Lightning strikes and computers

[ionlylooklazy]

my grandparents house has a problem of getting hit by lightning, unfortunately this time it fried their computer and TV (even with a surge protector?)


as for the computer, i was wondering what could be salvagable from it,
im assuming the motherboard will be useless, but what about the ram, processor, HD, ect??

or is each computer ruined uniquely?

 

[physicsCU]

most likely the HDD. i doubt the ram or processor though.

They need something with a battery back-up in the surge protector. or just unplug the stuff when a storm starts.

 

[Pengwuino]

Since every piece of equipment runs on rather tight voltage ranges, they may all be fried. But might as well check them all out! I don't see why the hard drive would survive... but I also have seen a lot of hard drives survive rather jolting... jolts of electricity

 

[Dngrsone]

There are a lot of factors involved. Best policy is to assume the whole computer is toast (especially for insurance reasons), and test each component out individually.

Virtually guaranteed is the Power Supply being damaged. It may have protected the rest of the system, but that is a fairly rare occurrance. Keep in mind that some damaged components will appear to be working fine, but will cause sporadic problems later on.

 

[Pengwuino]

There are a lot of factors involved. Best policy is to assume the whole computer is toast (especially for insurance reasons), and test each component out individually.

 

[Dngrsone]

Jeez, you're fast, Pengwuino!

 

[Evo]

My house was hit by lightning in July and I lost everything except my computer and monitor. I lost my DSL modem and my ethernet card though. I guess it was the difference in surge protectors. I had a newer surge protector on the computer. The problem seems to have come through the phone line.