Computer Problem!

[woodman19_99]

A little backstory: About 2 weeks back we had a wicked thunderstorm roll through with lots of lightning. One of those lightning strikes was close enough that there was no delay between the crack of the lightning and the thunder bumper. Needless to say, my computer seized up on me. Okay, that ****s, but it turned right back on as if nothing had happened. About 4 days later, I come home to the computer being off, with no way to turn it on, and I notice the light on the UPS is off. I unplug the UPS from the wall and here a loud pop... not good! Unplugged everything and noticed the red light next to wiring error is lit on the UPS... scrap that one and plug in a spare one and everything starts up just fine. End of story (or so I thought)

So, I came home last night to find that I must have lost power during the day some time, as the clocks were blinking and the computer was off. Now mind you, I have the computer hooked into a UPS, so the power was probably off longer than 1/2 an hour. Anyway, I go to start it up and, well, nothing. zip, zero, nada. No fans no wirring no reassuring hum of anything. Crack open the case and touch the power supply, which is VERY hot to the touch. Mind you it probably has gotten over 100 degrees in my apartment, as I was not there to turn on the AC and such in the apartment. However, the green light on the mother board is on, so I think everything is okay. I haven't had a chance to fully test anything (that's tomorrow night) but I am wondering what you guys had for thoughts. My initial thought was the PSU or motherboard, but with the light on, it seems less like that these are the culprits.

So what do you guys think could be the issue? Any suggestions (short of buying a new Conroe rig ) would be very appreciated. Here are the compy specs:

A8n-SLI Premium
Opteron 165 Oc'd
2GB Gskil RAM
2x 7900GT's
1x 150GB WD Raptor
1x WD 250GB SATA
4 Optical Drives
ANTEC 500Watt Truepower 2.0
Antec P-180

Thank you,
Adam



A8n-SLI Premium
Opteron 165 Oc'd
2GB Gskil RAM
2x 7900GT's
1x 150GB WD Raptor
1x WD 250GB SATA
4 Optical Drives
ANTEC 500Watt Truepower 2.0
Antec P-180

 

[HomeLAN]

No fans at all? CPU fan doesn't turn when you power up?

PSU.

 

[woodman19_99]

I get nothing. I instantly thought PSU as well, but with the motherboard light on, that would suggest at least some juice is getting there. I have a PC Power and Cooling 510W PSU on the way, as they are the best, and I was gonna get one soon anyway. But still, this PSU is no more than 6 months old...

 

[Professur]

There are different voltages produced in the PS. You might have one rail blown, or even just running reduced.

 

[HomeLAN]

And a lightining strike will fry a brand new PSU, so 6 months isn't a major factor. My best guess is that the strike weakened it to the point of failure, and the power outage finished the job.

 

[A.B.Normal]

I unplug the UPS from the wall and here a loud pop... not good! Unplugged everything and noticed the red light next to wiring error is lit on the UPS... scrap that one and plug in a spare one and everything starts up just fine. End of story (or so I thought)

Have you tried a different wall outlet,sounds like that one has issues which may be adding to the problem.

 

[woodman19_99]

I guess that's always a possibility. I though UPS's were supposed to kinda, well, prevent that from happening. I guess the almost direct lightning strike blew through the Belkin. Anyone have a suggestion for a better UPS?

 

[HomeLAN]

Not really. I use Belkin.

Very little will protect you fully from a strike that close. I had one like that a couple nights ago, and I'm still keeping a very close eye on my stuff.

 

[woodman19_99]

Alright, well, I guess I will try to hunt down another UPS as well. I spent $200 on this PSU, so I guess I should find a better protector for this one. Thanks guys for the help. Let's hope it's just the PSU that is shot...

 

[woodman19_99]

Have you tried a different wall outlet,sounds like that one has issues which may be adding to the problem.

Yeah I have tried other ones in the room. In addition, I have plugged other computers into the current outlet, and they seem to go just fine. We shall see.

Oh, and I just ordered a 1500VA UPS from Belkin. Let's hope this baby is a little better...

 

[Inkara1]

Get a single-outlet surge protector and plug the UPS into that. Nothing wrong with a layer of protection for your layer of protection.

 

[woodman19_99]

Yeah, I'm thinking an extra layer of protection would be good, especially for summers during brown out Jersey...

 

[Inkara1]

I figure tht the extra $10 or whatever it is is well worth it to have a surge taken care of before it even gets to the surge protector in your expensive UPS.

 

[PostCode]

One thing to point out when it comes to protection that many seem to either forget or just don't know about. That good ol' tele line has something like 48V (average) coming through it. A nice little spike, unprotected, could sent your motehrboard a nice jolt. The only thing in the way are a few resisters and capacitors on the modem itself. When your telephone rings, there's 90V making that ringer do it's thing. External modems have this issue too but I've always wondered how a hit to an external modem could effect the system via the serial port. Anyway, always protect that tele line else a nice jolt to the PCI bus could toast the motherboard just as easily as a jolt to the power supply could. I've seen it a number of times.

 

[woodman19_99]

Alright, well just installed the new PC Power and Cooling PSU and Belkin 1500VA battery backup. So far everything looks good as I am posting right now.

Regarding the tele line, I have no telephone lines running into my computer, I go straight through the cable connection, but I am not sure if the same rule applies there as well. This new UPS has all sorts of ports on it, and there were several ethernet prots as well. Maybe I'll take the time to set it up correctly, later.