Lightning strike fried my pc :(

jd8180

Junior Member
Jul 11, 2008
19
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0
So my pc died after a bad storm yesterday. I opened it up and took a whiff and nothing smelled fried so i'm trying to figure out exactly what I need to replace. This is what is happening:

When I first got home from work I pushed the power button to boot up my computer. All that happened was the fans started spinning and the LED lights on the case turned on... and that's it. Nothing showed on the screen at all. I had to manually pull the plug in order to shut it off.

I let the computer rest for an hour or so and gave it another try. This time the fans started spinning again and I noticed the USB devices as well as the CD drives powered up as they normally did and the motherboard did its initial beep. I saw the ASUS splash on my monitor and that was it. All the fans stayed spinning and the USB devices stayed with their power, but nothing else happened at that point. I decided to unplug the computer completely and just let it rest over night.

This morning I tried again and I was able to get as far as getting into the bios. I noticed when I was getting into the bios that the motherboard recognized the correct amount of RAM and my CPU. I got into the bios and literally maybe 10 seconds in the bios, the computer pooped out again. Everything stayed on inside the computer, but the monitor wasn't showing anything.

My assumption is that it's a power supply issue and that it's just not giving out enough juice to boot up completely. What do you guys think?

edit: yes, I do have it connected to a power surge protector, but it obviously failed at doing its job.
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
239
106
Your surge protector did all it was capable of. They are not designed to protect against lightning strikes. Sounds like a power issue. Sorry! :( Best bet is to try a different PSU.
 

jd8180

Junior Member
Jul 11, 2008
19
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Alright, hopefully that is the only issue with it. Going to ask around and try to find someone that has a spare to test it out. Thanks for your feedback.
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
12,089
45
91
Depending on how old the surge protector is, and other mitigating factors, you might actually be able to contact the manufacturer and get a payout. I had a teacher in high school that had the same thing happen and the surge protector manufacturer bought him a new computer.
 

Rottie

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2002
4,795
1
81
yup if you got APC power strip APC will pay for it. if not then get new APC power strip power surge proctor whatever the spelling is you know what i mean.
 

jd8180

Junior Member
Jul 11, 2008
19
0
0
Yeah I already looked it up. My surge protector is with Cyberpower and they do offer a guarantee of up to $150,000. The only thing is that it would only cover my PC. We have two other PCs that were fried, a tv, our router, and a couple other smaller things. Because of all that we're going to file a claim with our home owners insurance.

On Cyberpower's website the guarantee mentions that they will only pay the difference of what is left after all insurance/warranty claims etc is paid. We called our insurer and they said that they'd cover it all so I don't think I'm going to bother with filing a claim with Cyberpower.
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
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I always laugh at the statements from these companies like APC for $150K insurance . Try to collect it. You have to send the device to one of their investigators who will determine how it failed, at your expense. If it is proven it is lightning they will only pay current value or repair cost for the item, not replacement cost. So if you paid $1000 for a tv and a year later it gets hit, You would likely receive at the most about half that.

 

jd8180

Junior Member
Jul 11, 2008
19
0
0
So a friend lent me an extra PSU he had laying around. This time the computer booted up completely. I noticed when it got to the windows login screen there were black streaks every where. The streaks disappeared after a second (maybe the video card was just dazed and woke up?). I put in my password and got to the desktop and everything looked to be working fine. After about a minute, the monitor lost signal again. I'm pretty sure it's the motherboard to blame more so than the video card. After holding down the power button the computer would not shut off and I had to manually rip the cord off again.

Looks like I can salvage my hard drive, RAM, CPU, and I'm pretty sure the video card as well.

Let me know if I'm correct or not in my thinking though... The RAM and CPU I'm assuming is okay because the bios recognized them both, the hard drive because I was able to get to my desktop and everything looked in tact, and the video card I'm just assuming because of the fact that it works in the moments the PC is on. I have a feeling that the motherboard's PCI-E port might be the one causing issues.
 

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
1,809
0
76
Only way to know for sure is to try another video card, try another PCI-E slot, and try another mobo. If your mobo was toast, I would expect more problems than an iffy video signal, but it's definitely possible.

Also, don't assume your RAM is fine. Run memtest86+.
 

jd8180

Junior Member
Jul 11, 2008
19
0
0
Since the insurance is going to (hopefully) pay me for the entire computer, I'm going to just buy the new PSU and motherboard first. I'll run memtest at that point to check on the RAM and we'll see how the video card works as well. I don't really want to try the memtest now in it's current state because regardless when the computer is finally on and at the desktop, I only have like 30 seconds or so before it dies.

If anything else seems damaged, I'll buy them as I realize they're damaged.
 

georgemkar

Junior Member
Aug 5, 2009
2
0
0
A thunderous lighting fried my sister's aluminum MacBook. The only thing that's happening is the spinning fan when the battery is plugged. Without the battery, the fan doesn't spin with the power cord plugged. What can I do? Please help.