

could have seriously damaged your board and/or other vital parts of the system

 

[amdskip]

What power supply? (brand/model)

 

[Sean453]

Dead power supply is Compusa 400w
Current power supply is a Compusa 300w

I've noticed the CPU temps have jumped a few degrees at idle and load.

 

[corkyg]

Do yourself a favor and get a UPS for Christmas.

 

[Sean453]

Well I think I fixed it now. I went and bought a new Antec case with a 350w PSU and a good surge protector. I was reading the boxes of the surge protectors and they make different ones for low-end computers (1 Ghz) and high-end (2 Ghz+). So maybe this happened because I was using an old surge protector (before 1 Ghz was even available) and since I'm now running a 1.85 Ghz processor it couldn't handle the power failure. I didn't think it was necessary to upgrade the surge protector when you upgrade to a faster CPU. But if this is true I will make sure not to ever make this mistake again. It could have cost me much more than it did.