MaryL wrote:
If you have the "cheap" surge suppressors (less than about $30),
they will degrade.


The surge suppressor on the microwave did its job. It "absorbed" the
shock during the storm (obviously, not a direct hit), so the
suppressor was then burned out but the microwave still worked.

The microwave didn't work until you removed the surge suppressor, did it?
Doesn't that tell you that a problematic surge protector can interfere with
the proper operation of that which is connected to it?


As for the computer equipment, it's definitely not the surge
suppressors unless there is some reasonable explanation for why the
cable company would prefer that we not use *any* surge suppressors.

There IS a good reason, goddamnit! Evidently you belong to that fairly large
group of blonde non-electrical-engineers.

Cheap surge suppressors contain two or three MOVs (metallic oxide
varistors). These act like reverse fuses: when the detected potential is
greater than the nominal voltage, they short the two conductors to which
they are connected. MOVs fail in several ways: If the surge is large enough
or long enough, they will simply melt, smoke, and heat up. At that point,
they have acted exactly like a reverse fuse - they no longer work and will
provide no further protection. The other way they fail is they degrade such
that they "leak" voltage from one conductor to another. This generates
"noise" on the line and other undesirable things.

Further, the complete and catastrophic failure of a cheap surge suppressor -
as was the case with your microwave - is abnormal. Usually cheap surge
suppressors weaken or simply fail to do their job.


I have one surge suppressor (Philips) for the laser printer, Zoom
modem, phone, router, and small TV. I have an APC backup USP for the
CPU, monitor, and cable connection. Both of those units are new, and
the problems I described pre-date them. In fact, the only thing on
my current system that is *not* new is the router. So, it does seem
likely that the router is the problem, and I am willing to buy
another one. However, I am concerned because the technician tested
it when he was here, and it was fine. The cable company could also
"ping" it when I called them. Nevertheless, the technician suspects
the router. I am going to follow the advice of one of the people on
this group and try to call LinkSys before I try to change out the
router.

Sounds like something you can do to keep busy. When you eventually get
around to removing or swapping out the dodgy surge suppressors, check back.
Maybe we can find something else to try.