This weekend I was replacing my desktop with a new one (as the old one was acting up) and ran into a strange problem. I was making progress re-loading software, downloading updates, etc. – but it wouldn’t turn on again. I was completely puzzled, but then again I was dealing with a lot of cords around this computer – some of which I wasn’t sure what they were for. So I plugged my computer directly into the wall – instead of into the power strip my computer cabinet came with. And then the computer was working….
I pulled the power strip (surge protector) and plugged into another outlet that was actually grounded (old house so the one where my computer is doesn’t have a ground) and the light came on. So I was puzzled – what’s going on with this thing? The way this thing was designed was that there are outlets on the back and switches on the front – for a nice look in the cabinet. There is also an unswitched outlet on the back – and that was one was working. For some reason the switched outlets stopped working…..
So what I learned from this was that the simple things like a power strip not working can cause problems.
TIP: 
Do you have a lot of those blocky power adapter for all your accessories – so that you have trouble plugging them all into your power strip? A great way to handle that is to use one of the Y adapters (picture on right) I have in order to allow you to not need many power strips. I still have this horrible mess of cables in my cabinet – but I only need one power strip as these cables fit into the strip – and then the blocky power adapters plug into these…
