lightning hit my mac stuff

[claydoctor]

Lightning hit my house, and picked one circuit to destroy, the one with all of the tech stuff. Trying to see what is alive...

1. My main imac (4 years old) starts, little light comes on, I here the fan and/or hard drive going, but nothing beyond that. Any advice? Dead or alive, worth repairing? Logic board b ad, any ideas, similar experience. Made a back up time machine onto an external hardrive month ago, so have have most files saved.

2. I have a brother laser printer. I have a macpro, now using as main mac. trying to get the mac pro to see the printers available, none listed. installed drivers from brother, no help. usb connect is good, but macpro still wont see it. printer seems fine, running, etc. any advice on how to get macpro to see printer. running 10.6.8.

3. Macpro (1,1) seems fine, but every now and then when it starts, the screen doesn't advance, and the fan blows really lowd, never heard that before, shutting it down, and restart makes everything ok again, cause to be concerned, did lightning damage macpro too?

any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Ramimac1]

did you have any of it on a surge supressor? If so most of the half way decent ones insure you up to at least 50K for anything that got fried. you also have your home owners / Renters insurance if you wish to go down that route

 

[claydoctor]

yes, all on multiple surge protectors an d battery back ups, but went right through them. I am looking into insurance, but have to keep functioning.

any advice on the printer not showing up? Thanks for caring to reply.

 

[Ramimac1]

other then trying other USB ports on the Mac Pro, I would check the printer on another Computer. I assume you have verified your USB ports are still functional. Sounds like the ports on the printer may have gotten fried

 

[chscag]

did you have any of it on a surge supressor?

Lightning strikes go right through surge protectors. Only a whole house surge protector has any chance at all against a direct strike. I had the same thing happen some years back and lost around $800 worth of equipment not counting my air handler controller motor which also got fried.

Unfortunately, with my home owner's insurance deductible in force I wound paying the tab for repairs and replacement.

 

[Ramimac1]

I was looking at several APC surge suppressors and they mention Protection from Lightning Strikes. I know how far fetched that is. But if they say it then the Equipment guarantee should pay out.

 

[westom]

I was looking at several APC surge suppressors and they mention Protection from Lightning Strikes. I know how far fetched that is. But if they say it then the Equipment guarantee should pay out.

View the numbers. That near zero protection is sufficient to claim 100% protection ... subjectively.

View the fine print. So many exemptions. They need not honor your claim. Why would they? A protector too close to electronics and too far from earth ground cannot do protection. Sometimes even makes damage easier to any nearby appliance.

A protector adjacent to electronics must somehow block or absorb a surge Open one up. Obviously it cannot. Obviously a surge is connected directly to nearby appliances as the OP demonstrates. Better protection is already inside appliances. In his case, a surge was so large as to even overwhelm that protection.

Protection is never defined by a protector. Not even a 'whole house' protector. Protection is defined by what absorbs hundreds of thousands of joules. 'Whole house' protector is superior because it makes that low impedance (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection to earth. Then superior protection inside each appliance is not overwhelmed.

How to make a 'whole house' protector even better? Upgrade what does the protection - earthing. Protection is always about a surge absorbed harmlessly outside the building; in earth.

 

[bud--]

Excellent information on surges and surge protection is at:
http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lhm/IEEE_Guide.pdf
- "How to protect your house and its contents from lightning: IEEE guide for surge protection of equipment connected to AC power and communication circuits" published by the IEEE in 2005 (the IEEE is a major organization of electrical and electronic engineers).
And also:
http://www.eeel.nist.gov/817/pubs/spd-anthology/files/Surges happen!.pdf
- "NIST recommended practice guide: Surges Happen!: how to protect the appliances in your home" published by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2001

The IEEE surge guide is aimed at people with some technical background.

View the fine print. So many exemptions.

My TV died yesterday. Musta been a surge.
Fine print is necessary.

A protector too close to electronics and too far from earth ground cannot do protection.

Nonsense.

Both the IEEE and NIST surge guides say plug-in protectors are effective (but not likely against a direct lighting strike to the house).

A protector adjacent to electronics must somehow block or absorb a surge

Nonsense. Neither service panel or plug-in protectors work by "blocking" or "absorbing".

As explained in the IEEE surge guide (starting page 30) they primarily work by limiting the voltage from each wire (power and signal) to the ground at the protector. The voltage between the wires going to the protected equipment is safe for the protected equipment.

When using a plug-in protector all interconnected equipment needs to be connected to the same protector. External connections, like coax also must go through the protector.

Better protection is already inside appliances.

Nonsense.

How to make a 'whole house' protector even better?

A protector at the service panel protects from surges coming into the house on the power service wires. This was a direct lightning strike to the house - a service panel protector does not protect from that.