New
#11
Responsible is to read what was stated. Protection was strongly recommended. But only protection that works. Effective protection at a computer is already inside a computer. In some cases, an adjacent protector can even make damage easier. Why would anyone recommend spending so much money on near zero protectors? Advertising? Hearsay? Speculation? Or to intentionally misrepresent what was posted.
Informed consumers protect from destructive anomalies by earthing something effective. Lightning is one example. Other destructive anomalies are created by stray cars, utility switching, tree rodents, linemen errors, et al. Lightning is typical of what does hardware damage. Hardware only needs protection from potentially destructive transients - that plug-in 'magic boxes' will not even discuss let alone protect from.
The informed spend tens of times less money on hardware protection also found in telco COs, atop the Empire State Building and WTC, in munitions dumps, at all airports, in rocket launch pads, in nuclear hardened facilities, cell phone towers, and every home - so that direct lightning strikes and other anomalies cause no damage. Some fabricate a denial by inventing things that do not exist. Damage means lightning directly strikes wires. Existing robust and internal protection means 'indirect' surges do no damage. Strongly recommended was protection that has worked even 100 years ago. That is clearly not near zero protectors from Belkin, APC, Tripplite, Panamax, or Monster.
Hardware protection means learning how it was done even 100 years ago so that anomalies (including and not limited to direct lightning strikes) need not cause hardware damage. Protection was that well proven that long ago.
UPS is irrelevant to the OP's problem both before and after damage happened. A UPS does nothing for hardware protection. OP solved his defects by replacing many internal component until something worked. Without a UPS, that computer works just fine. Why would anyone spend so much for virtually zero hardware protection?
Destructive transients are rare. Require what has always meant direct lightning strikes - or other anomalies - without damage. That is a properly earthed 'whole house' solution. It would not fix the OP's damage. But it does what that UPS is only suppose to (and does not) do.