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>Boy, if you still have that much hum, and bypassing standard grounding makes that much difference, I'd suggest that you take another look at the ground wiring in your house. If you have a voltmeter, check the potential difference between ground and neutral on one >of the outlets in the vicinity of the computer or the VCR (check one on each circuit, if >you have more than one in that vicinity). Neutral is the wider of the two slots on a >standard outlet. The difference shouldn't be more than 1-2 volts AC - anything much >higher indicates that your grounds and neutral aren't properly tied together somewhere in >your electrical system. They should all come back to a common neutral bar in your >circuit breaker box, and that should tie both to the ground rod and the Consumers neutral >wire. You may also want to test the difference between the outside conductor of your >>cable service, and the electrical ground. >That should also be less than a couple volts AC. The hum to me is expected because I have a Stereo that I use for my computer speakers, a set connected to the TV/VCR, and then another set connecting back. That makes a total of 3 sets of RCA cables going in and out of my TV/PC. The TV/VCR and the small Mini HiFi system are all 2 prong outlets and my PC is the only thing with 3 prong. Getting rid of the PC ground would get rid of the minor video noise, and hum on the audio. It wasn't until I got the Monster strip that all of that went away. This also happened at my parents house as well. >If you really did have a loose neutral wire in the past, you would have set yourself up >for some possibly large voltage spikes throughout your house. What normally happens is >that the incoming 220 volt power is split half and half, from the neutral wire to each >"hot" wire, giving you the 110 volts that most equipment expects. Half of your 110 volt >circuits are tied to one "hot" wire, and the rest to the other. Without the neutral, >you end up balancing the load on the one half of the circuits against the other half, and >if the loads are uneven, the voltage level on the side with heavy draw goes way down, >and the voltage on the other side could go way above 110. You would see that especially >in incandescent light bulbs as a significant dimming or brightening of the bulbs when >you use a high-current appliance (e.g. toaster, microwave, or laser printer). I normally wouldn't have noticed it as anything wrong with my electrical actually, I stumbled across an FAQ for the NEC (National Electrical Code) and it mentioned lights getting brighter when an electrical motor starts. http://www.faqs.org/faqs/electrical-wiring/part2/section-9.html My dryer receptacle had mysteriously fried, and I had an electrician out to check things and it all tested good. I turn on my garbage disposal later and I notice the lights got brighter. Apparently, the mains were welded together up on the line, and it should have been sparking (according to what I overheard by the crew). They told me that was also effecting some of the other houses in my neighborhood. I'm not sure how long it was like that either, as I really didn't pay much attention to it. >If all of this fits the past or current symptoms, you may have partially fried your >Linksys router. Once you have cleaned up the electrical system, you may want to replace >the router. Makes me wonder if I can file a claim on that one? Tim