Don't buy the Netgear...

[tw]

Originally Posted by Troubleshooter

Not when all of the PCs are on their own surge protectors, the router was on the same strip as the PC that had the modem in it. The router port the modem PC was on wasn't smoked either. It was very weird.

Those surge protectors did exactly as their numerical specifications claimed. The mode of transient that damages transistors is not even listed in those specs because the protector does not claim to protect from that type. Protection already exists inside all appliances. But that protection assumes additional further protectors will be distant down the wire; not adjacent to the appliance.
For example, the telephone CO wants that protector up to 50 meters separated from the transistors in their switching computer.

Surge protectors adjacent to transistorized devices can even contribute to damage of those devices. What you have described is quite common and easily understood once every wire entering and leaving each device is described.