Author Topic: Lightning strike (Read 737 times)

VAQ · « **on:** July 12, 2003, 12:44:13 PM »

Was in the MA the other night talking with squaddies when we experienced a near-miss lightning strike (the "lab" is in the basement, I did not know it was storming). Took a shock thru the Cougar that made me yell, then lost all power to the house briefly.

The damage- of 4 computers in-house, all internal and external modems destroyed. I attribute this to not running the lines thru the surge protectors, as 3 of 4 computers apparently suffered no further damage.

1 computer apparently wasted (Dell P4, 9 months old). According to my son (he was in the room with it) there were 3 loud "pops" like firecrackers. My plan is to check all the peripheral components (optical drives, monitor, etc) with a known-good system (my hanger queen) BUT other than visually scanning the mobo for obvious physical defects I am unsure how to go about checking it further. Same with PSU.

Do Dell systems have proprietary wiring (PSU) and/or motherboards? If all other components check out, may I assume that the mobo is trashed? If so, will I be able to R&R with non-OEM mobo?

bloom25 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 12, 2003, 03:58:16 PM »

Yes, some Dells have proprietary PSUs. They look identical to a standard ATX supply, but the wiring on the plug is different. Be SURE to compare it with a replacement supply to be sure they are the same. If you use a standard wiring ATX supply in a Dell, the power supply will short out and blow it's fuse immediately. (I believe PC Power and Cooling has the Dell wired supplies should you need one.)

The chances are the popping noises your son heard were capacitors exploding - hopefully only the ones in the power supply and none on the motherboard itself. It's probably worth gambling on a power supply if a visual inspection of the system doesn't turn up anything.

(Electrolytic capacitors contain a highly basic, not acidic, electrolyte that is pretty corrosive, so try not to get it on your clothes if you do have blown caps.)

Reschke · « **Reply #2 on:** July 12, 2003, 04:50:53 PM »

Be sure you check everything VAQ even if it doesn't appear to have damage. Also your home owners/rental insurance should cover lightning strikes. After my recent lightning smack everything was toasted but it would boot up. It just wouldn't stay on for more than 3-5 minutes at a time before it would die again.

VAQ · « **Reply #3 on:** July 12, 2003, 05:17:43 PM »

Have the PSU out and apart. I cannot find evidence of blown capacitors (yet?). No brown sludge, no elevated tops, etc. My eyes aren't what they used to be, so I will keep looking.

Found this tiny bit in the case, but I cannot find what it blew off of.

Would have thought it easy to find a part with this much blown off. It was easy to see the damage on this ext. modem (below).

SKurj · « **Reply #4 on:** July 12, 2003, 09:36:43 PM »

drop the whole pile off at a repair shop after calling your insurance co...

SKurj

VAQ · « **Reply #5 on:** July 12, 2003, 10:23:41 PM »

According to the boss, a substantial deductable makes this option somewhat unattractive. What the heck, poking and prodding is a lot of fun. Will investigate this option further, thanks.

Tiny bit was off the modem (not pictured above).

Swapping out PSU with known good one tomorrow. Replacement PSU is $143 USD from PC Power and Cooling (on sale from $169 USD).

Pfunk · « **Reply #6 on:** July 13, 2003, 12:22:27 AM »

Good lord $143 for a stinkin power supply, not tryin to be a dick but man propriatery computers blow. I can get an Antec 460W best power supply (the best on the market for $100), and a cheap one that works just fine for $30-40. Not mocking your misfortune, I just cant believe that a crappy Dell power supply would cost that much. Another reason why I have always built my own computers.

Pongo · « **Reply #7 on:** July 13, 2003, 01:00:29 AM »

That camera has a very good macro setting.

VAQ · « **Reply #8 on:** July 13, 2003, 08:40:40 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Pfunk
Good lord $143 for a stinkin power supply, not tryin to be a dick but man propriatery computers blow. I can get an Antec 460W best power supply (the best on the market for $100), and a cheap one that works just fine for $30-40. Not mocking your misfortune, I just cant believe that a crappy Dell power supply would cost that much. Another reason why I have always built my own computers.

I agree. After a decade or so of buying "off the shelf" I have recently completed my first build.

Thermaltake XaserIII V2420+U (w/430w PSU)
Asus P4C800
P4 2.4C w/Zalman 7000Cu HSF (mounted w/AS Ceramique)
Corsair XMS3200LL (2 x 256)
Seagate 40G HD
Gainward GF4 "Golden Sample" 128 or ATi Radeon 9500 Pro (stuttered a bit so I bought the Gainward, still messing with it tho)
LiteOn CD-RW
Win XP Pro
USR ext. modem.

I am stuck with dial-up, as I live in the boondocks. With PCI Winmodem my connect was 225-425. With ext. modem my connect is around 140. Significant improvement for me.

I did have frame rates of around 24 to 45 w/old system. Now I see 120's minimum, and have seen higher than 200.

The case is an overpriced pre-mod impulse buy (damn newegg), but it is aluminum and has 7 x 80mm case fans (albeit crappy ones). My idle temp is around 27C, highest temp recorded under load so far (prime95) is 41.1C. Temps recorded with Tt Hardcano9, Asus Probe generally reports temps 2 degrees lower.

Soon as I get back from Indy I will start in with the Dremel and replace the fans with panaflo H1A's. I didn't have time to do it before the Con. It's that new.

I was on this new computer when the lightning struck.

Fortunately I have decent surge protectors. My son bought a cheap surge protector and it is his system that I am now trying to revive. Part of me hopes that I strike out with his Dell so I can build another one.

The camera is a Sony Digital Mavica (MVC-FD71). Not sure how old it is anymore, maybe 7 years? Family says I need to use hand lotion, heh.

Ghosth · « **Reply #9 on:** July 13, 2003, 08:47:15 AM »

Vaq bro could you have worse luck?

Hang in there bud, the gods get tired of jerking you around eventually. But it can be quite a ride while it lasts.

Best of luck rebuilding system.

VAQ · « **Reply #10 on:** July 13, 2003, 05:19:58 PM »

Ghosth my friend, this is merely a bump in the road.

I heard you were under the weather, hope you are feeling better.

I have (more or less) verified that the PSU is working by using a jumper on the ATX connector. PSU fans spin up, power to peripheral components checks out.

Using another computer, optical drives check out ok.

Floppy checks out ok.

Sound card checks out ok.

Graphics card checks out ok.

System fails to turn on, however. No visual defects noted on mobo. I am wondering about the CPU at this point. I have to have a good processor or nothing works, right?

Green LED of Hope (heh) illuminates on mobo, and if I keep this up I will actually break 100 posts, so it's all good.

blackfalcon4 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 13, 2003, 09:08:07 PM »

you need good cpu and memory to bootup

Roscoroo · « **Reply #12 on:** July 13, 2003, 10:37:38 PM »

When the boss's compac ....alias POS pc got hit when the 440 voltage mixed with the 110 in the wall ... i took the mess home and hooked up my dells power supply and it came back to life ... I'm not shure about your dell ... i ruined a dell just by pluging the mouse into the kb port once ... soo Good luck Vaq

VAQ · « **Reply #13 on:** July 26, 2003, 12:23:55 PM »

Back to working on the lightning-struck Dell.

PSU fans spin up, power to peripheral components checks out.

R&R PSU just for fun, no change.

Optical drives check out ok.

Floppy checks out ok.

Sound card checks out ok.

Graphics card checks out ok.

CPU checks out ok.

Memory checks out ok.

Green LED of Hope (heh) still illuminates on mobo.

At this point I have run out of ideas. Only thing left seems to be the mobo. It just feels like it should be a fuse, something simple.

Any suggestions? I have the multimeter ready.

bloom25 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 26, 2003, 04:25:05 PM »

How about the video card? How did you determine it was OK?