Possible Lightning Strike

[Groundrush]

Hey guys, i got a call from my brother earlier asking me if i've encountered " power spike " on any of my PC's before. Rather bemused i asked WTF he was on about, it turns out his/his neighbours house was struck by lightning during today's storm and has knocked out his PC which was the only thing left plugged in. What are the chances of this happening, killing the PC that is...?

 

On the tower all he has is a pulsing green light and is unable to turn it on or off. If this is the case, due to the strike, what sort of damage would he be looking at within the unit itself, i know they are delicate but i would have thought that a fuse or something would have gone first, before damaging the tower internals.

 

Anyway, any feedback is welcome but my guess is that he need to go shopping at the weekend.....

[spinningwheel]

my guess is that he need to go shopping at the weekend.....

 

 

 

If he didn't have a latching surge supressor in the line prior to the cpu he's pretty well screwed. The energy released within the system should have fried the mobo and the power supply, which is only a fancy, fan cooled, transformer, before it found its way to ground.

[volvofl10]

ahh , i read the topic and thought the Guv'ner was going on strike !!! , OK Brothers, 1 out ALL out

[dontasciime]

As Volvo,s post, I thought we were going to have to wait a long time for the next version.

 

On the subject of pc being hit, quite common and there is a high probability of it being forked.

Edited October 11, 2006 by dontasciime

[dbminter]

A lightning strike is well enough to kill a device, like a modem, in particular, in the days of dial up. I'd be more likely to expect a lightning strike not frying a PC but one particular part of it that with it down, it could prevent the machine from working correctly. Of course, I'm the kind who has had what turned out to be fried hard drives BUT APPEAR to WORK and work JUST ENOUGH to appear to be working. Fucking universe and its higher forces.

[Groundrush]

Sorry about the confusion in then topic title. I only realized how it would come across after i posted

 

Thanks for the input guys, i'll let him know what he probably already knows " it's fooked " but as db mentioned, it may only be one component so i'll suggest he lets someone have a look at it.....

[polopony]

start with the power supply an easy switch out and the first component that would take the brunt of the lightning ,simple power strips with a surge suppressor are real cheap the reaction time is what to look for when buying the faster the reaction the better the strip

[Shamus_McFartfinger]

I'm with Dontasciime. A small spike above and beyond the 3.3v (or 5v) a cpu uses could easily cook it. (The smell of molten glass hangs around for days when you do cook one). If the cpu is cooked then the motherboard is probably cooked as well. Call me an apathist (is that a real word even?) but I wouldn't even bother trying to figure out what's wrong with it and file it under "R" for rubbish bin.

[kevdriver]

100% agree with Dontasciime and Shamus. Friend had me check out his puter after a 10 second power outage in his locale. Apparently when the power blinked off and on there was a surge as it came back on and fried his power supply, and mobo, including CPU. Basically I had to just build him another system, salvaging what I could from his old one. He now has a very good surge protector protecting his computer. Even the smallest power variations can fry electronics............ #39;(

[volvofl10]

its normally the modem that cops it first when lightnings about , think this is down to phone cables passing the strike along the way , and the moidem is first in line.

was anything else like video recorder or tv plugged in ?, this may help eliminate the possibility of the house being struck as the culprit ot if the phone lines was hit .

worth ch3ecking the tv out as well, as the aerial would have sent excess power down the coax cable straight to the tv.