Posted: 9/8/2009 6:57:18 PM EDT
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A friend's computer that I built for him took a hit a few days ago, the external DSL modem was fried for sure but he says the computer is running slow and is hit or miss on starting, when it does run, it all works, just slowly.
I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas where to start. I know Ram is pretty static sensitive and the way he describes it that may be all that got hit, but I have no experience with lightning. |
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Ghost in the machine. My house took a direct lightning strike two years ago. As it was grounding, it found a way from the power system into the cable TV system via a signal booster. From there, it took out the cable modem, router, network hubs, and all the network ports on all attached devices. Initially, the only obvious damage was the dead network ports on all the computers and Xbox and the dead cable modem and router. As time elapsed, first the network hubs failed and then the computers started failing (failure to start, crashes, keyboard unresponsive, etc). I found a computer technician that was willing to quote replacement costs for my insurance company and I replaced everything with new components (only thing recycled was the computer chassis). There was no way to determine what was good. There was no physical damage apparent. The best policy is a complete do-over. If you don't replace everything, you will be chasing ghosts in the machine(s) forever.
As a side note, I learned a few things from that experience. First and foremost, prevention is far cheaper than damage control. Even though HO insurance covered everything, you spend a lot of time fixing/replacing things. Put surge protectors on any electronic device that cost more than $20 including the garage door opener. Yes, from a monetary standpoint, they're cheap to replace. However, garage door openers constantly turn over in models/series so if you had to replace it, you have to tear down the original mounting hardware and install the new. Even though I found the exact same model number, the mounting hardware had changed and the old hardware isn't compatible with the new opener. Isolate electronics from any point of surge. Power access is obvious but cable TV, phone, and ethernet should be run through surge protection as well. Lightning does funny things when finding a way to the ground. Finally, have emergency backup lighting that automatically activates when the power is out. I found it hard to fight the fire when you can't see anything. |
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I'm not an expert but i would think the PSU would have taken the brunt or the jolt. May call the local pc shop and see it they will test it to make sure it is putting out the correct power. If it came in through the ethernet cable that is another problem.
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php might give some insite to voltage also. Definitely put your pc on a good surge protector. Same with other high end electronics. If there are any experts on here i'd like to ask if people with underground utilities are safer from this sort of thing? This is how my house is and cable,phone and net come in on fiber now. Also I was wondering if 12 /3? (12g 1 hot 3 grounds) on a dedicated or more dedicated(2 outlet) circuit would make a difference over the standard 12-14/2 full room circuit? |
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Quoted:
If there are any experts on here i'd like to ask if people with underground utilities are safer from this sort of thing? This is how my house is and cable,phone and net come in on fiber now. Also I was wondering if 12 /3? (12g 1 hot 3 grounds) on a dedicated or more dedicated(2 outlet) circuit would make a difference over the standard 12-14/2 full room circuit? My house had underground utilities supplying the electricity, cable TV, and phone. The strike blew a two foot hole in the wall of master bedroom on the second floor before jumping into the power circuit for that area. That's where the cable signal booster was located but the surge still traveled the power lines to the breaker box and destroyed two of the breakers (the rest were tripped safely). |
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I don't think underground utilities will help you much because a strike can go in the circuit anywhere else it's exposed, even long distances away. I also know from my days working in a TV shop that lightning can get past a buss fuse before it burns it out, we had many TV's come in fried beyond the fuse even though the fuse is burnt.
Most of the better surge protectors have a warranty for devices that get killed while it's in use.....I just wonder how good / easily they pay. |
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Quoted:
I'm not an expert but i would think the PSU would have taken the brunt or the jolt. May call the local pc shop and see it they will test it to make sure it is putting out the correct power. If it came in through the ethernet cable that is another problem. http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php might give some insite to voltage also. Definitely put your pc on a good surge protector. Same with other high end electronics. If there are any experts on here i'd like to ask if people with underground utilities are safer from this sort of thing? This is how my house is and cable,phone and net come in on fiber now. Also I was wondering if 12 /3? (12g 1 hot 3 grounds) on a dedicated or more dedicated(2 outlet) circuit would make a difference over the standard 12-14/2 full room circuit? Not necesarily. The cable or a communication box might have taken the hit and not a power line. I had a similar problem a month or two ago. Killed my Dlink router that was 3 years old and fried the nic card on my little ones computer. |