My network took an indirect hit from lightning last Wednesday evening. My primary workstation (Dell with XP Professional) was a casualty. I've removed the power supply, had it tested (it is bad), and replaced the power supply with a new one. When I turn the machine on, the CD drive lights up and the system apparently never tries to boot or even access the harddrive.

Since I am a developer and intentionally try to stay out of the hardware end of things, is there something simple I can try or do I need to take the machine to a hardware expert? I've tried a boot diskette but it was never accessed. Since I can't get the CD drive to open, I have been unable to try rebooting from a CD.

Thanks,

John

I've delt with several lightning cases on dell machines. Usually it is the power supply and the motherboard that goes. Sometimes it takes the processor with it as well. If the lightning strike came through the ethernet cable (which usually arent surge protected in the network closets) it is very likely that it is just your motherboard that is gone as well as the psu but your processor may be fine.

Aye, Power-->Board-->Processor