Lightning Strike Help

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XRWKEN

XRWKEN

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So Lightning hit the house last night and smoked, my comp, dsl modem, wireless router, canon mfc, ps3 and directv receiver.

I built my rig, so I tore into it to see how bad it is, It think it crapped the bed totally. I tried booting up, nothing happened, no lights on the mobo, so I swapped out to my backup power supply tried to boot again, this time the integrated power/reset button started to blink aprox 1 blink per second, no fans, no nothing else. The mobo is a Asus P6T deluxe w/ I7-920 cpu and 12 gigs tri channel rip jaw series memory.
Sounds like to me the PS and mobo is shot. I dont really know how to test the cpu and memory other then to try them in a good mobo.
What do you guys think? Is the hole rig nothing more then a paper weight?
If so and its time for a new rig what do you guys recommend? I have missed the hole I3/I5 stuff, I like intel cpu's. I would go with top of the line stuff, like I did when I built this rig 3 years ago,

Any help would be great

Thanks
Ken
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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It's really hard to say how far the lightening surge or ESD damaged the system. You are correct, the only way to know is to test the parts in a known good environment. Is the system covered by any kind of homeowner's insurance? Personally, I would recycle the electronic components and build anew. Even if you get some of the components to work again, you'll always wonder if they are about to fail. Or worse, take something else with them.

If you are a gamer, I would go with an Intel Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge build. If you want to go budget, go with an i3-21xx SB processor. Combined with a good graphics card it will meet or beat anything AMD has when it comes to gaming. Stepping up, I would look into an i5-2500k or i5-3570k if you like to O/C.
 
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smorizio

smorizio

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if the mb/ps/ram/cpu are under warranty you could rma out. the mb going to be cooked as the power went into the mb from the Ethernet port. it most likely cooked the chipset on the mb. to test your power supply you can green wire it and then use a 12v bulb and see if it lights and stays on. if the bulb stobes or the led of the power supply flicker then the ps may be damaged. stores liek micro center may have a ps tester that you can walk into there walk in tech support and see if you can use it for a min. over the past three years mb have gotten cheaper. there not build as thick as they used to if you buy the low end mini atx mb. the better build boards are going to be in the 150-200 or more price range. read mb spec with a fine tooth comb..some do crosffire and not sli...some mb do 16x and 4x for two cards some do 8x 8x, with two cards. also look at the slot placement on the mb some mb are made for 2\3 slot pci video cards some are not. for your hard drive in the dead pc they make for 14.00 a usb to ide/sata kit. comes with the adapters and a power supply. if there any data you need i would try one of these kits and another pc. to see if you can pull any of your data off. as the hit was that close to your house for a piece of mind have the power company check your lines from the street to the meter. you lose power for a few min in the house when the pull the meter but it find any melted wires. in your house have an electrician open the box where most of the damages happen and look for melted wires..also look at the main panel. also have the phone company and cable company come out and check there wires. see if the insuance company will foot the bill to put in a whole house surge suppressor like you see on mike holmes show.
 
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mmilner1

mmilner1

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If no lights come on the MB and no fans then I'd say its a pretty easy guess your PSU is blown, you may get lucky and only need a PSU replacement. You can always go to the local computer store and buy another PSU, if it doesnt work return it. From your description though I'd say its the CPU a bad MB or other and at least you'd have LED's light up.
 
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djmenez10

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It all depends would suggest checking your warranty since most of the parts probably have 3-5 year warranties just in case you can salvage some parts. I think your better of building a new one. The older Sandy Bridge chips are cheaper now but if you prefer top of the line go for Ivy Bridge.
 
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XRWKEN

XRWKEN

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I have a Cyberpower 650 surge/backup. That seems to still be working (green light lit)
I think it was a massive static discharge that did all the damage.
I am a electrical contractor, so I did check everything and all is good with the house wiring.
 
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