A cautionary tale about using a UPS.  Since the subject came up in
a few recent postings, I thought I would relay the following tale in
hopes that others might avoid this particular problem.

I purchased a nice uninterruptible power supply (UPS) a few months ago.
After shutting down the computer, I had been turning off the UPS to
save a small bit of standby power.  Not such a good idea, it turns out.

When I turn on the UPS, I generally wait until a count of ten before
turning on anything connected to it, as it seems to go through a sort
of bootup phase.  I have a small table lamp with a fluorescent lamp
connected to the UPS.

Okay, here's what happened.  I fired up the UPS, the lamp was already
turned on.  I zoned out and was not careful to wait long enough for the
UPS to bootup, and I hit the 'On' switch on the computer too soon.  The
UPS hadn't had sufficient time to stabilize its output, evidenced by
the fact that the lamp stuttered quite a bit as it tried to come on.
During this time the computer was attempting to bootup also.  Either
it was because of the fluorescent ballast of the stuttering lamp causing
a spike on the output leg of the UPS, or because the UPS itself needed
longer to stabilize, but in any event the spike damaged my secondary
hard disk controller.

Fortunately my main disk drive seemed to be okay, at least to the point
that I could access it.  I could only boot up using the startup floppy
and the computer could no longer see the secondary hard disk.  After
attempting to fix the bootup problem, the only solution seemed to be
a complete reinstall of the OS.  According to Norton, there is nothing
wrong with the main hard drive or the main board, which is encouraging.
I have since backed up everything on the C drive on CDs, reinstalled
the OS, and replaced the damaged storage drive.

The lesson learned: If you use a UPS ahead of a computer or any other
sensitive electronic gear, if you ever turn it off, when you again turn
it on, be sure to wait until it "boots up" or stabilizes before turning
on any connected gear!

Aside from that one problem, which was my error, this unit works great.
It's actually an AVR [auto voltage regulation], with modified sine wave,
a fantastic deal priced under $100.  Go to this site for all the specs
and pictures of this item:

http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=35&pPath=154&productID=154

Available from (among others):

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=770423&sku=ULT31502

Tom Lear
San Francisco, Calif.