A story about a power surge, a chair and a new power supply (PSU)

Imagine that a power surge occurs during a blackout and the new, expensive and very fast router loses its marbles. 

Eventually the household fix-it person resets the router and all the grumpy householders are happy again, cos they got their WiFi back.

Imagine that a happy householder was in a hurry to get something and they kicked a chair. The chair slammed into a desktop PC causing a POST error and restart loop.

The household fix-it person finds the time to open the case and peer inside ?️? ?.

After checking the motherboard the household fix-it person notices the graphics card has jolted loose so they seat it properly and the machine restarts normally. Relief - phew!

Imagine that the household members go away the very next weekend. On their return the household fix-it person starts the desktop PC causing the house circuit breaker to cut in. The household fix-it person then checks the PSU using another cable, with a different circuit and tests it, all with the same result - the circuit breaker cuts in. The household fix-it person replaces the PSU and the PC is operating perfectly again. Phew!

The householders are still happy because it wasn't their desktop PC...

The household fix-it person knows that the router must be fitted with surge protection ASAP, so they buy surge protection for the electrical supply to the router and will fit cable protection when they can.

Take Away: Prevention is better than cure and while we can't always prevent kicked chairs, surge protection can save unexpected downtime and money.