Just had my PC hard drive die (clicking away it was). Having replaced it and got everything working again I found the PCI fax modem was duff. Changed that and everything was fine. Began to muse on things and had a look at the Belkin Surgemaster distribution blocks and found both had lost their green 'protected' neons. It seems these things are sacrificial so as soon as a large spike comes along they personally take the hit. However when the next spike comes along 50ms later it is free to wreak havoc as the Belkins have used up their one life. Now I would have thought they would have closed down completely, but no they revert to standard distribution blocks. So I guess a voltage spike did for my equipment. The UPS offers no protection so I have now installed a Sollatek AVR (£200 from RS Components) which ensures 240v out plus full automatic surge/spike protection.

Interestingly it usually shows the input to be 5% over voltage.

None of my Hi-Fi was affected by the power surge as I have Pure Power transformers and Isotek Mini-Subs.

If you are curious to the state of your mains CPC do a plug in device (£20) which can display voltage, frequency, watts consumed and other fascinating facts that will encourage you to switch things off at night!