Most likely is that electrical outlet has lost its ground connection. This is assuming it is a 3-wire grounded outlet to begin with. If it is only a 2-wire plug, then the problem you are having with shocks would be the expected result. The cause of the problem would not be a fault in the computer, but a problem in the house wiring. You said you plugged in a Triplite power strip and the "line fault" light came on when plugged into one outlet but was OK in another outlet. That indicates there is a bad outlet and it needs to be replaced. This is easily something that you can do yourself if you are CAREFUL and not afraid of a screwdriver. I recommend you plug a radio or lamp into the outlet to be absolutely certain the power is off after you throw the breaker. Don't rely on the labeling in the box. If you are unsure what to do, either pay an electrician, or search online, or buy a "how-to" book at the hardware store, or visit the public library. If you can pump your own gas you should be able to do this. The suggestion to use a water pipe for ground is a possibility, but only if there is no ground already on the outlet string. Above all, DO NOT attempt to rely on the water in the pipe to provide an electrical ground path around your water meter or any plastic pipe in the system. Electrical code requires an actual copper jumper wire across the water meter or across any plastic pipe if the water lines are used for electrical grounds. Yes, water can be a conductor of electricity, but it isn't a very good conductor unless you have a high salt concentration in the water, which you don't. In case you are still unsure, let me mention that water-cooled transmitting tubes were fairly common 20 years ago. They used distilled water to cool high-power transmitting tubes with thousands of volts in the circuit. You absolutely don't want to rely on water for grounding your house. OK, a little more background, more than you wanted to know.... It has been standard practice for many years that computers are required to have RF Interference suppression on all wires leaving the case, including the power wires. This includes capacitors between all three wires of the cord and the chassis of the computer. One result of this is that if the chassis ground wire in the power cord is not hooked to ground at the outlet, the capacitors inside the computer act as a voltage divider and some amount of the 120VAC line voltage will appear on the metal chassis of the computer. Similar bypass capacitors exist in almost all radio and TV equipment going back to well before WW2. (I used to own a WW2 radio that gave me a tingle every time I touched it while barefoot on concrete....) This is not a short or any sort of fault in the equipment, it is just an unintended consequence of the design and NOT having a chassis ground wire on the equipment. I'm also not saying that an electrical fault or short in the computer is impossible, just unlikely, and if the equipment was properly grounded, an actual fault in the equipment would blow the circuit breaker through the chassis ground wire. Back in the early 60's, the electrical code was changed so that all new construction was required to use grounded outlets in the main living area of the house. Some time later this was extended to all wiring in the house, including basements. Eventually it became code that structures had to be upgraded to 3-wire outlets before they could be sold with a mortgage. Because of this it is very uncommon to still find old 2-wire outlets in a home. But that doesn't mean the outlet upgrade was done correctly. To upgrade house wiring, the minimum was to replace the 2-wire outlet with a 3-wire outlet and screw it into a metal outlet box that has metal conduit between the boxes. This is usually sufficient, but if any joints get rusty or loose, the grounding may fail. The best option is to have an actual copper ground wire from the outlet to the metal box and from box to box, all the way back to the electrical panel. This is what I prefer, but I'm a worrier..... In this particular instance, it sounds like you have one bad electrical outlet or the ground connection at the outlet has failed. I recommend you check the other outlets in the room and possibly all the outlets in the house or apartment, since if one failed, you don't know what else might have failed. I'd be most worried if you see the fault light flicker as you plug in a second cord to the outlet, or especially if the fault changes when you plug into a different outlet.... This ground fault is the most likely reason the computers died, especially if you have them connected to any other piece of equipment or to a network. If the computer can't get its ground through the 3-wire power cord as it should, it will try to make a ground through some other piece of equipment. And in most cases those other connections go through the motherboard which isn't designed to be a ground for the equipment. What happens when you put 60 volts into a PC card? POOF goes the mobo... There have been a lot of good replies to the original email and a few less good replies. I'm reasonably certain that anyone who can build their own computers and keep Linux running can locate and replace a bad outlet. There is lots of How-To help online, at YouTube, and in the public library. If you want you can even buy a book at Menards in the electrical department when you buy the replacement outlets..... Good luck! Doug Reed.