Thunderstorm + Computer = problem

**Consultant** · 06-26-08, 07:38 AM

Last night we had the most wicked thunderstorm ever...my computer is plugged into a cheap surge protector/power strip which is then plugged into a slightly more beefy surge protector, both of which are pretty old but never resulted in any damage to any of my previous computers...

Did I mention the storm last night?

Right - it was epic...if I hadn't been there and seen my bedroom on video, I would have sworn it was special effects lightning...it was lighting up the room every second, like a flash bulb...it was insane.

The power went out at some point and I am pretty sure the computer was ON when this occured...The house was out of power for about 5 hours and it came back on in the night, now this morning when my wife tries to boot up the computer it is saying that windows was shut down improperly and she can try to boot normal, boot in the last known good configuration, etc etc...regardless of what she selects, the screen blips and then nothing happens.

I havent been able to sit down in front of it (left the house at 6 AM) but I need to know how best to go about figuring out what, if any, hardware is fried?

I am thinking that my best bet might be to take it to a repair place and let them tell me...Who knows...

Worst case, I guess, would be the motherboard/CPU......worst-worst case would be that it somehow fried all my components too.....

What are some of your professional opinions? What probably happened and what should/can I do about it?

I built the computer, so I know my way around the hardware.

**GoreZiad** · 06-26-08, 07:45 AM

You can try disassembling it and check for places that look like they've been hot or shorted out. I'd do that. Or if you have another monitor, try plug that in.

Or try a different harddisk.

**DeusInnomen** · 06-26-08, 07:53 AM

This is always a tricky one to diagnose. Here's my thinking: my first guess is that if anything's fried it's likely to be the power supply, which is fairly sensitive, but if it gets to the Windows boot menu, it might not be the problem. The fact that it's booting up at all says to me that the CPU and video card are probably okay. That leaves memory or motherboard.

Power problems are bloody hard to diagnose, though, so these are literally guesses. What I'd try first and foremost is powering the PC off, shutting off the power supply if it has a switch on it, then unplugging the power cable for 5 minutes. Try booting again after that.

**GoreZiad** · 06-26-08, 07:57 AM

Yeah the thing with the cable works for me whenever the PC has been switched off the wrong way.

**Consultant** · 06-26-08, 08:22 AM

I talked my wife through that process, unplugging the power (no switch on the PSU that she could feel for) and she let it sit for 10 minutes and tried it again with the same result.

She tried safe mode, safe mode with command prompt, and normal mode.

She described what happens in a little more detail.

She said that a blue screen flashes up real fast - I asked, a blue screen like the windows startup screen or a blue-screen of death with white text...unfortunately, she said it was blue with white text.

She said that it flashes on so fast that she can't read what it says, then it goes back to a black screen and says "power off in 5 seconds".

Hmmm......I really hope my hard drives are OK.

**GoreZiad** · 06-26-08, 08:27 AM

Blue screen with white text, then it's a fault in the harddrive.

**Archinerd** · 06-26-08, 08:29 AM

Have you tried reinstalling/repairing windows from the disc?

**DeusInnomen** · 06-26-08, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by Consultant

She said that a blue screen flashes up real fast - I asked, a blue screen like the windows startup screen or a blue-screen of death with white text...unfortunately, she said it was blue with white text.

She said that it flashes on so fast that she can't read what it says, then it goes back to a black screen and says "power off in 5 seconds".

Okay, so it's blue screening on boot. Read the following URL, it will show you how to disable the Automatic Reboot at boot time: http://www.watchingthenet.com/preven...-occurred.html (I'm PRETTY sure this works for Vista too.)

Once she does that, have her carefully read off the STOP code and the four parameters after it and report those back here.

**Consultant** · 06-26-08, 09:12 AM

She left the house so I'll have to pick up with this after work.

Man, I really hope it's something cheap...

If this is an expensive fix, it will be months before I can throw any money at it...2nd baby coming and all...

**DeusInnomen** · 06-26-08, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by Consultant

She left the house so I'll have to pick up with this after work.

Man, I really hope it's something cheap...

If this is an expensive fix, it will be months before I can throw any money at it...2nd baby coming and all...

ooo, didn't know about that. 'grats buddy. When ya get home, just let us know what that stop code is.