Diagnosing computer after lightning strike

C

chisel

I'm attempting to get my computer back up and running after a lightning strike Sat. night. After trying to boot many times, I have experienced all of the following: will not boot to bios, will boot to bios and then hang, will boot into safe mode but then hangs. I have not been able to boot normally.

No beeps at any time on bootup, but the hard drive light is constantly on even after hangs.

Ideas? Bad mobo? If HDD is bad wouldn't it at least boot into bios every time? And if CPU is damaged then would it do anything at all? I could build a new computer but if it's just the mobo then it would be much easier to pick up the exact same model on eBay and replace it. Fortunately, I cloned the hard drive on Saturday. Thanks for any help.
 
Quote from chisel:

I'm attempting to get my computer back up and running after a lightning strike Sat. night. After trying to boot many times, I have experienced all of the following: will not boot to bios, will boot to bios and then hang, will boot into safe mode but then hangs. I have not been able to boot normally.

No beeps at any time on bootup, but the hard drive light is constantly on even after hangs.

Ideas? Bad mobo? If HDD is bad wouldn't it at least boot into bios every time? And if CPU is damaged then would it do anything at all? I could build a new computer but if it's just the mobo then it would be much easier to pick up the exact same model on eBay and replace it. Fortunately, I cloned the hard drive on Saturday. Thanks for any help.
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do you have another PC? if so, then take the HDD and boot off it... see what happens...

the second PC will help you diagnose the components to rule them out... so chkdsk the drive, defrag it, etc... memory is easy to diagnose by stressing a bit... video easy to tell as well...

that is just an idea... and didnt you have a surge supressor? wasnt your house grounded to divert the strike? wait, what was actually striken by lighting? the area or the house? it isnt clear if direct or just feedback, but I assume feedback...
 
Can only get wireless where I am so have steel pole about 200' from house with 2 antennas on it for 2 isps. First isp has CAT 5e from house to antenna and other one has coax. Buss bars at house and pole and lightning suppressors on each line at both buss bars. Plus multiple ground rods and ground wire all tied in to the main service ground at house.

Yes, have surge suppressor for computers also, but seems that surge came in through one or both of the wireless cables...at least one of the outdoor Cat 5e suppressor is toast....electricity in house did not go out for even 1 second but I heard the lightning hit in the woods behind my house where the pole is and all evidence is the surge came in through one or both lines.

My mistake was connecting the wireless router via ethernet cable to 2 computers. Backup computer is fine, but the main one is the one I'm trying to fix.
Will try the HDD on other computer. THanks.
 
Surge could have taken out more than one component... more difficult to troubleshoot.

Suggest swapping known good parts into the down system until you find it. However, there is a risk in doing so. If the power supply was affected, could take out your known good parts when you try them. If you have a spare PSU, suggest swapping that first.
 
Backup computer is much older and I don't have any spare parts that will fit down computer. Will try to boot from cloned HDD later today. Thanks for your help.
 
Quote from chisel:

Backup computer is much older and I don't have any spare parts that will fit down computer. Will try to boot from cloned HDD later today. Thanks for your help.
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How much is your down computer worth? Perhaps not worth the effort to fix??
 
The notion that electricity takes the shortest path is false. It takes all paths. That's how an electronic circuit works. If it only went one place, nothing else would work.

That being said, you're likely looking at more than a single component. Point of entry is first place to be suspicious of. If you're confident it entered via ethernet, start there. Pull out the card (or mobo if onboard) and look for anything that looks burnt.

A magnifying glass or hires camera will help.

If it went to Earth ground through your building's electrical distribution system, it may have entered via the neutral in which case I'd check out the psu with a volt meter.

But what you describe sounds software related. I'd take the former suggestion first and put that HDD in another box and see if it will boot. Does anyone know if Windows is going to have a problem booting to a different CPU? Don't they use CPU serial numbers to keep people from cloning windows?
 
Backup computer is running XP and is about 9 yrs. old, so I was planning to rotate down computer (W7 x64) into backup mode in April when XP support expires.

Just installed cloned HDD (was external drive so was not connected to anything during storm) and tried to boot...got to the "starting Windows" screen and then that disappeared as normal and then nothing on monitor. HDD light on front of computer is solid on. Will pull 3 of 4 video cards and wireless NIC and 2 of 4 sticks of ram and see if that makes a diff.

Linksys router is toast.
 
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