Topic awaiting preservation: The Demise *sniff sniff*

So I'm talking to my sister-in-law on the phone Friday evening, just as a thunderstorm starts blowing outside... and all of a sudden, we hear this huge crash of thunder, and I see a flash of lightening in the middle of my living room! No really, in the middle of my living room! We didn't lose power, but we did decide it would be prudent to turn everything off for a bit...

After the storm calms down, we look out the window, and just across the street in the vacant lot, we notice that there is bark and branches laying in a pile under one of the trees. That lighting strike hit a tree that stood about 150-200 yards away from our apartment. It struck the top of the tree, and came out at the bottom, near the roots in a spot pointing directly at our living room windows... I'm surprised it didn't catch on fire... but it did blow chunks of bark in a circle about 75 yards around the base of the tree... It was cool lookin' - I took a couple of photos...

I didn't even think about the computer... turned off, plugged up to a surge protector (albeit an old one...)... So Saturday morning, James wakes me at 7:30 - "Alice, there's something wrong with your computer..."... So I run in to check it, and the screen is red, and it's showing a checksum error... I check the BIOS, which has been reset, so I fix it, then go into the system. The monitor cannot be adjusted - still red... (that gets irritating after a few minutes), and the thing refuses to recognize my cable modem. I try resetting all the components, turn off, unplug, count to 30... no change. Try a repair build of Windows 2000 Pro, no change. Try complete reinstall of Win2kPro, no change... Get on the phone to Time Warner, the tech is clueless... *sigh* Oh yes - I know the monitor is not the problem, as the shut off screen saver and the menu are in their proper colors...

For the most part, the computer functions - no data was lost from the hard disk. All of my software and documents are still there... Thank goodness - that was a lot of work! But the screen is red, and I cannot access the internet...

I figure that what happened is that at some point during the night, quite possibly with that initial blast of lighting, (we did have a couple of big power surges during the night) a couple of circuits on my motherboard are fried. *sigh*...


So - does anyone happen to know where I can find a good motherboard for not much money? I don't really want to replace the processor, don't have the cash... But I have a Celeron, 600Mhz P3 equiv processor, currently running on a BCM 370 In810E PC 133 board. I do not want another BCM board. If I'd known better when I bought this one, I wouldn't have gotten it. I plan on doing some searching today from my office... But if anyone has any ideas, feel free to share them...

Thanks for letting me rant...


Cell 617

A little advice that maybe too late...

1. When any storm comes around. Back up you stuff and get off the computer.

2. Back up your work, programs... what ever you have.

3. Even though one might have a surge protecter... sometimes it is best to unplug the computer from the wall. Storms can take out any computer and surge protector, even when the computer is shut off.

4. And most importantly... Back up your work, programs... what ever you have to anything that allows storage! (External Hard Drive, ZIP disks, CD and / or DVD, or even 3.5 floppies.)

For another mother board... check your local computer stores, or ebay. That is all I can recommend.

(Gets down from the preacher's pulpit... )




The programmer's national anthem is 'AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH''

Wolfen's Sig Site

Have you tried using a different monitor on this computer? Or using the current monitor on another computer?

I suspect that the storm has fried your NIC card and possibly your monitor. NIC cards are cheap, and monitors cost a couple hundred bucks as long as you don't want a TFT flatscreen...

Try www.pricewatch.com for a site that lets you search stores for hardware and compare prices on them.
www.resellerrating.com has ratings of many onine stores. You should check a store out somewhere before buying from them on the internet.

Looks like $50 USD will get you a new motherboard. Just make sure that all your current hardware will run in it before buying. Things like RAM type, max CPU speeds, and the corect type/number of expansion slots for your peripharels.

Personaly I would take this as a sign to spend around $250 USD to buy a nForce2 motherboard, AthlonXP 2500+, and 256 mb PC2100 DDR RAM for a rather impresssive computer upgrade.
But then I am just looking for a reason to upgrade right now, even a lightening strick would do.

__________________________
"Show me a sane person and I will cure him for you."-Carl Jung
Eagles may fly high, but beavers don't get sucked into get engines.

[This message has been edited by tj333 (edited 06-30-2003).]

It might not necessarily be your mobo. If the machine works besides your Internet connection and your monitor is red, you prbably fried your NIC and your video card. Of course if your video card is integrated to your mother board then yeah it's hosed

Pricewatch is awesome by the way though I don't usually buy directly from it. Usually I can just take the price from there and my local Computer Store will match it. (but since I don't pay shipping I win)



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

[This message has been edited by bitdamaged (edited 06-30-2003).]

Hard lesson, well learned. I guarantee the next thunderstorm that rolls around, my baby will be unplugged from every outlet it's attached to!

I did find a mobo online for $61 USD. I went for an Intel board, at least I know there'll be support around when I need it. The BCM support forums are a stitch, really, except when you need help!

I'm really low on funds right now, so a phat upgrade would be really nice, but not, at the moment, feasible. I did actually happen onto a board that's a step up from my fried one, and will still run all my stuff. (I did check that out pretty thoroughly!)

Alas, my modem is connected through USB, (no NIC) and my graphics are onboard - the replacement of the entire board is, apparently, necessary... Good thing old tech boards are so cheap now!

Thanks for the recommendations, and the additional slaps on the forehead (sometimes is necessary!)...



Cell 617

Ugh yer.. well your modems connected to a phone line regardless of power on or off.. electricy hits phone line surge down your phoneline fried modem.. happend to me at least 3 times

ceble modem... connected to PC by USB cable, connected to cable outlet via coaxle cable... Believe it or not, the dial up modem, still connected to the phone line, doesn't have a glitch. Alas, I no longer have a dial up account... Pain in the ASS!

But, in 2-3 days, UPS service will deliver me brand spankin' new board, and I will get it installed, and with a great deal of luck, that will fix the problems...
Everybody cross your fingers!


Cell 617

Trig: thanks for mentioning that, i forgot about that.

I used to sell internal PC parts at compUSA and my counter was right next to the Repair Services area. Without fail we would get a rush of people coming in for repair work right after a thunderstorm. I heard both the complaints and the advice given out. I wrote much of it down too. All that advice helps alot.

[This message has been edited by Wolfen (edited 07-01-2003).]

Many surge protectors now have jacks to protect phone lines now too.

Might be a good investment

ohh. yeah USB has a hot wire too doens't it?



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

[This message has been edited by bitdamaged (edited 07-01-2003).]

Believe me, there is a new surge protector in my future... One with a phone jack, cable jack, and anything else I can get on it!

I've never had a problem with lightening and my dial up modem before... I sort of stopped being concerned about the PC. Bad bodhi, BAD! It was the cable modem what got me. I'll have to wait for the new board to get here before I know if the modem itself has been screwed up...



Cell 617

rather than just getting a surge protector i would recommend picking up a battery backup (ups), costs a little more than a surge protector but if you weigh the cost against replacement of the computer and its various parts its not so bad. not only will this protect your machine in the event of a surge it also keeps a steady flow of 'clean' power coming from the wall. the voltage coming from the wall can vary greatly and can cause a good bit of damage if its bad enough. i cant count how many power supplies ive replaced due to surges and brown-outs around here.