# Computer died from lightning :( Help pls!



## ebolamonkey3 (Apr 5, 2011)

Hey guys, so my computer died last night after a lightning. It was plugged into a surge protector, and my house's power did not go out (lights went off for a second and came back on). The surge protector isn't broken, neither are other things plugged into it (monitors, printer...), but I cannot turn on the PC anymore 

So before I order new parts for everything, what do you guys think is the part that failed? I don't want to replace everything if I don't have to. Does a lightning strike usually take out the PSU, the mobo, or just everything?


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## catnipkiller (Apr 5, 2011)

do u have any older psu? try to jumper ur psu with a fan to see if it powers the fan.


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## Delta6326 (Apr 5, 2011)

not for sure but maybe try resetting the cmos_(is this right name?)_ battery on the mb


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## Thrackan (Apr 5, 2011)

Step 1: "maybe you're lucky"
Take out the CMOS battery, turn off the PSU (if possible) and push+hold the powerbutton for a couple of seconds.
Put the battery back in and turn stuff on as normal.

Step 2: "minimalism"
Unplug all HDD's, opticals, and leave in one stick of RAM. Does the PC POST?
Do fans start running? Do any LEDS burn on the MOBO?

Step 3: "what spares do you have?"
Any parts you can test with? Use them.


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## lilhasselhoffer (Apr 5, 2011)

*Time to break out the tools*

Hello,

In short, the most likely failure is the PSU, assuming the PC won't power on at all.

First, tell us if the PC powers on (any lights at all?).

If it doesn't get ready to remove and test the PSU.  If there is power, but nothing turns on, the solution is going to hurt...


If there is no power; disconnect the power, and remove the PSU from the PC.  Find the 20, 24, of 20+4 power connector for the motherboard.  There should be a single green wire that goes into the connector.  Jumper this wire to one of the black wires.  Use either a length of wire, or ideally a resistor, as the jumper.  Connect one fan (AND NOTHING ELSE!) to the PSU.  Plug the power supply back into the wall and wait for the fan to spin up.

If the fan spins up but is slow the PSU was damaged because its draw was too high; get a higher rated PSU.  If the fan spins up to full speed the PSU needed to reset its over current protection; disconnect power and rebuild to confirm the PC now works.  If the fan does not spin up the PSU is fried; you will need a new one which should likely be rated for more power than your current one is.


More complete instructions can be googled.  Consider "Convert ATX power supply into bench power supply" instructions as a good place to start.


Once you've tried the PSU, the list of troublesome components gets harder to test without another rig.  Try the PSU, then give us an idea of what happened so we can advise you on where to go from there.


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## brandonwh64 (Apr 5, 2011)

Knowing ebolamonkey3,  he has raided the ATL microcenter and has alot of spares HAHA but anywho, Test psu first with the jump method but make sure its NOT hooked up in any way to your stuff. if that works then it would lead me to believe its the motherboard.


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## n-ster (Apr 5, 2011)

All advice till now is great, specially Thrackan's./ Just add the step of testing the PSU by itself with the green/black wire short + 1 fan


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## Thrackan (Apr 5, 2011)

good one there


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## thebluebumblebee (Apr 5, 2011)

http://www.seasonic.com/support/a08.jsp#42


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## Arctucas (Apr 5, 2011)

ebolamonkey3 said:


> Hey guys, so my computer died last night after a lightning. It was plugged into a surge protector,<SNIP>




Here we go...


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## jpierce55 (Apr 5, 2011)

I have seen 2 computers die from lighting. In both cases the psu and mobo both died.


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## thebluebumblebee (Apr 5, 2011)

He has a very good PSU.  I would expect it to protect the PC.
From the X-series manual:


> The AC on/off switch on the back of the PSU can be toggled between "I" and "O" a few times with a 0.5 seconds delay in between to make sure the PSU is reset.


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## trickson (Apr 5, 2011)

thebluebumblebee said:


> He has a very good PSU.  I would expect it to protect the PC.
> From the X-series manual:



No matter how good a PSU is a lightning strike can kill it fast ! My brother lost his computer when a strike hit the tree in the back yard ! Took the entire thing out . The use of a power strip is not going to protect you at all , Even a upc battery back would have a hard time protecting from this ! Thing is most likely your computer MB , PSU and maybe more is gone . Looks like you have your hands full . Good luck .


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## Black Panther (Apr 5, 2011)

I can't understand why the surge protector didn't serve its purpose here... what type was it?

I've had 3 lightening incidents so far, and in all 3 cases the computers were switched off, and all were without surge protection.

First one, the surge travelled through the phone line and literally broke the chip of my then internal modem in half. Wish I'd kept it... photos would be nice. The rest of the pc was ok. From there on I always removed the phone line from the socket...

Second time, I was called for jury duty and turned off everything except the speakers. Later at night, only hubby was at home, he smelt burning plastic, entered my pc room to find black smoke oozing out of the sub-woofer... The rest of the pc was ok this time too. I had removed the phone line from the modem..

Third time, during the night on one of the work pc's. This time everything went kaboom, not even the monitor worked. And with good reason - the pc's wall plug had turned black, smoky and popped an inch out of the wall.


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## TheMailMan78 (Apr 5, 2011)

Waits for Westom to post.......



Black Panther said:


> I can't understand why the surge protector didn't serve its purpose here... what type was it?



Because they are not lighting protectors. They are surge protectors. There is no such thing as a lighting protector.


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## jpierce55 (Apr 5, 2011)

Lightning travels ~93000mph. What more can you say. It would really depend on how close to the pc's power line the strike hit. If it hit a reasonable distance away the power lines would slow it down, but if it was close...........


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## Black Panther (Apr 5, 2011)

jpierce55 said:


> but if it was close...........


 The unpowered wall socket would turn black and pop an inch out of the wall, as once happened to me!


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## overclocking101 (Apr 5, 2011)

it probably was not a surge protector, but an outlet extension. a lot of them nowadays are not actually surge protectors though they mislead people into thinking they are. Also if it was a cheap one it wouldnt function right. sounds like the psu or cpu shit out to me.


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## TheMailMan78 (Apr 5, 2011)

Black Panther said:


> The unpowered wall socket would turn black and pop an inch out of the wall, as once happened to me!



Chances are your house has poor grounding. What kind of soil do you have? Is it like clay?



overclocking101 said:


> it probably was not a surge protector, but an outlet extension. a lot of them nowadays are not actually surge protectors though they mislead people into thinking they are. Also if it was a cheap one it wouldn't function right. sounds like the psu or cpu shit out to me.



This is true. I like to open mine up to make sure the fuse is still intact. If I don't see a fuse that crap gets returned. A few I got had fuses that were already blown!


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## cheesy999 (Apr 5, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> There is no such thing as a lighting protector.



yes there is, and its found on 99% of tall buildings

it's called a 'lightning rod'

here's one in action


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## westom (Apr 5, 2011)

ebolamonkey3 said:


> Hey guys, so my computer died last night after a lightning. It was plugged into a surge protector, and my house's power did not go out (lights went off for a second and came back on). The surge protector isn't broken, neither are other things plugged into it (monitors, printer...), but I cannot turn on the PC anymore


You may have a perfect example of what a protector does when too close to appliances.  All power supplies contain superior protection.  But a power strip protector can bypass that protection.  Can, for example, take out a power controller.

  You have two choices.  Keep replacing good parts on wild speculation until something works.  Or spend a minute to learn what is defective before even disconnecting one wire.  That means using a multimeter.  A $17 tools so *complicated* as to be sold even to Kmart shoppers.  One minute to get three digit numbers from six wires.  Post them.  Have a complete answer in the next reply that says what is and is not bad - without any speculation.

  Set the meter to 20 VDC.  Attach the black lead to the chassis.  Touch its red probe to a purple wire that connects the PSU to the motherboard.  It should read about 5 volts (with the computer off but connected to AC mains).  Post all three digits.  Do same for the green and gray wires both before and when the power switch is pressed.  And finally, monitor any one red, orange, and yellow wire as the power switch is pressed.  What do those wires do?

   Next reply will answer definitively.  May also say why something failed.  Was it a surge?  Or was it something else?  If you only swap parts (shotgun), then you will not learn why failures happen.  Not learn from the experience. Not learn how computers really work. Buy or borrow a meter.  Have a solution immediately.  Learn what caused a failure.  Save time.  And save money.


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## TheMailMan78 (Apr 5, 2011)

cheesy999 said:


> yes there is, and its found on 99% of tall buildings
> 
> it's called a 'lightning rod'
> 
> ...



How many residential houses have you seen built like a high rise?


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## cheesy999 (Apr 5, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> How many residential houses have you seen built like a high rise?



i can think of one if the top of my head, its called q1 and here's a picture of it being hit by lighning






i do see your point but it doesn't need to be a high rise, in england basically anything tall has one (eg churches, towers,any sort of building with more then 4 floors) therefore i can conclude that retrofitting one must not be that difficult at all (hint:anything metal and taller then his house would work - so flag poles etc)

In other news my previous surge protector managed to melt all its internal components (didn't notice it at first but the light went out and when i took it apart everything had melted, this happened at about the same time smoke started coming out of my psu- just shows that not all are good if any work at all


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## qubit (Apr 5, 2011)

Check for blown fuses before anything else.


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## TheMailMan78 (Apr 5, 2011)

cheesy999 said:


> i can think of one if the top of my head, its called q1 and here's a picture of it being hit by lighning
> 
> http://www2.fitforpublicconsumption.com/Q1LightningStrike.jpg
> 
> ...



You do know lighting rods are not always effective. They divert a bulk of the energy but a lot of time they arch. Things like AC units get hit all the time. I've seen them blow right through the disconnect and fry a residential building. Just saying.

Also thats a myth about the (anything metal higher then the house). If its not properly grounded then its not effective. Thats why lighting loves AC units lol


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## cheesy999 (Apr 5, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Also thats a myth about the (anything metal higher then the house). If its not properly grounded then its not effective. Thats why lighting loves AC units lol



if its stuck in the ground its grounded, don't know about AC as i don't have one, only AC i've ever known is on cars and that's not used 3/4 of the year

even so i think we should finish this discussion unless he's actually considering putting a lightning rod on his house


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## thebluebumblebee (Apr 5, 2011)

To determine if it's a surge protector, look on the bottom.  In the US, it has to say what it is and those are legal terms.  The fact that nothing else attached to the same power source died gives me hope that the PSU "tripped" to protect the system and needs to be reset.
Yes, a surge can come in not only through the power, but by ANY conductor connected to the PC or even touching any conductor connected to a PC!  A surge can jump cables.  Neatness counts!


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## TheMailMan78 (Apr 5, 2011)

cheesy999 said:


> *if its stuck in the ground its grounded*



Is it now? 

http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthre...ng-for-lightning-damage?p=1026195#post1026195



thebluebumblebee said:


> To determine if it's a surge protector, look on the bottom.  In the US, it has to say what it is and those are legal terms.  The fact that nothing else attached to the same power source died gives me hope that the PSU "tripped" to protect the system and needs to be reset.
> Yes, a surge can come in not only through the power, but by ANY conductor connected to the PC or even touching any conductor connected to a PC!  A surge can jump cables.  Neatness counts!



Thats very true. Have you reset it yet?


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## n-ster (Apr 5, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Is it now?
> http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthre...ng-for-lightning-damage?p=1026195#post1026195



  NOOOOOOOO WAY !!!!! WTF


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## ebolamonkey3 (Apr 5, 2011)

Wow... thanks for all the reply guys!

The PSU in question is from another rig, not the one in my sig. It's an OCZ ModXtreme 700W. Part of me's kicking myself for using OCZ, but the other part of me's glad that it wasn't my Seasonic that got burned. 

I'll stop by Microcenter on the way and pick up a multimeter, and probably test w/ a spare PSU/mobo when I get home if I can't reset the PSU/CMOS. Thanks for all the comments guys!


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## laszlo (Apr 5, 2011)

as i know only a rod can protect a house electric stuff from being fried from lightning;even with a rod sometimes the intensity is so high that induce current in wiring

i have inserted ups for protection against power fluctuation but when is a big storm with lightnings  the best protection  is to pull of from wall everything.... otherwise bye-bye pc tv and everything ...


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## cheesy999 (Apr 5, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Is it now?
> 
> http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthrea...95#post1026195



just so you know the reason the tree did that.

lightning is electrical charges in the air returning to the ground, thats why most lightning just moves across the sky, its charges equalizing

the tree was the route the lightning took to the ground, keep in mind lightning is not the power itself but the air molecules being separated by the transfer of charges(basically electrolysis mid air)

when the lightning hit the tree one end became massively charged, as the charged traveled through the tree, towards the ground, it got very hot(trees have a high resistance, unlike the metal lighting poles are made off), therefore they heat up fast as current pases through them)

as the tree was heated to incredibly high temperatures the water inside it started to boil and the pressure caused bits of the tree to burn or break off

If anyone when through the effort to read this they will be rewarded with a picture


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## TheMailMan78 (Apr 5, 2011)

cheesy999 said:


> just so you know the reason the tree did that.
> 
> lightning is electrical charges in the air returning to the ground, thats why most lightning just moves across the sky, its charges equalizing
> 
> ...



And then it traveled through the ground (Solid bed rock) and went UP through the houses grounding system. Something that in theory should be impossible. But.......like I said. Zeus wants your ass he will have it.



n-ster said:


> NOOOOOOOO WAY !!!!! WTF



Welcome to the real world.


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## cheesy999 (Apr 5, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> and went UP through the houses grounding system



that was incredibly bad luck for the owner, just how big was that lightning strike? 99% of the time the only lightning we get round where i live isn't even big enough to fry a cat, let alone a tree and most of a house


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## westom (Apr 5, 2011)

ebolamonkey3 said:


> I'll stop by Microcenter on the way and pick up a multimeter,


  Best prices are in Wal-Mart.  Meters are sold in most any store that also sells hammers.  A good hammer usually costs more money.


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## Batou1986 (Apr 5, 2011)

Surge protectors only really save you from smaller surges on power lines like if lightning hits a main line 1mi from your house anything that hits very close to your house or lines is likely to fry whatever connected to it.

If there was a way to surge protect electronics do you think the cable/phone/power company's would constantly be replacing transformers, hubs, etc ?

As a side note the only thing that makes a UPS better is it will save your rig from brown outs which can do some serious damage.
If you have a high power draw rig "nvidia" stuff will pop like corn when it has a chance to strain to draw the power it needs instead of being turned off instantly in normal shutdown.


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## theonedub (Apr 5, 2011)

If there is a lightning storm I pull the plug on my computer; if the forecast calls for lightning and I will not be home- its off once I am out the door. 

EB3, you don't have a multimeter?! Shame


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## westom (Apr 5, 2011)

laszlo said:


> as i know only a rod can protect a house electric stuff from being fried from lightning


  A rod protects the building structure.  Lightning to wires down the street is a direct lightning strike to appliances inside that house.  Being powered off does not protection. Will a millimeters gap in a switch stop what three miles of sky could not?

  Worry more about earthing a 'whole house' protector since that is the most common source of destructive surge energy.  Lightning rods earth that surge so that another destructive but less frequent connection to earth does not exist. 

  Lightning does not cause a tree to explode because water boils.  Lightning can ignite sugars inside a tree.  Lightning acts like a spark plug in the car. A spark plug is not the major energy source. Spark plug simply ignites that energy - just like sugars in a tree sometimes are explosive.

  Well more than 95% of all trees struck by lightning have no appreciable indication.  Exploding tree is a rare event.

  All is irrelevant to the OP's problem.  First a defect must be identified before fixing anything. And before knowing why his failure happened.


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## cheesy999 (Apr 5, 2011)

theonedub said:


> If there is a lightning storm I pull the plug on my computer; if the forecast calls for lightning and I will not be home- its off once I am out the door.
> 
> EB3, you don't have a multimeter?! Shame



if there is a lightning storm i just carry on as normal, the trick to beating a storm is not showing weakness, and if it tries to get you - then punch it!!!

Also, how can anyone not have a multimeter, their amazing




westom said:


> Lightning to wires down the street



also how does that work, in the uk most electrical wires are underground, only the telephone wires and the high voltage long distance power cables are above ground, and their much less likely to cause damage

are things done differently with regards to electricity over in america?


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## theonedub (Apr 5, 2011)

cheesy999 said:


> also how does that work, in the uk most electrical wires are underground, only the telephone wires are above ground, and their much less likely to cause damage
> 
> are things done differently with regards to electricity over in america?



Transmission lines are usually above ground. Depending on the age of your neighborhood the electricity and phone lines might be buried (newer) or might be overhead (older).


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## TheMailMan78 (Apr 5, 2011)

cheesy999 said:


> if there is a lightning storm i just carry on as normal, the trick to beating a storm is not showing weakness, and if it tries to get you - then punch it!!!
> 
> Also, how can anyone not have a multimeter, their amazing
> 
> ...



All lines in Florida are above ground due to ground density. Ever dig through petrified coral?  Anyway you have to understand we have a LOT more land to cover also. Above ground is far cheaper and faster. Plus the UK is not really a lighting capital. You need to look more at France for a better idea.

Florida on the other hand is second to none in over all strikes. At least to the last report I read. As a matter of fact there is a storm right now as I type this.


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## westom (Apr 5, 2011)

cheesy999 said:


> also how does that work, in the uk most electrical wires are underground, only the telephone wires and the high voltage long distance power cables are above ground, and their much less likely to cause damage


  Makes little difference whether wires are overhead or underground.  

  UK has so little lightning.  Any good surge protection system means never any surge damage. But effective protection rarely exists in the UK.  BT does not even earth a 'whole house' protector inside the Master Socket.  Protectors have always existed at every subscriber interface throughout North America.


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## cheesy999 (Apr 5, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> All lines in Florida are above ground due to ground density. Ever dig through petrified coral?  Anyway you have to understand we have a LOT more land to cover also. Above ground is far cheaper and faster. Plus the UK is not really a lighting capital. You need to look more at France for a better idea.
> 
> Florida on the other hand is second to none in over all strikes. At least to the last report I read. As a metter of fact thier is a storm right now as I type this.





theonedub said:


> Transmission lines are usually above ground. Depending on the age of your neighborhood the electricity and phone lines might be buried (newer) or might be overhead (older).



I now know more about the strange land known as America, where pc's are cheap and mobile phone reception is poor. And thank you for your wide and limitless electrical knowledge


Now back to the thread
i recommend you test your psu with a psu tester (there about a fiver on-line if i remember) , and they do all the plugs at the same time to save time

I also recommend a lightning rod for your home to protect against future strikes, and moving to a place with less storms

Edit:Another lightning picture just cause they break up the long blocks of text that make up this thread


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## niko084 (Apr 6, 2011)

Lets bring back a little old school knowledge here.

Surge protectors wear out, and when they wear out most of them stay working... The good ones stop working once they wear out and the REALLY good ones are REALLY expensive but don't wear out, they absorb and contain the power vs burning it up, issue if it's hit too hard they can start fires.

Anyways, do some reading up on different types of surge protectors, there are some big differences and a lot that claim to be great and cost the buck and aren't worth a dime!

That being said, you start with a new power supply, if it doesn't go, remove all your cards, all but one stick of ram, disconnect all your drives etc and try to get it to fire, switch the ram sticks out, test with known good ones if possible, jump the power pins vs using the button however highly unlikely *I normally tap them with a small screw driver*.


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## ebolamonkey3 (Apr 6, 2011)

westom said:


> You may have a perfect example of what a protector does when too close to appliances.  All power supplies contain superior protection.  But a power strip protector can bypass that protection.  Can, for example, take out a power controller.
> 
> You have two choices.  Keep replacing good parts on wild speculation until something works.  Or spend a minute to learn what is defective before even disconnecting one wire.  That means using a multimeter.  A $17 tools so *complicated* as to be sold even to Kmart shoppers.  One minute to get three digit numbers from six wires.  Post them.  Have a complete answer in the next reply that says what is and is not bad - without any speculation.
> 
> ...



Here's what I got:

Color:   Off      On
Purple: 5.16     5.16    
Green: 4.11     4.10
Gray:   0.00     0
Red:    0.00     0
Oj:      0.00     0
Yellow: 0.00     0

Nothing happens when I press the power button. Guess the PSU's completely fry'd.

So now test w/ a new PSU, onboad vga, and a single stick of ram?


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## Funtoss (Apr 6, 2011)

Dude!? how the hell lOl anyways if its dead then time to upgrade to a new one? !!  but check if some parts work?


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## westom (Apr 6, 2011)

ebolamonkey3 said:


> Here's what I got:
> Color:   Off      On
> Purple: 5.16     5.16
> Green: 4.11     4.10
> ...



  PSU is providing a full 5 volts to a power controller.  When a power button is pressed, the Green wire must drop to less than .7 volts.  It doesn't.  Therefore the power supply controller never orders the PSU to power on.

  Either the power supply controller is defective.  A safety lockout has tripped. Or one of its inputs do not work.

  The controller has a lockout protection feature.  Reset that by disconnecting the power cord from the wall receptacle for two seconds.  Try again.

  Possible that a power switch is somehow disconnected.  IOW measure between two power switch wires (use paper clips or sharp pins if necessary to probe those connections).  Those wires should measure something approaching 5 volts (probably about 4.xx volts).  When the switch is pressed, that 5 volts should drop to less than 0.7 volts.  If no 5 volts, wires from switch to power controller may be broken or the power controller is destroyed.  

  Or you have an inevitable reality.  Power controller was destroyed by a surge.  A power strip protector did what is quite common when too close to electronics and too far from earth ground.  It connected a surge into and through the motherboard. Completely bypassed protection inside the PSU.  Destroyed a power controller on the motherboard.

  Either the power controller lockout protection circuit was tripped.  Inputs (ie power switch) was somehow damaged.  Or the power controller itself was destroyed.  So how would a surge get there?  Happens when a protector is too close to electronics and too far from earth ground.

  Finally, what those numbers report.  The Purple wire is power only for electronics in a power controller.  When the power switch is pressed, the temporary short tells the power controller to power on the PSU.  A Green wire drops to less than 0.7 volts.  The power supply increases voltages on all red, orange, and yellow wires.   After about a second, the PSU reports all voltages OK by raising the Gray wire voltage to something well above 2.4 volts.   The power supply controller does other checks.  If power controller finds any problems (gray wire or others), then it immediately powers off the PSU.  (Your never saw the red, orange, or yellow wires move.)  Otherwise the power controller next tells the CPU to  execute the BIOS.

  Since the Green wire does not drop to near zero, then PSU cannot do anything.  Since red, orange, and yellow wires did not rise, then all problems lie in the power controller or its inputs (ie switch).


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## Wrigleyvillain (Apr 6, 2011)

I was just thinking the other night during a T Storm how I should probably unplug everything but really didn't want to stop using my PC and thought to myself "I know it getting zapped is possible but I sure don't hear about it much". And here we go...


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## n-ster (Apr 6, 2011)

lets hope everything else is fine... Where is your Seasonic PSU?


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## racingjoe66 (Jan 3, 2020)

Weston,  I hope your still on here or someone else can help.  My home pc was hit my a lightning strike that hit my neighbors tree.  My computer was on and connected to a surge protector.  The lightning strike also took out my internet modem on a separate wall outlet.  My computer will fire up, fans turn on and lights just nothing on the monitor.  I have verified the monitor is still good and working.  As the computer starts it makes a long beep then 5 to 10 seconds later it does 2 fast beeps.  My graphics card is a integrated one.  I thought that was bad so bought a different one a few d that didn't fix it.  I also took the bios battery out and didn't fix it.  I tested the wires you asked the previous guy and this is what I got.

Color-----off-----on
Purple---4.98---4.97
Green----4.29---0.06
Gray------0.00---5.01
Red-------0.00---5.01
Orange--0.01---3.30
Yellow---0.04---11.80

Any input as to what my issue would be for sure would be greatly appreciated.  It is a gateway  DX4831-01E  Intel core i3 processor 530.

Thanks greatly 
Joe


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 3, 2020)

racingjoe66 said:


> Weston,  I hope your still on here or someone else can help.  My home pc was hit my a lightning strike that hit my neighbors tree.  My computer was on and connected to a surge protector.  The lightning strike also took out my internet modem on a separate wall outlet.  My computer will fire up, fans turn on and lights just nothing on the monitor.  I have verified the monitor is still good and working.  As the computer starts it makes a long beep then 5 to 10 seconds later it does 2 fast beeps.  My graphics card is a integrated one.  I thought that was bad so bought a different one a few d that didn't fix it.  I also took the bios battery out and didn't fix it.  I tested the wires you asked the previous guy and this is what I got.
> 
> Color-----off-----on
> Purple---4.98---4.97
> ...



Powersupply or motherboard are dead, time for an Upgrade to a Ryzen and a true lightning shunter


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## racingjoe66 (Jan 3, 2020)

I'd like to fix what I have and save what I have on it if possible.  Sorry I'm not very computer / tech savvy,  so any help would be greatly appreciated as what to do with it.  Thanks


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 3, 2020)

racingjoe66 said:


> I'd like to fix what I have and save what I have on it if possible.  Sorry I'm not very computer / tech savvy,  so any help would be greatly appreciated as what to do with it.  Thanks



Its 10+ yo system. Time to move


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## racingjoe66 (Jan 3, 2020)

Might be old, but does what I need and still fast enough for me.


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## Toothless (Jan 3, 2020)

racingjoe66 said:


> Might be old, but does what I need and still fast enough for me.


Unless you have spare parts to test with, it might not be worth buying aged parts to maybe fix it.


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## racingjoe66 (Jan 3, 2020)

To me it's worth it.  Anyone by chance know what the voltage readings on the wires show?

When the monitor comes on it says the following 

D sub 
Power saving mode

Does that mean anything?


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## Toothless (Jan 3, 2020)

racingjoe66 said:


> To me it's worth it.  Anyone by chance know what the voltage readings on the wires show?
> 
> When the monitor comes on it says the following
> 
> ...


Did, again, unless you have the spare parts to test everything, assume it's all gone.


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## racingjoe66 (Jan 3, 2020)

Okay, then how do I save the programs and pictures and files that are on it?  Thanks


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## Vayra86 (Jan 3, 2020)

racingjoe66 said:


> Okay, then how do I save the programs and pictures and files that are on it?  Thanks



You can plug the drives into any new system and grab the data off it, it shouldnt be hard. I wouldnt re use these drives though given their age


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## hat (Jan 3, 2020)

Can we focus our efforts on trying to help the poor guy instead of telling him "lul buy new system"? Not all of us have the money and the desire to do so.

@racingjoe66 a long beep followed by two short beeps is usually a video error. Which graphics card did you get? Did the behavior of the system change at all when you installed it, including the beeps the machine makes when you try to start it? Does the video card have a power connector, and if so, did you connect it?

Further troubleshooting includes bare-bones testing. Disconnect power and data cables from any and all hard drives, optical drives, and whatever else may be present. Remove any and all expansion cards. Unplug everything from the back of the computer, except the power cable (keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc). This should leave you with just the motherboard, processor and memory installed with only the main 20 (or 24) pin and CPU power connectors plugged in. If nothing changes, try booting it without _any memory at all_ and note any beeps that occur. Try one stick of memory at a time in each slot, then try the other stick in each slot if nothing happens.


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## Grog6 (Jan 3, 2020)

*racingjoe66, *you need to call a friend that keeps old hardware.

At a minumum, you're going to need a power supply, a video card, and a stick of memory, all that fit your current computer.

Swap the power supply, see if it boots.
Write down any sounds, or efforts to start; see if anything works.

If that gives nothing, swap in the video card and one stick of memory.
See if it boots.

If nothing, remove the one stick of memory, see if it beeps at you.
If nothing, I'd pull the drives for recovery in another machine.

You can buy a hard drive dock that has a usb port, to recover files to a laptop.

If the video card, power supply and one stick of memory boots, buy new ones, and buy your buddy some beer for helping.


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## hat (Jan 3, 2020)

Grog6 said:


> Lol.
> 
> I have that album.
> 
> ...


I'd just like to add that, if you follow this and get to the part in bold, having swapped in all those other known good parts and still get nothing, you're looking at a dead motherboard and/or dead CPU, plus the other parts of yours you would have already removed from the machine at this point which are also possibly dead.


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## Frick (Jan 3, 2020)

Man I miss some of the posters here.


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## racingjoe66 (Jan 3, 2020)

Thanks guys/gals.  The video card I got was PNY GeForce GT 430 Graphics Video Card | VCGGT4301XPB.  There was no wires on it to plug in.  The fan on the card does turn on.  It made no change on how it fires up or the beeps.  I did notice if I pushed keys on the board it would make a beep or some kind of noise in the computer with each stroke.  When I get home tonight I will diagnose it further with your guys help

Thanks guys/gals.  The video card I got was PNY GeForce GT 430 Graphics Video Card | VCGGT4301XPB.  There was no wires on it to plug in.  The fan on the card does turn on.  It made no change on how it fires up or the beeps.  I did notice if I pushed keys on the board it would make a beep or some kind of noise in the computer with each stroke.  When I get home tonight I will diagnose it further with your guys help

Okay disconnected the hard drive and CD drive and new video card and didn't make a change.  Then took out the 4 sticks of memory and all it does after turning on is a solid beeeeeeppppp with no stopping.

Just put 2 sticks back in and now no beeping at all

Plugged everything back in, now the screen comes up,  but says detect drive no any drive found.  

Goes to black screen that says american megatrends.

Cmos date/time not set
Cmos checksum error
Press del to run setup
Press f1 to continue 


I've tried f1 and del and it wont go past this screen.......

The delete does work, my bad lol.  So what am I looking at here?  Back hard drive....


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## racingjoe66 (Jan 4, 2020)

The computer is working and everything is still there.


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## hat (Jan 4, 2020)

It's normal to see something like "cmos checksum error" after pulling the battery. So you got it to boot but it didn't detect the hard drive? Just to make sure: you did reconnect the power and data cables after you got the system to boot? Or does your last post mean you got it working? If so, glad we could help you get it sorted.


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