[daddychem3]

Last week my computer got a jolt of lightning and is currently DOA (the surge tripped breakers and killed a digital piano as well).

I was able to find out quickly that my motherboard was dead. It still got power (yellow light on), but wouldn't start up and switch on my PSU. A older PSU wouldn't start it either. The original PSU still works (I shorted the PS_ON# wire and it seemed to switch on just fine).

I took the computer to GeekSquad to get it checked out (I could have done the debugging as easily, but my insurance wanted a 3rd party to check it out). They told me that it appears my PSU is fine, as well as my graphics cards, and that my MB was shot (duh..).

What I'm trying to figure out is whether my CPU and RAM are damaged. GeekSquad says it is unlikely that the shock made it past the motherboard, but I'm not sure that they checked these components (or even have the capability to check them).

Unfortunately, I don't have another motherboards that accept the same type of RAM or CPU. I know I'll find out when I replace the MB, but I'd rather get a good idea now, so I can add them to the insurance list, or at least avoid shocking the replacement board.

I'm planning to call GeekSquad back to see if they checked RAM, but in the meantime, does anyone have any experience or ideas?


- MSI K9A2 MoBo, AMD Athlonx2 6400+, 2 GB RAM, 2 x Diamond Radeon HD3870 X-Fire, 250/200 GB HDs

 

[manic]

Re: Motherboard shocked, PSU OK - CPU, RAM damage?

Not that I have any faith in geek squad, but. The cpu and ram
probably survived. Really know way in knowing unless you hook them
up to a board. I have a hard time believing the psu is ok, but
I suppose its possible.

 

[daddychem3]

Re: Motherboard shocked, PSU OK - CPU, RAM damage?

I was a bit surprised that th PSU was OK as well, but all the fans and case LEDs turned on when I shorted the PS_ON# switch. I used a multimeter to check some of the voltages and it seemed OK. Of course I wasn't able to test it with load, so I don't know for sure.

One thing that might have happened was that my computer was connected to the (unprotected) digital piano via USB, so the main surge could have come through there and bypassed the (surge protected) PSU.

One other interesting note: my cable modem, on initial inspection, didn't work. No power light, nothing. The next morning, the light would stay on for a few seconds then turn off. A few hours after that, at GeekSquad, the light appeared to stay on (at least for the minute or so we kept it connected). I haven't actually tested it with an internet connection, but it seems like a magical self-healing modem. I'll probably take it back to Comcast and get it replaced, just in case.

I definitely plan on buying a high quality UPS and surge protector (and tying both my computer hardware and keyboard into it). At least that way I'll only lose the UPS system. I'm lucky enough that it only hit my MB and not my $400 in graphics cards (hopefully).

 

[manic]

Re: Motherboard shocked, PSU OK - CPU, RAM damage?

A friend of mines pc got hit with lightning. He had a ups. Even had
a surge protector provided by the electric company installed at the
meter. Ran down through his cable, fried the cable modem, router,
and onboard nic. Now he runs his nic cable through a ups./surge.
Lotta good the surge protector at the meter did.

 

[daddychem3]

Re: Motherboard shocked, PSU OK - CPU, RAM damage?

Good news! It turned out that only the motherboard was dead. Swapped it out and now I'm back up and running. Based on this finding (and the fact that my cable modem and digital keyboard died), I'm guessing that either:

A) the surge came through the cable, toasted the modem, zapped my southbridge chip via the network connection, and shocked my keyboard's chip via USB
B) opposite of above, with the surge hitting the keyboard first, then computer, then modem
c) combination, with surge hitting both power and cable and converging on the computer(although I think it's more likely that it grounded from one to the other)

It appears my surge protector worked to save my PSU and the rest of my system, but I did get a Belkin UPS and separate "4350 surge rated" surge protector with cable protection. The NIC cable will be run through the UPS surge protection as well, and I've plugged the UPS into the separate surge protector (for double protection)

 

[manic]

Great,,,,glad its fixed...