Lightning - Need Help Figuring Out What Died

[avaagava]

Hey here's the setup and what happened. I have/had a computer with a i7-920 on a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R mobo and 3x2gb OCZ Gold memory. This computer connected via cat5 to the Linksys wireless router and then from that to my DSL modem. Two weeks ago we had a lightning strike that apparently ran through the phone because my DSL modem blew in two. The computer blinked off and the router rebooted itself (I later learned even though the router powered back up it was bricked).

Tried to reboot the computer but got ZERO response. No lights, no fan spin up, absolutely nothing. I pulled the power supply and dumped it into another machine. It works fine...been running great for two weeks. My problem is now I have no way to test whether it is just the mobo that is dead (which I am almost certain it is) or CPU or both. I would like to find out mainly if the CPU and memory is ok and usable, but I dont want to purchase another board just to learn that the CPU is toasty as well.

My question is if I could possibly find someone on the boards here that I can trust to mail my i7-920 cpu and memory to just to test and see if it powers up and runs. I will gladly pay shipping both ways and $20 for your trouble (sorry that's not a lot but I'm not exactly rolling in cash at the moment.). If it works then great and I'll start saving for a new board. If it's dead then I know not to waste my money.

If anyone has any ideas or questions please feel free to ask me.

 

[RebateMonger]

In 25 years, I've never seen an (Intel, at least) CPU die. I've seen several motherboards do so.

 

[avaagava]

So even with a electrical surge like that in your experience you've never lost a CPU? That's a bit more reassuring.....

 

[stlcardinals]

Have you pulled your motherboard out of the case and tried running it with just cpu, ram, power supply?

 

[avaagava]

Yeah I stripped it out of the case and just laid it out with just the PS, cpu and ram installed and had no response. Had a spare power switch laying around that was good so I used that to try and boot.

I'm leaning towards the CPU still being good, I just have no way of actually testing it to be sure. Which leads me back to my original post and wanting to find someone who might be able to test it out so I can be sure before sinking cash into a new mobo.

 

[dfuze]

Wish I had an i7 mobo to help you out, but I'm still last gen.
I would lean toward a bad mobo though. Try taking out the cpu and turning on the system. If the mobo is good, you should get beep codes saying that equate to a missing cpu (assuming you have a mobo speaker plugged in)

 

[billyb0b]

i can't offer advice on what happened but that sux man. spend the 150 bucks or so and invest in a good UPS

 

[AFurryReptile]

So even with a electrical surge like that in your experience you've never lost a CPU? That's a bit more reassuring.....

I've dropped CPU's, accidentally overvolted them, bent pins, and have had faulty power supplies kill everything inside of my case. I have never had a CPU die on me.

I agree with the rest, sounds like a motherboard.

 

[avaagava]

Alrighty sounds like from everyone that I might just be ok with getting a new mobo.

@billyb0b - yeah had the comp on surge sup.....will look into running the network or phone lines through something....never expected it to go through dsl modem, router and then finally fry the mobo.

 

[westom]

I'm leaning towards the CPU still being good, I just have no way of actually testing it to be sure. Which leads me back to my original post and wanting to find someone who might be able to test it out so I can be sure before sinking cash into a new mobo.

Everything you do should result in an answer that only says "without doubt yes" or "without doubt no". Any labor that does not do that was wasted effort. With so much labor, what parts do you know - without doubt - are good and are bad? You do not.

So. Let's start with some concepts. What you must know before even touching the machine. You had a surge. That is electricity. If an electric current does not have both an incoming and an outgoing path through some part, then electricity does not exist. Nothing is damaged. CPU and RAM had an incoming surge path. Where is the outgoing path? Does not exist. No damage. So now we have a definitive answer.

Move on. How did a surge enter on a phone line whent all phone lines already have a 'whole house' protector installed for free? Again, you assumed without first learning some basic principles. That means no definitive answers.

Surges are an electrical current between the cloud and some charges miles away in earth. First that current is same everywhere in that path. Then later something in that path fails. You know what the incoming path was - from the cloud. And you know what the outgoing path was - to earth. So, what inside your house was incoming from the cloud and outgoing to earth?

Modem was not damaged from a surge incoming on the phone line. The 'installed in every house for free' protector means that phone line was a perfect outgoing path to earth. The incoming path was from something else inside the house. You let surge energy inside the building. So it confronted (was incoming to) every appliance everywhere in the house. But it found a best earth ground via the modem. That is why your modem was damaged.

AC electric - the most common source of modem damage - was probably the incoming path. How did it get through the modem? Was it via the modem's power supply? Was it via the computer? Apparently.

Now we have some idea what happened inside the computer. Incoming maybe on any of three AC electric wires. Outgoing via the DSL modem maybe via the NIC port? Was that port damaged? Now we learn whether this did indeed happen. And in the process may find other parts that will fail weeks or months later.

Start collecting relevant facts. For the computer, than means a tool mostly sold in stores that sell hammers. A tool that typically costs less than a hammer - a 3.5 digit multimeter. Sold in Wal-mart, K-mart, Sears, Radio Shack, Lowes, Tru-Value Hardware, Home Depot. Sold in stores that only sell to geniuses?

Not really. If you cannot use a multimeter, then you have no business using a hammer. And cell phones completely confound you. Or give the meter to a 12 year old. You need the inexpensive (ie $18) tool to get useful answers. Without those numbers, then just keep replacing parts until something works.

Start with the meter in 20 VDC. Measure a purple wire - power supply to motherboard. Touch the wire inside the nylon connector attached to the motherboard. It should measure about 5 volts. Post that number to three digits. Do same for the green and gray wires. Both before and when the power switch is pressed. Post those numbers. Have a useful answer in the next reply. One minute of labor to know immediately which parts are suspects and which parts are exonerated.

Do not disconnect or remove anything. That can only make the problem worse, contaminate numbers, and create confusion. You do not remove or replace anything. Do no shotgunning. First get facts. Fixing comes later.

Surge only enter on a phone line when conclusions are without numbers and without first learning technology. Best solution is posted above because it uses numbers. And empowers the few who actually know this stuff.

Currently you do not even know of one good part. All that labor accomplished nothing. This is how you fix it. And also learn. Numbers fill those lists of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ quickly with minimal labor and even less money. Get the meter.

 

[Lemon law]

No, its simple man, Thor the lightening God got you. By in large, any more, phone line connection are buried underground, but DSL connections involve large lengths of copper lines.

Thus making such copper lines very vulnerable to electrical induction effects.

I may be stupid and a slow learner, but when ole Thor, in one single bad mouth ate three Modem Surge suppressor and one Modem, it ain't rocket science to learn to disconnect my phone line connection from my computer when Thor is out and about.

Computer on or off, as long as the computer is connected to a phone line cable, the huge electrical surge of lightening strike has a straight lines shot into your computer.

So I stop Thor by disconnecting my phone line from the modem when Thor is out and about.

I also use a surge strip, no power to the computer when the comiputer is off.