dead cpu??

[oldhokie]

Last monday a thunderstorm knocked out power in our house and only our house. my dsl modem was toes up and the computer would not power on. My router was also dead. everything was shut dpown and powered off at the time of the outage. The next day I tested the psu and even tried hooking up another one. nothing. I got another MB and the got an apparent power on. Fans and drives spun up but no video. I swapped out video cards still nothing. I figure the cpu is fried. I did check the HD by hooking it up as a slave in another pc. I just would like an opinion on whether or not dead memory would cause this or if it is probably CPU. I hear no beeps, but i think the case speaker was already dead.
Thanks

[mjdodd]

just a very quick reply, but lightning strikes any where near computers even though switched off can hit almost anything by induction. put simply I had a network and all was tuurned off and all mains disconnected. A lightning strike some 100 metres away actually put an induced voltag into the network cables (actually looped around the room) and that knocked out just about everything. permanenetly. In a computer any overvoltage (most of the computers have different voltages but lets say average of v. So chips and processors and memories fry at about 7v or above. Even induced voltages (and not direct strikes) can run up thousands of volts....and my suspicion is that if one thing has been fried it is more than likely a lot more will have suffered as well. Sorry this sounds down beat but it is a fact of life with computers. It might be worth puttng an earphone into the sound system and seeing (hearing)if there are any startup messages. If none then ity is probably a processor problem and that is tested at startup before most other items.
M

[Maverick223]

I agree with M, your mobo is almost certainly fried, and likely other subsystems with it (including the CPU and RAM). Best of luck, and dont forget to invest in a good surge protector...I recommend APC battery back-up, due to the relatively low cost, the outstanding damage warrantee, and the added benifits of battery power with outages. ~Mav

[oldhokie]

That is what I decided. I did have the computer on good surge protection, but when I went to DSL last summer I forgot to hook the phone line up through the surge and I do believe that is how it got into the system. I already have a new MB and processor is on the way. Video Card can be bought locally for a pretty decent price. I am getting more RAM, I figure if the RAM I have turns out to still be okay I just have more. THe phone line is definatly surge protected now. I am just glad that everything was powered down or it could have been worse.

[Maverick223]

Glad to hear that you are using surge protected phone lines now; sorry I couldn't be of more help, but at least it shouldn't happen again in the future. ~Mav

[oldhokie]

well after a new, MOBO, processor, memory and video card I still get no response. I did change the case speaker for one that I know works. My opinion is that even though the Power supply tested good with a tester that it got fried. I am going to try the new PS route this evening.

[Maverick223]

Sorry I could not have been of more help...hope everything goes well with the new puter~Mav.