power

[Guest]

A friend of mine had her computer hit by lightning, what
does she have to do to get it working. She has a Dell
computer Pentium 4 Windows XP Home.

thanks kp

 

[Alvin A Brown]

Hello

Well what is the current state of the pc now, does it turn on
or what does it do. In any case if it is still under warranty have
Dell fix, but don't tell them is was struck by ligthing, if you do
they will not fix it, and they would tell you to talk to your
insurance. But if you can provide current status of pc now

Alvin

 

[Manda Luyong]

If the computer itself was hit, there is nothing much she can do but buy a
new one. If it was just a power surge, it might just be the power supply
that needs replacement. Be careful though. I think Dell use proprietary
power supplies.

 

[w_tom]

First step is to measure power supply voltages where PSU
cable connects to motherboard. First verify purple wire has
+5volts and that green wire voltage toggles in response to
power switch pressing. Other voltages must conform to those
in chart at:
http://www.hardwaresite.net/faqpowersupply.html

Computers can be repaired without future failures IF the
incoming and outgoing electrical path for that surge is
known. Only parts of the computer in that circuit path would
require replacement. Lightning did not just come in, damage
computer, and stop. First it created an electrical path
through certain parts of the machine. Only those parts in
that circuit - having both an incoming and outgoing connection
- are suspect.

 

[w_tom]

Money has little relationship to either 'quality' or
'effectiveness' of
a surge protector. A $5 surge protector of same joules rating
as a $50 protector will have same life expectancy - its
quality. Joules -
not dollars - is the significant number that determines life
expectancy.

But even a million joule surge protector is still not
effective if not connected short to central earth ground.
Joules determines life expectancy. Earth ground determines a
surge protector's 'effectiveness'.

An adjacent protector can contribute to damage of a powered
off computer. This has been demonstrated by identifying surge
path, replacing damaged IC, and learning how surge entered and
left the building. Only analysis at IC level can identify how
surges damage electronics. Two powered off computers were
incoming to a surge via adjacent, power strip surge
protectors, and damaged due to no 'whole house' protector
connected less than 10 feet to earth ground. Plug-in
protector only contributed to surge damage because) a less
than 10 foot earth ground connection was missing and 2)
computer was too close.

Computers already have effective internal protection - that
assumes a destructive surge will be earthed before entering a
building. That internal protection is so strong that some
grossly undersized protectors are damage by surges too small
to damage adjacent computer. Computer and surge protector are
connected in parallel - see same surge equally. Makes no
difference whether computer plugs into surge protector or into
outlet shared by surge protectors. Both see surge equally.
But a grossly undersized protector is damaged by a surge too
small to overwhelm internal computer protection. The naive
simply assume, "the surge protector sacrificed itself to
protect the computer". Bull. They make conclusions without
first learning facts such as what a surge protector does and
surge protector quality - defined by joules; not money.

'Whole house' protectors have that less than 10 foot
connection to earth and are properly sized - more joules. But
moreso - they cost 10 or 50 times less per protected
appliance. Look at those costs. 10 or 50 times less per
appliance for protection that is also sufficiently sized
(joules) and is effective (connected less than 10 feet to
earth ground).