[General Motherboard & PSU] Lightning Hits Onboard Lan W Unground PSU

KingsRIght

Distinguished
Aug 17, 2007
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18,510
A while back I unplugged my computer from the wall so it would have no power during a thunderstorm. However, I forgot to unplug my Network wire that plugs directly into the motherboards onboard lan port and lightning hit the DSL line, blowing up the dsl box and router and feeding down my line and hurting the motherboard.

After storm was over, i plugged it back up and noticed the lights come on on the motherboard.. the green power light.. and the network light came on too but was flickering in the failure color (red or orange.. forget which color)

Then i tried turning the computer on and nothing happened.

I took out the PSU and jumpstarted it and that part seems to work.

I ordered a refurbished replacement board of the same kind (the board is an a8n32 asus sli)

I put the new refurbished board in and it came on and seemed to work fine with the same psu and all the other components from the old system.

So i go on and run some tests to see if it seemed okay.. i checked the bios and the votages seemed fine.. but the temperature readings for the mobo and cpu were not right... they were showing 40 or more Celcius.. i think 45 on fresh boot after the system had not been running.

i upgraded the bios and the same thing.

when i let windows xp boot somem of the normal taskbar icons related to my logitech keyboard and mouse and nvidea display card would not show.. all other icons would.. when i log off and back on they show again. All info on the harddrive was the same as before the lightning. Even though some of the taskbar icons wouldn't show, their processes seemed to be running when you check with CTRL ALT DEL.

WHen i tried gaming and running other tests they seem good.. the system was running as smooth..

so i decided to let it run for a while to heat up. using a seperate internal temp gauge i checked inside the case and the temp was a little hotter than usual compared to the other board. i put my hand on the PSU and that felt like i could bake an egg on it.. and i don't remember it getting THAT hot before.. but maybe i just dont remember.. it was definately uncomfortable to touch. and the fan in the psu seemed to be making an occational dinging.. the PSU i'm referring to is an "Hiper Type R 580W ATX12V V2 24/20 Pin Blue Power Supply 120MM Blue LED PCI-E W/ Detachable Cable" (HPU-4B580)

so since the case seemed a little hotter i bought another case fan and that cooled it down to between 36-45 depending on what i'm running and how hot it is indoors.

So i go on to use the machine and i noticed that the keyboard started to act up.. about 6 certain keys would act up. I used a macro program to test out the keys and pressing and holding any of the good keys down would show that they were held down until the exact moment of release but when i held the keys down that were acting up they would sputter.. as if i were rapidly pressing those keys.. sometimes you could hold it and see nothing show and wait a while before detection.

so i go on and use the new system and figure that i just need a new keyboard and to put up with it for now.. and everything plays smooth and runs smooth with the same speed as before.. and put up with some of these minor things..
so I heavily used the system with the replacement board for about 1 and a half months .. maybe almost 2 months.. for gaming and massdownloads and other stuff, leaving the system running for long periods.. sometimes days (which is what i use to do with the old system without any problem)

then all of the sudden during a nice sunny day the power went out on the house.. while my system with the new "questionable" board was running.

so i figured i'd just turn it back on and resume my downloads and get back to what i was doing when the power comes back on.

the power comes back on 30 min later and i hit the power button to turn the system back on and nothing happened..
and i thought "wow, that's weird.. it was just a simple power outtage.. "

i opened the case and i smelled something fried on this new refurbished board.. i coudlnt' tell where it was fried cuz visually it all looked fine.. yet i could smell the fumes really bad near the area where the ATX 20/24 pin connects at on the Motherboard.

so i need some help... i'm ordering another Asus board of the same kind. but what i dont know is.. what caused this to happen this time around? was this new board faulty to begin with or is something else frying it since all the other peices are from the old system.

The only two ideas i can come up with are that either.
1. the refurbished board was just junk and this would have happened no matter what system it was put into..

or
2. the PSU somehow sustained damage from that lightning even though the the damage came through the network lan port and that the psu was somehow blown partially.. but enough to feedback too much votage onto the ATX.. (i dont have a volt meter to check and am affraid to do so)

I jumpstarted the psu again to see and it seems to power up just fine.


So it's obvious that i must replace the motherboard.. which i just ordered.. but should i also replace the psu? I have limited money to spend and i don't know if i shoujld take that chance again.. yet on the otherhand i keep thinking that i could be wasting a perfectly good psu.. concidering this is a 160 dollar psu.

what is your opinion?
 

Mondoman

Splendid
It's hard to know what was damaged in your original lightning strike. Maybe the PSU. Maybe the CPU. Maybe a drive. Maybe the graphics card. I wouldn't trust any of them, but rather would start over with a new system. Remember, it could be that the CPU or graphics card got damaged and are now drawing a lot more current than normal, stressing your PS and the power connector; it could also be the PS. Good luck!