LIghtning advice

4 posts / 0 new
Last post
Offline
Last seen: 15 years 7 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 44
LIghtning advice

2 days ago my house was hit by lighning. Everything that was plugged into the walls was destroyed, and the house needs to be totally rewired. Everything was destroyed, except for my ibook that is. Here is the thing. It was plugged into the same powerstrip, and into the same router that everything else was, and everything else died. Why did it live? It seems to work perfectly... Is there any chance of failure down the line.... What should I be on the lookout for. thanks

tmtomh's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 8 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 568
No sure way to tell

First off, my condolences -- that's terrible about your house!

As for the iBook, well, there are numerous stories of Macs surviving storms, fires, etc. -- but while I love Macs and believe that they're often very well built, I don't think Macs are necessarily more immune to these sorts of things in general.

The difficulty with power surges is that an electronic device can survive, but its components can be slightly damaged, or have their lives shortened, by the experience. There really is no way to tell if your iBook was damaged AFAIK. Its battery might stop charging properly, or RAM might go bad, or perhaps some of your ports might stop working -- or none of the above. It's very hard to tell. And if your iBook starts misbehaving a year from now, it will be tough to tell if the real cause was the recent storm.

Of course, if one were to open it up and see dark spots on the logic board, perhaps that would be good evidence, but I doubt you'll see that since your iBook is still working okay.

Matt

markcdev's picture
Offline
Last seen: 19 years 3 months ago
Joined: Jun 8 2004 - 15:14
Posts: 1
Random Damage

I have had the same thing, a TV, G4, PlayStation, DVD player all in the same surge protected power strip. All were fried except the Mac. In another room a TV, DVD player, and radio. All fried except the DVD player. Lighting can be very random. Be sure to replace the power strips for sure, or even upgrade to higher rated ones. Might give you more margin in the future.

martakz's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 years 12 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 634
Many computer powersupplies a

Many computer powersupplies are designed to be destroyed and protect the computer in the event of a surge...Not that they always work...

Log in or register to post comments