Yesterday evening - my pc was in suspend mode - at home I had a short blackout and my pc switched off. Since I didn't more need it, I leave it switched. Today it worked, my firewall router and ADSL too, but I had not internet connection. I contacted my provider, they checked the line, the ADSL, all... and they said that all worked. So I checked my firewall router and I discovered that it didn't recognize my router user name and password, I couldn't enter: so I resetted all, I entered in the firewall with admin - admin by default and I reconfigured all: now it work. The question is: can a blackout disconfigure in this way a router ?
No, not the blackout itself. But 2 things can happen after an extended power outage. (1) Excessive spikes and surges can happen (like flickers) when the power comes back on before it stabilizes. That might have reset the router. And (2), the assigned IP addresses may have been dropped from the DHCP assignments and returned to the pool due to a total lack of activity. I suspect the latter.
Well, that is just another argument for putting all computers and network gear on a good UPS with AVR (automatic voltage regulation). The UPS would not have restored power to your connected devices unless the grid power was stable. If resetting your settings is all that happened, consider yourself lucky. Excessive surges and spikes are common causes of permanent damage to electronics. It is the AVR protection a good UPS with AVR provides that makes a UPS a worthwhile investment for our systems. Backup power during full power outages is just a side bonus. Something to think about.
