Last 3 weeks when i returned home from my homeland of Kelantan, I noted that my TV, DVD player,printer and computer were all fried. Before leaving Nilai, I didn’t unplug all the things because I didn’t think that my house would be struck by lightning. Unfortunately it happened. It’s definitely a direct strike as it destroyed them all eventhough they were in 2 different rooms and on 2 different surge protectors.
How did I know all the tv,DVD player,printer and desktop were fried? Well…I didn’t know until I asked one of the neighbours about the weather 2 days after I went home to kelantan. He said there are lot of lightning strikes going on during that 2 days. And what convinced me then was my tv aerial was not working when I tried it with brand new TV.
I also checked my printer. When I switched it on, it made a sound of hope,suddenly small explosion like “pop” sound heard and I immediately turned it off.A few minutes later, I tried to switch it on again but failed. It was also fried.
I could not even switch on the desktop, I tried it with different plugs but all my effort was useless. Then I tried to just switched on the 17″ monitor only but failed.What in my mind at that time was to buy a brand new desktop. I bought mobo,power supply,VGA card, DVD player,21″ monitor,hard disk and brand new casing.
Wanted to know which part of the desktop fried, I installed a brand new power supply with old mobo etc. Then I switched it on.Nothing happened.Then I changed the motherboard to a new one. Luckily it worked. So, the parts that really fried was motherboard and power supply only.Other parts of the desktop like VGA card,DVD player and hard disk were still working. Imagine how much did I waste my money for unnecessary parts just because I thought my desktop was totally fried.
Advice for you guys,if you think your desktop or laptop were damaged by lightning strike,make sure you change the Mobo and power supply first so that you won’t waste your money unnecessarily. For something that obviously damaged like monitor or TV, you just have to buy a new ones without doubt.
This thing happened to me and don’t think it won’t happen to you. Imagine how much you can save by following the tips below:
1. Make sure you unplug the computer and other electronic equipment when storm approaching.
2. Use UPS. If lightning strikes, it will strike the UPS first.
3. Renew your surge protector every year if you can.The sad truth is you cannot put all your faith in surge protector.As soon as the average surge protector receives one blast it becomes a conduit for any follow-up lightning strikes.
Follow one of the tips is already enough. My suggestion is just buy UPS and plug your desktop to it. However, during storm or rain situation you might want to consider turn off your computer and unplug it.Don’t take it lightly as it can save your beloved desktop and more importantly it can save you a bunch of money and grief.
