On Sat, 13 Oct 2018 08:19:12 -0700 (PDT), RayLopez99
wrote:


Estimated cost to fix it: about $30, which is very reasonable
considering the work they've done so far (hoping they find the
hardware problem, as I say, this country has high humidity that taxes
all electronic components, and very noisy lines, constant voltage
surges and voltage spikes, even my battery backup UPS used to bulge
and fail every six months or so, I actually stopped buying them,
instead I just deal with power surges with a surge suppressor and
constantly save my work).

-
I can't afford laptops. That same $30 repair may be $150 in repair
facilities in the US. When I did buy them, running into one with a
repair issue I couldn't address, the experience (costs) sent me
scrambling for a more reputable laptop brand. Prices are down
considerably since, but without the fieldwork justification, I stick
to desktops at a fraction of an outlay for higher-end quality laptops.

Same here. Can't remember when I've been slammed by an outage to lose
data, but it bothers me running disk fragmentation over a large disc
if the weather doesn't feel right. Maintenance and repair one way or
another is going to happen. Best to figure for the contingencies
ahead. I've HDD backups and a extra 'get-by' MB.

My last computer was blown up by lightning, a couple weeks ago, but
that was closer than anything before. The strike also took out the
large pole stepdown transformer directly behind the house, line
carrier 15KV to domestic 230V service.