I had just started enjoying my new computer setup for barely 3 weeks, which I wrote about in my previous blog post, when lightning struck my farm and fried it!
I suppose you could say my build was so epic that the God of Thunder himself got jealous and smited me. Or at least that's what it felt like.
Now I actually have a long and stormy relationship with lightning here at the farm. I've been living here for five years now, and let’s just say this isn’t my first rodeo with high-voltage drama.
Every year, I end up replacing something, be it my inverter, inverter batteries, fridge, CCTV cameras, or whatever didn’t get unplugged in time. I’ve grounded my system, taken all the precautions, and still, lightning finds a way.
So then… how did it strike me again? Well, it was partly ignorance on my part, and a classic freak-of-nature.
Here's what happened.
It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. I was enjoying a good session of Age of Empires IV (with the 4K HDR video pack that my new config now supports with ease) when I heard the first rumble of thunder. It wasn't a big deal because the monsoon season was still going on, and so I calmly saved my campaign, exited the game, and shut down my system.
Then the thunder kept rolling in... louder, closer.
So I did the usual - switched off my UPS and CCTV and unplugged them, then did the same with the main inverter.
But here's the strange part… even though I could see lightning flashes above, it wasn’t even raining properly. Just a gentle pitter-patter on my farmhouse tin roof. Birds were still chirping. The clouds weren’t even that dark. I figured, Eh, probably a false alarm. Or... maybe someone up there is shooting blanks, if you know what I mean. :D :P
And that, dear readers, was a BIG MISTAKE. I should have taken it more seriously.
Suddenly, BOOM! A blinding white flash lit up my room, followed by an instantaneous, deafening blast right next to me. It felt like a grenade had gone off inside my CCTV box (you know, that metal DVR unit where all the camera feeds come in). The explosion had this high-pitched metallic screech that went straight into my eardrums, "kiiiiiiiiiiii!", and my new computer, which was peacefully shut down, gave off a tremendous spark!
Both my farmhouse fuse and the chowkidar's house fuse tripped immediately as well. Just like that, everything went dead. All my dogs too yelped in terror and scrambled under the bed to hide. Yup. I’d been struck by lightning. Again.
So what went wrong?
Turns out, even though I’d unplugged everything, I didn’t unplug the individual CCTV camera cables connected to the DVR unit, since there wasn’t any heavy rain or lightning yet. And through those long exposed wires running around my compound, lightning found its path straight into my office desk (even with the power supply off). Boom!
I learnt two important lessons that day.
1. Dry thunderstorms are way more dangerous than heavy rain ones. Because when there’s no proper rain, there’s no moisture to help discharge the built-up static. The air stays dry, and that makes it supercharged, perfect for lightning to do maximum damage!
2. Lightning travels through Ethernet cables. Yup, if you’re thinking, “Okay, that explains your CCTV setup getting fried. But what about your new PC? You unplugged everything. How was it affected?" Well, the culprit was the LAN cable. I totally forgot to unplug the external line bringing internet into my system from outside. Aaarggh.
So, what was the damage report?
Well, the CCTV system was completely toast. No surprise there after that explosion. A few other appliances like my electric kettle and toaster didn’t make it either (thankfully, my fridge, deep freezer, microwave, and washing machine all survived!).
But the one I was most heartbroken about was my brand-new computer. I had just assembled it less than three weeks ago, after saving nearly five months’ worth of salary to buy all the parts.
Check out the LAN cable fuse that blew up my computer!
Yup. My brand-new computer wouldn’t turn on anymore. That night, I had a long (and rather emotional) heart-to-heart chat with GPT, pouring out every little detail of the incident. It told me that in most lightning strike cases, the PSU is usually the first casualty, but it often acts like a sacrificial goat, absorbing the damage and sparing the rest of the components.
But, in my case, the lightning didn’t enter through the power line, it freaking came through the LAN cable. Which meant the surge probably bypassed the PSU entirely and could have fried everything in its path. Not great at all.
GPT then guided me through the next steps: checking each component one by one using my old system. So I dug out my ancient i3 CPU, unhooked its dusty PSU, and connected my new PSU to it.
The fan spun and started up my old system, meaning, my PSU was fine!
Which, funnily enough, was bad news, because it confirmed the PSU wasn’t the issue. It was something worse. Most likely the motherboard. I also tested my internal drives on the old system, and thankfully, they were all safe.
Then GPT told me to check my GPU using something called a paperclip test, and I was like... bruh. :D
With no other choice, I booked an appointment with Hmingthana, my Montfort senior and the owner of GI Infotech. I also booked a cab to pick me (and my wounded computer) from the farm. Tried sleeping that night, but my dreams were full of sparks and fried circuits.
The next morning, my cab arrived, and I made the long, bumpy journey to Aizawl, clutching my rig like a parent taking their child to the hospital.
We went straight to GI Infotech, Zarkawt, where Hmingthana's technicians were all over my system immediately, ripping it to pieces and testing each component one by one.
My processor was fine. Phew.
My cooling tower was fine. Phew.
My internal NVMe SSD was fine. Phew.
Both my DDR5s were also fine. Phew.
They also reconfirmed that my PSU was fine. Phew.
And finally... my GPU was fine too! Phew.
So, after a loooong diagnosis that took almost the entire day, turned out, only my motherboard was the casualty. I mean, it's still bloody expensive, but at least all those other components were not affected.
Since I needed to head back to my farm the same day, I decided to get a replacement motherboard right there at GI Infotech. Hmingthana didn’t have the exact model I was using (the MSI PRO Z790-P), but he offered me the next best thing he got: the Gigabyte B760M Gaming AX.
It’s still a solid gaming motherboard, but yeah, a bit of a downgrade. It has only two DDR5 RAM slots instead of four, fewer NVMe slots, and a couple of missing features compared to the Z790-P. But honestly, I was just relieved I didn’t have to replace my CPU or GPU, so I took the deal.
Once the techies assembled everything in and powered it up, they also reinstalled Windows 10 with a proper licensed copy. I had to go through the usual drill of reinstalling all my software, but luckily, it wasn’t much as this PC was only 3 weeks old.
As for my Steam games? All safe and sound on a separate SSD. Bless that little drive.
Hmingthana charged me only for the motherboard and no servicing charge as I'm not just his junior from school but also a regular customer as well, having bought many parts from him in the past. What a great guy.
And that, my friends, is the tale of how I got struck by lightning… again.
Once the new system was up and running, I packed up and headed back to the farm
After reaching farm, I plugged everything in (a little more cautiously this time). Still can’t believe it happened barely three weeks after my upgrade. I also looked up a few LAN surge protectors on Amazon and will be buying them.
In the meantime, I am connecting to the internet using my built-in WIFI only from now on, no more LAN cables to my PC, which begs the question, even my previous motherboard had that feature, why the frick didn't I do that then? Aaarrghh.
Anyhoo, I’m just glad most of my parts survived, and now I’m a bit older and (hopefully) wiser.
Thunderstorms? Bad.
Dry thunderstorms? Even Badder.
LAN cable plugged in during a dry thunderstorm? Super Baddest.
I hope you were able to learn something from my experience and maybe take a few precautions of your own. Until the next post, cheers.
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