lightning storm and damage
Nov. 18th, 2012 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eQuite a lightning storm here last night!
Beforehand, I went around the house, methodically disconnecting anything delicate from the power. When I was satisfied that everything was safe I was going to go outside to watch the light show, but I was tired and feel asleep instead.
In the middle of the night I was woken by a loud bang, as if high explosive had detonated close by. I noticed my electric clock was no longer on and mused that it must have been killed during a lightning strike, then fell back to sleep.
In the morning I found that the safety switch to power in the house had shut off. When I pushed it back on the digital clock came back on, so that was good. Then I plugged in my uninterrupible power supply (a neccessity out here) and turned on my computer. I watched with sinking heart as I saw that my computer couldn't see its own network card and the satellite modem's lights didn't show a connection, also my network switch showed neither the modem nor my computer. Oh dear.
It has always been difficult for me to throw away old equipment, so I have lots of network cards. I opened my computer and added one, then switched power on to it and booted. More bad news. The network chips appear to be dead on the motherboard. But a bit of partially good news: my ethernet switch has been damaged, but the modem seems to be fine.
After pondering the situation for a moment I saw how to get around the problem. I plugged the modem into a wireless LAN router, then plugged a little USB wireless device into a USB port on my computer. It was simple to tell Puppy Linux (the operating system on all my computers) to use the wireless LAN for internet connection, and now here I am, on the net again.
So how did the network chips on my computer and the Ethernet switch get damaged by lightning when both were completely isolated from power? I'm not sure, but I think what happened was that the nearby lightning bolt induced a sufficiently high voltage in the ethernet cables to kill the network interface chips on my computer and the electronics in the ethernet switch.
Oops... lightning back again... better go. Ooh! And hail!
-----
...And some hours later, back again. Lightning hit close by again just as I was closing down. It was so strong that it shocked me through the mouse, destroyed the satellite modem power supply, and my uninterruptible power supply (UPS). I hope the satellite modem is okay. I don't think it caused any further damage to my computer, amazingly.
Thank heavens for old dial-up modems. I still have some even though I give them away to people from time to time, and I have kept up payments to a very cheap dial-up ISP, just in case of problems with the satellite connection.
Damn! I'm an idiot! I should know by now that even when thunder is distant I should shut down. Any storm passing this vicinity always gives a lightning strike close by here. There must be some metal-bearing rocks or basalt around here.
[sigh]
Beforehand, I went around the house, methodically disconnecting anything delicate from the power. When I was satisfied that everything was safe I was going to go outside to watch the light show, but I was tired and feel asleep instead.
In the middle of the night I was woken by a loud bang, as if high explosive had detonated close by. I noticed my electric clock was no longer on and mused that it must have been killed during a lightning strike, then fell back to sleep.
In the morning I found that the safety switch to power in the house had shut off. When I pushed it back on the digital clock came back on, so that was good. Then I plugged in my uninterrupible power supply (a neccessity out here) and turned on my computer. I watched with sinking heart as I saw that my computer couldn't see its own network card and the satellite modem's lights didn't show a connection, also my network switch showed neither the modem nor my computer. Oh dear.
It has always been difficult for me to throw away old equipment, so I have lots of network cards. I opened my computer and added one, then switched power on to it and booted. More bad news. The network chips appear to be dead on the motherboard. But a bit of partially good news: my ethernet switch has been damaged, but the modem seems to be fine.
After pondering the situation for a moment I saw how to get around the problem. I plugged the modem into a wireless LAN router, then plugged a little USB wireless device into a USB port on my computer. It was simple to tell Puppy Linux (the operating system on all my computers) to use the wireless LAN for internet connection, and now here I am, on the net again.
So how did the network chips on my computer and the Ethernet switch get damaged by lightning when both were completely isolated from power? I'm not sure, but I think what happened was that the nearby lightning bolt induced a sufficiently high voltage in the ethernet cables to kill the network interface chips on my computer and the electronics in the ethernet switch.
Oops... lightning back again... better go. Ooh! And hail!
-----
...And some hours later, back again. Lightning hit close by again just as I was closing down. It was so strong that it shocked me through the mouse, destroyed the satellite modem power supply, and my uninterruptible power supply (UPS). I hope the satellite modem is okay. I don't think it caused any further damage to my computer, amazingly.
Thank heavens for old dial-up modems. I still have some even though I give them away to people from time to time, and I have kept up payments to a very cheap dial-up ISP, just in case of problems with the satellite connection.
Damn! I'm an idiot! I should know by now that even when thunder is distant I should shut down. Any storm passing this vicinity always gives a lightning strike close by here. There must be some metal-bearing rocks or basalt around here.
[sigh]
no subject
Date: 2012-11-18 10:13 pm (UTC)I still follow this advice, and I'm not aware of any lightning strikes in our area, ever (although I am a little lax about unplugging it from the wall these days).
Nice to see my prudence may someday pay off.