I had a lightning strike *near* my home that took out an internal modem, and a sound card -- my beloved Gravis UltraSound.
I thought the whole PC was dead because the computer would not even turn on with the sound card in the machine. I took everything out to reseat them, and that's how I was able to determine that the sound card was toast (although it didn't smell like toast). Any machine I put it in would just fail to power up at all. The modem didn't cause that problem, but wouldn't dial out anymore. All in all, it was a relatively minor loss that seemed like a whole lot more in the beginning. Oh, and the PC was off at that time, although I hadn't disconnected the modem. My phone, which was connected through the other side of the modem, was spared. -ASB: http://XeeSM.com/AndrewBaker On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 6:07 PM, Ben Scott <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 5:53 PM, Raper, Jonathan - Eagle > <[email protected]> wrote: > > 3. During an ACTUAL strike on the structure, the ambient step potential > is > > several gazillion volts per foot for dozens of yards. Grounding does not > > mitigate this fact. Unplugging does not mitigate this fact. > > This. > > We had lightning hit our building once. It fried NICs and hubs all > over the place, including in stuff that was switched off. It fried > one serial port in one PC (but not the other serial port in the same > PC). It causes an electrical outlet with nothing plugged into it to > explode out of the wall into little bitty pieces. It fried one phase > in a transformer, leaving the other two phases working. It killed AC > compressors in the basement. > > I've also been told by our ISP about an incident where lightning > apparently found a fiber cable was the best path to ground, and fried > the equipment at one end. "But it's not a conductor." Lighting jumps > open air. We're talking millions of volts. At that kind of potential, > *everything* is a conductor. > > Lightning can do whatever the hell it wants to. All bets are off. > > -- Ben > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
