Battery Backup/Surge Protecter problems

About 3 months ago now, seemingly around the same period of time my computer and some of my hardware began to load up with problems. Im slowly getting it all worked out, as I don't want to get another computer for the time being.

Among many other things, my surge protecter/battery backup (APC Back-UPS ES 350) has been occasionally giving out lately. Sometimes during a storm before I can shut down, my computer and everything connected to the surge protecter/battery backup will lose power. Sometimes even with no storm in sight, the same thing will happen. It only happens briefly, as I can turn everything back on immediately afterwords, but it has done some damage to my computer, and Im worried that it could do more if I don't get it fixed or replaced if need be.

(Adding this in from info from another post)- Plugged into the hardware is my computer (HP Pavillion a1630n with a changed 435w psu and radeon 4770 video card) a set of 2.1 speakers, a cell phone charger, a lamp, and a 22 inch moniter. Somone said that the problem may come from having too much plugged into the hardware, but with some of those things plugged in being slightly expensive, what might be the best option if this is the case?

So is this a sign the hardware is failing, or just some issue that might be repairable someway? I'll be getting my graphics card back next week, and I'm hoping to get all this worked out before it gets fried from one of these surges..... again.



I added some things in from another thread, so some things in this thread might seem out of place. I don't have time to edit anything at the moment though.



Anyway, thanks for the help!

The purpose behind a battery backup is to protect a computer or other critical hardware from power loss. This can be critical for computers, particularly, because you want to be able to save your data and properly shut down the machine (Windows is particularly persnickety about this).

With that in mind, I think you might be best served having only the computer on battery backup and put everything else on a separate surge-protector. (FFS, a lamp? What are you thinking?)

Also, keep in mind that batteries, particularly those in a backup system like yours, have a finite lifetime. I'm willing to bet that you haven't replaced the batteries on your unit at all, and there's no telling how old they were when you purchased it.

Nothing can provide 100% protection against lightning-strike. If there is any kind of surge-protection guaranty on the unit, see if you can file a claim against the manufacturer.