[Solved] Trouble shooting after a power outage

Forum Windows 7 : General Discussion [Solved] Trouble shooting after a power outage

A few months back my poor computer bit the big one or so I thought. There was a nasty lightning strike one evening and my isp provided modem and my desktop computer fell victim. Called my isp and they shipped out a new modem, computer got tossed in a closet. Fast forward last week, saw an awsome price on a new PSU (corsair CX430) $16.99USD on a black friday sale so I figured I through it at my old pc and see what happens.

Got it today and dug the old pc out, cleaned everything up and installed the new PSU. Low and behold the thing actually powered up. Yay me right?!?! Well.... sort of. It started up, ran through a check disk and loaded windows. Two small issues however.

Issue one: On board nic doesnt seem to be working. I tried to reinstall the drivers for it and I get an error: Realtek network controller not found. If deep sleep mode is enabled please plug in cable. Of course the cable is plugged in and I'm using one that I use for my laptop when I plug it into my router so I know the cable is good. Also the light on the back of the motherboard lights up and stays solid orange.

Issue two: (May or may not be related) When I shut down my computer from the start menu it powers down fine, but the motherboard stays on. The light on my graphics card stays on, my case fans continue to run. Windows seems to shut down fine, and my monitor powers off.

I am okay with buying a pci nic card (seen one on newegg for a whopping $10USD shipping include that had a tone of positive reviews), but if the issue with the mobo is un-fixable I'll probly consider just replacing the mobo altogether and saving myself the time and $10.

Gigabyte G41M-E2SL
Intel core duo E5300
4GB G.Skill ram DDR2 800
1TB Seagate 7200.12
ATI Radeon HD 4850 1GB
Corsair CX430
Lian-Li K58
Windows 7 Home Premium 64

Reply to w3tworks

So what happened to the PC? Did it turned off while the lighting strike?

Reply to Nikorr

Sorry, yes, entire house lost power briefly, maybe a few seconds, then everything came back on minus one desktop pc.

Reply to w3tworks

It sucks. U are lucky that something is working, what about your HDD data? Back it up.

Reply to Nikorr

I apologize, I'm running through a few sites trying some different things w/o much luck. But yes, total power outage after a really close lightning strike, only the pc and the modem wouldn't power back up afterwards, two lcd tvs and two satellite boxes unaffected. I tried to power up the pc after and nothing. I figured it was pay back for buying a cheap PSU when I built it so I really didn't push the matter when it happened.

I had everything on an external so no loss there, everything that was on the pc seems fine, HDD fired right up no issue, no corruption. On the plus side, looks like everything minus the mobo survived without a catch. Memory checked out ok, and gpu seems to be fine.

I would just like to know if I can fix the power down issue and only have to buy an nic card or if I should just replace the mobo and be done with it.

Message edited by w3tworks on 12-01-2011 at 06:49:37 AM

Reply to w3tworks

hmm, power issue seems to have worked itself out. I pulled the bios battery for a few minutes and powered it back up and it seems to be powering down all the way fine now, so it looks like a nic card and I'm good to go.

Reply to w3tworks

Well, If it was my PC, I would re-install windows and than I would probably find out if it was fixed.

Who know what really happened inside and how long it is going to last.

That's what I would do.

Reply to Nikorr

Best answer

That BIOS reset was second thing I could think of, glad that u got it : )

I hope it will work.

Reply to Nikorr

Yup, I agree, I was planning on a complete Windows re-install once I get the NIC issue fixed. I don't see much point in it without the ability to update, plus I've been without this pc for a few months now, so I can handle another few days. I guess I'm still pretty stoked that I might be able to salvage this system for about $25, especially so close to tuition time. Sure beats a couple hundred bucks in upgrades that can now wait till after tax season.

Reply to w3tworks