Power surge question

[DarkWater]

I know power surges are bad for computers in general..but what if the following happens..

My system is connected to a UPS granting the system about 25mins of operation. The power kicked off this morning but I was at work and therefor could not shut the machine down. My girlfriend did not know what to do ..er...anyway and therfor she did not shutdown the machine. PC is off now aswell as the power. Question is...did the UPS help..or was it rather pointless since the UPS also ran out of power...Is the cutoff different from a UPS than from straight power?

 

[repitah]

UPS usually will protect against surges (over-voltage), brown outs (under-voltage) and no voltage

Computer didn't shutdown properly (potential for corruption).

consider buying the (serial) cable for the UPS (and get software to monitor) so the UPS can shutdown when it feels it can't keep your equipment running for much longer.

 

[DarkWater]

besides things like unsaved data...what is the chance in the above mentioned situation the hardware damage may occur

 

[supersunbird]

The UPS should have come with a cable and software that you can setup to turn the PC off normally after a certain time.

If it is a line interactive UPS it protects against surges and dips. A offline UPS also protects against those.

 

[Napalm]

most of the new UPS's come with a serial cable and Software wich monitors the battery's power status (90% full or 50% full etc) and u can set the software to shutdown the machine automatically when it hits 10%. Or even on a timer. say if the power cuts off, shut down the system 20minutes later if the power hasn't come back on.