Won't be seeing much of me...

[Weltall]

When I came back from the Bradshaw Family Funhouse I discovered that my beloved PC was brutally raped and murdered by a bolt of lightning. Therefore, my prescence within these hallowed halls will be quite limited for an unforseeable length of time. I'll do my best to try and keep track of goings-on but until I can pony enough GP to replace my pooter, I'm going to have to pretend to be Ice-9 for awhile.

But at least I have a good reason.

[OB1]

Damn, that really sucks. I feel for you, Ryan. Computers can be a real pain in the ass sometimes. Always braking on people...

[Great Rumbler]

My suggestion: Order parts online and use those to build your own computer. Doing it that way would probably save you a lot of money, although you'd have wait for the parts to arrive and put them all together.

[Dark Jaguar]

I didn't bother ordering online, because I have this thing where when I give money away I like the thing I'm paying for immediatly, but indeed making your own machine DOES save you money in the long run. Not only that, when you make your own you can be sure you get the best hardware rather than stuff like inferior sound card clones (most PCs STILL ship with stupid Sound Blaster 16 clones, with SBlive clones just now getting popular to include).

I feel for you. I've been using my old machine for a month now because something shorted out my new machine's mother board. In fact, after calling a few days ago it seems it usually takes between one and two months, so I may be waiting ANOTHER 4 weeks to get the thing repaired. I'm just glad the repair is free. If I were you I'd test all the parts in other machines to see exactly what was destroyed and what can be saved. If you are lucky, it might even just be the power supply. If you aren't so lucky, every last thing on your machine will be fried, but I highly doubt it could have been THAT bad, unless the lightning actually directly hit your computer :D.

[A Black Falcon]

That stinks... uhh... isn't that what surge protectors are for?

[Dark Jaguar]

Surge Protectors are for minor power surges, not something that could power New York City for a year! While they can often click off in time with lightening, sometimes they can't.

More than that, all wires can carry this jolt, not just power lines. One must be wary of coaxial cable, telephone line, and ethernet line carrying the jolt. The solution there is to get special surge protectors that let you hook up the cable, phone, and any kind of ethernet you may have (if you have cable internet, just putting the cable through should be plenty, but if you have DSL, the ethernet port is needed, I believe).

[A Black Falcon]

We have a UPS (Uninteruptible Power Supply), which means even if power goes out the computer will stay on for a few minuites. My dad's comp is on it... Plus the phone line goes through it too. :)

I have my computer on a surge protector. I'd NEVER plug in a computer not into a surge protector...

[Dark Jaguar]

Same here, and that goes for ALL my computers, from consoles to my PC to even my GBASP recharger. My TV as well. In fact, I have surge protectors for pretty much everything in my room save my fan, which oddly enough shorted out a few weeks ago :D.

[EdenMaster]

That sucks, man. I always try to turn my computer off when the skies begin to rumble, but I do know of a few people who's TVs have exploded thanks to lightning.

Start hording your Gil, Weltall.

[Dark Lord Neo]

I know some people who's PC's and Cable boxes have shorted, but it's never happened to me
I always usea surge protector but I don't know how effective they are

[A Black Falcon]

I also have my N64 and Cube on a surge protector, but not anything else. But I've never lost anything to lightning so far, so oh well... :)

[EdenMaster]

My computer, GameCube, PS2, TV, and SP Recharger are all on the same surge protector. So if somethings gonna go, it'll ALL go!

[Dark Jaguar]

Well considering the chances of the house getting struck by lightening are, um, do I have to say it? Anyway, my point is that THAT type of surge is considerably rare, so it's nothing to concern one's self about too much.

That being said, being struck by lightening is more likely than one would think. Not enough to worry about it, but just take in mind it's likely enough that when someone says "the chances are less than that of being struck by lightening", I wouldn't take that as meaning it's totally improbable. And of course, I'm sure everyone here is already aware of how horribly wrong the statement "lightning never strikes twice" is, considering that lightening always takes the easiest path, and if that thing it hit before hasn't changed, it's quite likely that it's still the easiest path.

[A Black Falcon]

Most people don't lose appliances to lightning... its relatively rare, really...

[OB1]

It's lightning, DJ. No e. :p

Did you know that lightning strikes from the ground up? Most people think that it goes from the clouds to the ground, but it's actually the opposite.

Haha, now I sound like DJ. :crapper:

[Great Rumbler]

My house has been struck by lightning about 3 times, but not sense we got rid of our TV antenna [that thing was like a lightning rod!!]. We lost several tvs, a few air conditioners, a stereo, and some other stuff. All my important electronics are now on surge protectors, just in case.

[Darunia]

One of my direct ancestors, William Shurtleff, was killed by lightning inside his own house on June 27, 1666, in Plymouth...while he was holding his newborn son Abel in his arms (the son was unscathed!)

[Dark Jaguar]

Sorry OB1, that's an inaccuracy. Yes, lightning doesn't strike JUST from the sky down, but it also isn't JUST from the ground up. It's BOTH. A single strike is actually a sudden burst from both at once. That's how it works.

[A Black Falcon]

If we got hit by lightning it'd probably hit a tree because we have a bunch of fairly large oak trees in our yard... taller than the house. :)

[OB1]

Originally posted by Dark Jaguar
Sorry OB1, that's an inaccuracy. Yes, lightning doesn't strike JUST from the sky down, but it also isn't JUST from the ground up. It's BOTH. A single strike is actually a sudden burst from both at once. That's how it works.

I meant to say that most people think that it's just cloud-to-ground, which is not true. And what you said isn't true, it's not both at once. The way lightning works is that first you have a charge difference between the cloud and the ground which sets things up, and then little pathways of charged electrons begin to develop, both from the cloud down and the ground up (which are called "leaders"). Then once the path is complete the charge difference discharges quickly, most often from the cloud to the ground but sometimes from the ground to the cloud. And then of course there's cloud-to-cloud lightning but that's a different topic (kinda).

That is how it works.

[Weltall]

Well, allow me to extrapolate on my situation:

First, the pooter was on a surge protector, and a damned expensive one at that. I'm going to first try to see how faithfully the company honors it's insurance on the things.

Secondly, I know that the problem with my computer isn't fatal, I believe something might have damaged a few (albeit crucial) sectors of my hard drive. Most of the rest of the machine is probably fine, as I can boot Windows to a certain point. However, I do not wish to buy yet another hard drive and waste time looking for my Windows disk. My machine is going on four years old, it was already becoming inadequate for what I needed, and new PCs are cheaper than ever, so I figure it's best to not waste time and money on a dinosaur and instead invest in a new PC.

However, that may be some time away yet. My vacation cost me almost $800. In the meantime, I have my dad's computer to use on occasion.

[Dark Jaguar]

I see then, so the surge went PAST a bunch of other stuff and ONLY got your drive eh? I'm not certain it was a surge now...

To OB1: Well duh, I was just simplifying things.

[OB1]

Well you said that "A single strike is actually a sudden burst from both at once", which is not true.

[A Black Falcon]

Lightning just damaged some parts of your harddrive? Really? That is odd... and if its 4 years old I'd half expect it to give out on its own anyway. Hardware seems to always do that...

[EdenMaster]

Originally posted by OB1
Well you said that "A single strike is actually a sudden burst from both at once", which is not true.

It's like static electricity on an enormous scale. Just a gigantic version of those annoying little *snaps*.

[OB1]

To put it very simply, I guess you could say that. But lightning does not strike from top to bottom at the same time. It's either way.

[Dark Lord Neo]

Originally posted by Dark Jaguar
I see then, so the surge went PAST a bunch of other stuff and ONLY got your drive eh? I'm not certain it was a surge now...

To OB1: Well duh, I was just simplifying things.

Actually the transformer near a friend of mynes house was struck by lightning and the only thing the surge wrecked in his computer was the hard drive, the rest of the computer was fine

[geoboy]

I always unplug my computer before I go on vacations. I built it myself and bought all the parts online. I'd be happy to give some advice to anyone else interested in doing that.

Anyway, did you leave your computer on when you went on vacation, Weltall? There's no other possible way sectors could be damaged by a surge unless the computer is on. If this is the case, then those damaged sectors are easy to fix and does not require a new hard drive. (it does matter how important that data on the drive is to you, though ;) )

When a computer is off, however, it's usually the modem, power supply or motherboard that succumb to lightning's woes.

And now it's time for my creepy lightning story. I used to have one of those electronic battleship toys. When you turn it on, it plays a little jingle and a voice says "prepare for battle!", or something like that. Well, during a strong thunderstorm, a huge bolt of lightning struck just yards from my house. After the deafening roar, I heard the "prepare for battle" from my electronic battleship. Mind you that the electronic battleship uses <i>batteries</i> and was no where near an electrical socket. It definitely freaked me out, because I swear my hair was standing up a little bit.

[OB1]

It was a poltergeist!

[Dark Jaguar]

Odd ghost, saying such a phrase... Perhaps it was a soldier who died in battle long ago thinking itself a failure to save someone else, and thus seeks out one final duel to proove itself before passing on...

Or maybe a cat just stepped on the on switch...

[Great Rumbler]

Probably the electric shock from the lightning set it off.

[OB1]

....


thanks for ruining our fun.

:cuss:

[Weltall]

Originally posted by geoboy
I always unplug my computer before I go on vacations. I built it myself and bought all the parts online. I'd be happy to give some advice to anyone else interested in doing that.

Anyway, did you leave your computer on when you went on vacation, Weltall? There's no other possible way sectors could be damaged by a surge unless the computer is on. If this is the case, then those damaged sectors are easy to fix and does not require a new hard drive. (it does matter how important that data on the drive is to you, though ;) )

When a computer is off, however, it's usually the modem, power supply or motherboard that succumb to lightning's woes.

And now it's time for my creepy lightning story. I used to have one of those electronic battleship toys. When you turn it on, it plays a little jingle and a voice says "prepare for battle!", or something like that. Well, during a strong thunderstorm, a huge bolt of lightning struck just yards from my house. After the deafening roar, I heard the "prepare for battle" from my electronic battleship. Mind you that the electronic battleship uses <i>batteries</i> and was no where near an electrical socket. It definitely freaked me out, because I swear my hair was standing up a little bit.

I did leave it on, for my sister was definitely wanting to use it. In fact, I almost never shut it down unless I know a storm is coming. Apparently she knew but couldn't get to it in time.

And, the stuff on my hard drive (thousands of songs, my game, my novel) are things I can't bear to lose, so formatting is not an option. :)

[alien space marine]

you have a gremelin in your computer!

What you need lad it is to not get a Dell and get a that new Mac G5 thing.

[Dark Jaguar]

The answer then is this. Hook up the hard drive as a slave on another machine with a main drive that has enough space to store whatever you want to save. Copy over whatever isn't corrupted to that machine's c drive in a nice folder. Format that drive. Copy everything back. Note that if you are using XP you will need to reinstall it, but from what you say it seems you would have to do that anyway. In any case, this should allow you to save what you need from the drive.

[geoboy]

I read somewhere that certain files essential to Windows can become corrupt if the computer improperly shuts down, especially in the instance all power is suddenly lost.

Weltall, try repairing Windows. If you have Windows XP, just boot from the CD and act like you're reinstalling Windows. Somewhere along the process it will give you the option to "repair Windows installation". Try going through that process. If you have Windows 98 or ME, you should have a floppy boot disk you can use. If at any point in the process of repairing Windows it tells you that the installation is unrepairable and you need to format, DON'T. If it comes to that point, I recommend using a program called <a href="http://www.kickstartnews.com/reviews/utilities/spinrite_5.html">SpinRite</a> to recover the data. It'd probably be wise to invest in a new hard drive as well.

The absolute last option for recovering the data is to send it in to a shop that will extract the data at a steep cost (averaging around 300-700 bucks). I'm confident that if the Windows repair doesn't work, the $90 SpinRite utility definitely will.

[Weltall]

Well, I COULD do all that. But, this gives me a wonderful excuse to get a new computer!

[OB1]

Originally posted by Dark Jaguar
The answer then is this. Hook up the hard drive as a slave on another machine with a main drive that has enough space to store whatever you want to save. Copy over whatever isn't corrupted to that machine's c drive in a nice folder. Format that drive. Copy everything back. Note that if you are using XP you will need to reinstall it, but from what you say it seems you would have to do that anyway. In any case, this should allow you to save what you need from the drive.

That's what I did when my HDD broke.

[ThunderAngel]

awwww man, that really sucks. We miss you Rtan. Try and get on msn if/when you have the chance.

[Weltall]

Maybe I'll just call you guys. I have more calling card time than I know what to do with.

[Moiraine]

Originally posted by A Black Falcon
That stinks... uhh... isn't that what surge protectors are for?

His poor pooter surged at LEAST 7 times throughout the storm if I had been home I would have shut the thing down but we were out so it died...

[Private Hudson]

Moiraine you sexy mofo, come give sugar daddy a kiss, baby..

[Moiraine]

whoa...

[Dark Jaguar]

Who, where, what and what and what and what and what?

[OB1]

That woman has a 'stache.

[alien space marine]

I wouldnt worry about staches Ive seen ladies with full beards.

[Moiraine]

Originally posted by alien space marine
I wouldnt worry about staches Ive seen ladies with full beards.

So have I... My grandmother... :D

[Private Hudson]

Falling down stairs doesn't hurt so much. You just need to cushion yourself with dozens of dead toddlers.

Hey, that'd be a neat ride at an amusement park somewhere! Most likely....... Texas? YES!



You're next, gumshed!

[OB1]

:eek2:

[Great Rumbler]