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Author
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Topic: Lightning zapped ADSL router and Ethernet card in PC
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
![](http://www.film-tech.com/ubbmembers/534a.jpg)
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 08-30-2006 08:57 AM
The Friday before last my ADSL router and the Ethernet card built into my PC's motherboard were both, it seems, destroyed by a lightning surge through the 'phone line. I shut down the PC just before midnight on Thursday/Friday, and then in the early hours of Friday morning this storm came along. York station, which took a direct lightning hit that knocked out some signalling, is about three quarters of a mile from my flat. I booted the computer and router up about half an hour after the storm passed. The router didn't recognise the LAN connection at all (i.e. the LED didn't come on) and the computer gave a 'limited or no connectivity' message. The router wouldn't connect to my ISP, either.
The router is connected to the 'phone line through a surge protector, so I thought I should be OK. I was still able to get a wireless connection to the router through my laptop and see the config setup screens, but it still wouldn't make any fixed line connection at all: either to the Internet or through the LAN cable to my desktop PC.
As luck would have it the router was still under warranty, so I returned it to Ebuyer. The replacement arrived today. I was able to enter the ISP settings on the laptop through wireless and make an Internet connection, but the thing still would not connect through the LAN. I then tried using an Ethernet crossover cable to connect my desktop and laptop PCs, and still got a 'limited or no connectivity' icon. Only possible conclusion: LAN card in PC is buggered, too. I've just been to PC World and got a wireless PCI card, and that worked: I've just got broadband back on my main PC for the first time in nearly a fortnight (phew!).
But I am surprised that a lightning strike over half a mile away could have fried both my router and my LAN card. Interestingly, the microfilter survived (as in, the replacement router connected through it successfully), but I've replaced that as a precaution, anyway. Anyhow, it looks like the £25 I spent on that surge protector would have been put to better use on a bottle of Naval Strength Plymouth Gin, for all the good it did me!
A few years ago I had another modem (PCI dial-up: this was before I got broadband, probably in late 2000 or early 2001) seemingly nuked by lightning (as in, it wouldn't work when I booted the PC immediately after a thunderstorm), so I'm wondering if there's a particular vulnerability with my 'phone line. The line leaves my flat on an overhead cable run...
![-](http://www.film-tech.com/uploads/uploads0503/phoneline.jpg)
...which continues for another 100-150 metres to a pole at the bottom of the street; so I suppose if there's static electricity about following a thunderstorm it could pick it up. But there again, my landline 'phone has never been affected by it, so I'm not sure. Anyhow, all I know is that this is now the second time a piece of PC communications equipment has stopped working after a thunderstorm, and on both occasions it was connected to the 'phone line when the storm hit. Could lightning have done this, even if it's up to a mile away?
I suppose the only silver lining to this pretty disruptive cloud is that there is now no physical connection between my PC and the outside world (except the mains socket), so there should now be no way any further lighning strike can affect it, even if it does zap the router. I guess the moral of that story is to unplug the RJ11 lead which connects the router with the 'phone jack whenever it's not in use.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
![](http://www.film-tech.com/ubbmembers/534a.jpg)
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 08-31-2006 01:59 AM
Many thanks folks. At least it just wasn't me doing something stupid (apart from been conned into buying that useless surge protector, that is)!
quote: Rick Raskin Of course, disconnecting your equipment from the power grid AND the telephone plant during a lightning event will protect you, but it’s a gigantic hassle to do every time the storm winds blow.
With that in mind, I've mounted the new router where it's easily positioned to pull the power and 'phone line leads out when it's not being used:
![-](http://www.film-tech.com/uploads/uploads0503/newrouter_onwall.jpg)
The old one was tucked down behind the bookcase, so that would have been a hassle (yes, I know I should have used a spirit level when sticking it on the wall - might get round to fixing that one of these days!).
quote: Frank Angel Exact same thing happened to me, only the lightening didn't even have a direct hit, only the atmospheric charge was enough to take out a router, a modem and THREE electronic telephones that were on that line.
Interesting - there is also a combined telephone/answering machine thingy on that line (so lots of electronics in it), and that wasn't affected at all. I can only guess that the router works on a much lower voltage and was therefore more vulnerable to the surge.
Presumably the computer hardware business must be a lucrative one to be in when the weather's bad, with loads of people queueing up to buy replacement modems and routers to replace their fried ones!
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
![](http://www.film-tech.com/ubbmembers/534a.jpg)
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 09-01-2006 04:25 AM
quote: John Hawkinson I'm surprised your warranties would cover lightning damage. It's not the manufacturer's fault that a surge (lightning-induced or otherwise) fried the equipment.
Needless to say, I only told them that it had stopped working, not why.
That having been said, if these things are so vulnerable to lightning surges, I think the instruction sheet which came with it should have made that clear, especially as the retail packaging was aimed at selling the thing to relative technical novices (e.g. step by step instructions with screen grabs, an 'easy installation' wizard CD, etc.). Let's face it, thunderstorms are not an unusual occurence, and if one is capable of destroying a £55 piece of equipment, I think this should have been made very clear, perhaps even with a 'Disconnect phone and mains from unit during storms' label on the router itself.
So I don't think I was doing anything immoral by returning it. The thing came with a year's warranty from the manufacturer, it stopped working during that year and the reason it stopped working had nothing to do with my failing to follow any of the manufacturer's instructions.
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