WAPA Fried My Netbook

Get a surge protector that goes on the pole behind your meter; usually needs to be installed by an electrician. They absorb the surge befre it gets to the house.

You must know that you won't have any success at all filing a claim against WAPA. They're legally not responsible.

I'm confused though. You say this is the third time this has happened. Since you didn't mention that any other powered items in your place were "fried" as a result of WAPA outages or surges, did you change out your surge protector at least after the second time this happened? Have you had the outlet itself checked for shorts? Is anything else plugged into that surge protector and, if so, did they continue working?

A whole house surge protector such as boyd46 suggests may not do anything to solve what seems logically (based on what you've said) to be an isolated problem. Your computer too may have an internal issue.

I'd first have that particular outlet checked.

This is at least the third surge protector, and yes, other devices were/are plugged into it. They weren't on, though, and continue to work.

I know someone who, I think, got some compensation from WAPA. I'll check with her on Tue.

Computers are more sensitive than most other electronic devices. I'll check with an electrician about putting a protection on the pole.

Now to find a good electrician...

Thanks for responding.

good luck with finding a good electrician

This is at least the third surge protector, and yes, other devices were/are plugged into it. They weren't on, though, and continue to work.

I know someone who, I think, got some compensation from WAPA. I'll check with her on Tue.

Computers are more sensitive than most other electronic devices. I'll check with an electrician about putting a protection on the pole.

Now to find a good electrician...

Thanks for responding.

You need to narrow it down more. I've had various computers here for a couple of decades and, despite countless outages, surges and spikes have only had a "fried" computer once and it was an older model which had started fading way before it finally gave up the ghost and whose demise I couldn't in any way attribute to anything but old age. That's something else you should check - take it to someone who works with whatever computer you have to have it checked out. Trust me, WAPA is not going to compensate you for one computer which fried and particularly when all your other plug-ins all over your house have been fine.

Another thing to check. A Netbook usually has an external switching power supply, a wall-wart or an in-line supply. Did the power supply get fried or did the Netbook get fried?

A high quality switching power supply should absorb all voltage and frequency fluctuations up to a certain point. Many also include a metal-oxide-varistor in the output circuit to prevent an overvoltage from being delivered to the Netbook.

What are the ratings of your wall-wart? Input Voltage/Frequency and Output Voltage.

A MOV is used in a surge supressor also.

jimmy adams a good elec. if he is still on island. we have had things fried also until we put in a whole house surge prot.
its a shame we have to go to the expense to save our things from WAPA

wow, that's horrible... i have been fortunate considering all you have gone thru!

perhaps you can consider a line conditioner in addition to the surge protector, for it is possible that the electricity coming is very inconsistent overall, and may be doing small damage every time you plug in. oh yes, having an electrician check your home is a great idea to rule out any possibly dangerous issues.

A cheap solution that couldn't hurt to try -- plug a surge protector into another surge protector, then plug your laptop into that (so it has to go through an extra set of resistance before it gets to your netbook). I have had electronics fried through surge protectors before, but never without the protector itself obviously being zapped (one time it had scorch marks on it!!).

Were you using the same outlet in each instance? If so, maybe replace it and make sure it is 100% properly grounded?

That sounds like a good idea, fdr, and I think I'm going to try that. Unfortunately, I rent, so have no control over the wiring, but I know it's inadequate, because one surge protector burned out when I first tried to plug it in to one of our outlets. The landlord had an electrician come in to install a new hot water heater, and he made the situation worse.

Going to Office Max tomorrow. Thank goodness I have other computers, so I'm not totally without. It's just the netbook had WINXP and was the faster than the other 2. Have been waiting for Win8, because I want new technology, but it won't be available until this month.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to remove the netbook hard drive so I can use it as an external. The youtube video I found isn't the same model I have, so it's going to be trial and error on my part. Well, let's hope there are no errors!

Brown-outs rarely fry a laptop supply because most are designed to run off the battery, --even if your power supply is turned ON.

It's the spikes that cause the most trouble, and if you've used a good surge protector or left it unplugged, you probably didn't fry it by a spike. Of course, electrical problems are sketchy by nature, but it could be the result of the equipment you've had, and not Wapa.

Not all internal power supplies are the same quality.
Not all external chargers/transformers are the same quality. Some are junk.
Not all surge protectors are the same quality.
Not all batteries are the same quality.
Not all laptops dissipate heat as well as others, -some run hot, and have poor fans. Heat kills.

External and internal Laptop power supplies can also get "fried" if the laptop's power plug is hit or bumped where it goes into the laptop power jack, and cracks the internal soulder joint. Even a small crack can eventually cause an arc which can fry your supply. Dropping the power supply's transformer can also shorten its life and cause electrical problems.

Internal power supplies can be repaired, and not terribly expensively. Check online.

For 3 years I had two surge protectors on my Dell laptop, -one on the wall into which I plugged by a second protector into. No problems, and we were on a bad feeder that regularly flickered, browned-out, and went down.

Hope this helps.

That sounds like a good idea, fdr, and I think I'm going to try that. Unfortunately, I rent, so have no control over the wiring, but I know it's inadequate, because one surge protector burned out when I first tried to plug it in to one of our outlets. The landlord had an electrician come in to install a new hot water heater, and he made the situation worse.

Going to Office Max tomorrow. Thank goodness I have other computers, so I'm not totally without. It's just the netbook had WINXP and was the faster than the other 2. Have been waiting for Win8, because I want new technology, but it won't be available until this month.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to remove the netbook hard drive so I can use it as an external. The youtube video I found isn't the same model I have, so it's going to be trial and error on my part. Well, let's hope there are no errors!

In order to use it as as external you're going to need a hard drive case. They run $50+. Just get a cheap hard drive at OfficeMax, I work there (in az now) and they always have deals on them. If not just watch: the ad rotates every 3rd time so once each month they will be on sale. I got a 1tb for $50. Can't beat that!

That sounds like a good idea, fdr, and I think I'm going to try that. Unfortunately, I rent, so have no control over the wiring, but I know it's inadequate, because one surge protector burned out when I first tried to plug it in to one of our outlets. The landlord had an electrician come in to install a new hot water heater, and he made the situation worse.

Going to Office Max tomorrow. Thank goodness I have other computers, so I'm not totally without. It's just the netbook had WINXP and was the faster than the other 2. Have been waiting for Win8, because I want new technology, but it won't be available until this month.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to remove the netbook hard drive so I can use it as an external. The youtube video I found isn't the same model I have, so it's going to be trial and error on my part. Well, let's hope there are no errors!

In order to use it as as external you're going to need a hard drive case. They run $50+. Just get a cheap hard drive at OfficeMax, I work there (in az now) and they always have deals on them. If not just watch: the ad rotates every 3rd time so once each month they will be on sale. I got a 1tb for $50. Can't beat that!

Just out of curiosity, you're not transferring to Omax here are you?

No but my boyfriend is! 😀 why??? That made me worry lol.
At OMX I run Impress print and design department here and he is currently a store manager. He will hce to take several steps down though for a position.

There's a YouTube video that recommends a cheap external HD case for netbooks, so that's what I'll be looking for when I go to Office Max tomorrow. I was using the netbook mostly as storage since my other computer's hard drive was getting full. I'm having problems with my Win7 computer freezing up, so the netbook was the more reliable option.

I'm now putting more of my photos on Pinterest so I can free up space on my WIN Vista HD. I'm not a big fan of other photo sharing sites, but I love Pinterest! I like organizing by category so I'm almost finished uploading all my Caribbean Food photos.

Caribbean Flowers will be the next category.

I gave up on PCs long ago. Now an Apple girl and life's much easier not working about my pc all the time lol.

I've heard so many people say that, but NOBODY CAN GIVE ME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES AS TO WHY.

I'm taking a Celebrity cruise in Nov 2012, and they have iLounges. My plan is to spend as much time as possible there so I can learn as much as I can about Apple products.

One of the things I found out by googling is that the iPhoto software doesn't offer a batch option. I already have that on my Win computer with PhotoShop Elements, so unless there's FREE Apple software I don't know about, I'd have to buy something else to get batching capabilities.

I also don't like the fact that Apple products are so WI-FI dependent. I have a USB mobile broadband, so no need for WIFI. I use WIFI only on my phone when I'm outside the US.

When my laptop died I went with one of these to get the data off of my 2.5" SATA drive. Only $5.79 with free shipping. Worked great.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-5-Inch-Sata-USB-2-0-Hard-Drive-Enclosure-External-Laptop-Disk-HDD-Case-/400325838405?pt=US_Drive_Enclosures_Docks&hash=item5d35478645

No but my boyfriend is! 😀 why??? That made me worry lol.
At OMX I run Impress print and design department here and he is currently a store manager. He will hce to take several steps down though for a position.

I'm assuming if he has to take several steps down that means he's going to be a supervisor, if so that is probably the best thing that could have happened to him. Last I checked, supervisors can't take the 2 year paid relocation which is key - if he is eligible for it, talk him out of it. Working in the VI stores in D79 is a living hell, he'll want to get out ASAP and if he quits before 2 years is up he'll owe them thousands to get out of his contract. I know several former managers that happily paid $8000 for the joy of being unemployed after working a year here at OMax.

The worst part of the whole deal is that Rafael Florez (DM for D79) and Jose Torres and that whole PR crew knows how bad it is but they won't let him onto it. They will give him the spiel of "this store doesn't run well and that's why we want you, we know you can fix it." They know all along that most will not make it past a year, they'll either quit or be fired, and then they lure in a fresh fish from somewhere stateside.

To give you an idea, since I was an acting store manager of OMax STT I am not aware of one manager that made it 2 years, including myself. When we went through the restructuring in '08 we had a store manager, myself and another sales manager, two logistics managers, and an operations manager (we have a lot more mgmt here due to volume.) Of the 6 of us, the store manager and myself were the only two not fired or quit, one took the severance package. I ended up quitting 30 days later, wish I would have taken the severance. The store manager was let out of his contract so he could return to PR. Of the three managers I personally know that worked there after I left, one quit after 3 months and sued the company for mental anguish and another recently left back for the states after her doctor told her she had to quit because of the job's affect on her personal health.

My advice to him is to take the job; you can't beat having a job before you get here, that's how I made here so easily. Network right away, nearly everyone in these islands passes through those stores, and make it known through those conversations that he is underemployed and looking for other opportunities, something will probably pop up and good luck.

Have him PM me, I will tell him anything he wants to know.

Network right away, nearly everyone in these islands passes through those stores, and make it known through those conversations that he is underemployed and looking for other opportunities, something will probably pop up and good luck.

Excellent advice. Networking is KEY to employment in the VI. Remember this is small town and being nice counts.

Main reasons for using apple over pc:
-Better internal components. An I5 (which is what I run) on an apple will be better than the same I5 and ram on a PC just because if the higher end internals. Everything for a Mac is engineered correctly and for a purpose.

-MUCH easier to use. I hear people all the time say its hard to learn, (non apple users) it's actually SIMPLER than a pc. When using a Mac: it thinks like your brain does, if you think a file should be there, it is, if you think a setting should be a certian way, it is lol!

-Love. This is funny but true. You can tell that apple engeneers of apple products love their work, it's sleek, sexy and wonderfully functional.

-OS updates. They don't make you pay a ton of $ for new OS. $150 for win 7 upgrade and most for Mac are $40 and under, some are free like IO6 for iPhone and iPad.

-Longevity. IME they just last longer! I think it's because they don't get bogged down with crap, viruses, spyware, adware etc. they last forever! I still have a 10 yr old G3 lol sitting in the garage over 120degres. I plugged it in yesterday to clean up and sell and it still works lol!
Most PCs are so slowed down the first year and lucky to get 2 years out of them.

Don't spend your cruise port days at apple, just get one! You won't look back TRUST ME lol. A GREAT desktop and overlooked is the Mac Mini!!! Only $500 and about the size of 2 slices of toast stacked on top of each other. Comes with an I5 and 2gb of memory. Buy online 2 4gb stick and add it yourself, SUPER easy on the mini the back twists off and sticks are right there. You will have a small compact Mac Mini with an !5 and 8gb of memoery for about $500. Its a GREAT computer, I love mine. The only negative is that it doesnt have a CD drive but hell who uses CDs anymore? Flash drives now days IME. One of my FAVORITE parts about my Mini is that it has HDMI, SO we stream Netflix, HBO GO and do all our internet surfing from our TV! Makes it super nice and easy and you dont need an additional monitor taking up space and electricity.

Buying the mac mini as my last "to buy" before we moved. I had all my graphic design work and photos on a PC and couldnt ship it as it was too big. I wanted to be able to carry my desktop (mac mini now), ipad, MacBook and our Iphones in my purse, everything is so compact it all fits. Pretty awesome lol.

...I am not aware of one manager that made it 2 years, including myself.

They've had some good people in there but, you're right, the turnover in management is huge and I've never seen the same team for more than max one year.

Unfortunately, I rent, so have no control over the wiring, but I know it's inadequate, because one surge protector burned out when I first tried to plug it in to one of our outlets. The landlord had an electrician come in to install a new hot water heater, and he made the situation worse.!

Are you letting your landlord know about these problems?

No but my boyfriend is! 😀 why??? That made me worry lol.
At OMX I run Impress print and design department here and he is currently a store manager. He will hce to take several steps down though for a position.

I'm assuming if he has to take several steps down that means he's going to be a supervisor, if so that is probably the best thing that could have happened to him. Last I checked, supervisors can't take the 2 year paid relocation which is key - if he is eligible for it, talk him out of it. Working in the VI stores in D79 is a living hell, he'll want to get out ASAP and if he quits before 2 years is up he'll owe them thousands to get out of his contract. I know several former managers that happily paid $8000 for the joy of being unemployed after working a year here at OMax.

The worst part of the whole deal is that Rafael Florez (DM for D79) and Jose Torres and that whole PR crew knows how bad it is but they won't let him onto it. They will give him the spiel of "this store doesn't run well and that's why we want you, we know you can fix it." They know all along that most will not make it past a year, they'll either quit or be fired, and then they lure in a fresh fish from somewhere stateside.

To give you an idea, since I was an acting store manager of OMax STT I am not aware of one manager that made it 2 years, including myself. When we went through the restructuring in '08 we had a store manager, myself and another sales manager, two logistics managers, and an operations manager (we have a lot more mgmt here due to volume.) Of the 6 of us, the store manager and myself were the only two not fired or quit, one took the severance package. I ended up quitting 30 days later, wish I would have taken the severance. The store manager was let out of his contract so he could return to PR. Of the three managers I personally know that worked there after I left, one quit after 3 months and sued the company for mental anguish and another recently left back for the states after her doctor told her she had to quit because of the job's affect on her personal health.

My advice to him is to take the job; you can't beat having a job before you get here, that's how I made here so easily. Network right away, nearly everyone in these islands passes through those stores, and make it known through those conversations that he is underemployed and looking for other opportunities, something will probably pop up and good luck.

Have him PM me, I will tell him anything he wants to know.

AWESOME! lol. Yea we heard that... pretty crazy. We were told a store manager actually got run off the island??? Anyone know why? I am guessing mainlanders come there and expect it to be the same type of ball busting work environment as it is here. He has been with OMX for 12 years and 13 by the time we get there. He is one HELL of a store manager, calm patient, and creates a GREAT team...here anyways.

Anyway, the goal was to transfer him down there so we "hit the ground running" so to speak. Also he of course has benefits and is adding me to his this month (I am canceling mine with OMX) so we will both be covered.

Tainwreck can you PM you me your phone #? If you feel comfortable I will have him call you this week, he is VERY interested in talking to you after your post! Thanks your information is SO helpful!