Lightning storm, computer dies.. explain this to me

[Montoya]

Im upstairs getting the kids to bed, there is a huge storm passing through, wind, lightning, rain... my PC powerbar is a surge protector, so Im reasonably safe.

I come downstairs and see that my computer is off, "oh oh, this can't be good" I mutter to myself.

I go and push the power button... nothing.

Fuck.

The clear course of action for this scenario is to swear, then repeatedly push the button, hold it down, push it fast, push it slow, push it hard, then count to ten... nothing is working.

Now comes the headache of crawling under the desk and removing the spiderweb of USB cables, monitors, speakers, mic, webcam, hotas, pedals...

Fuck.

Computer is now disconnected from everything, I take it over to another wall plug just to confirm its dead.

In it goes to the plug which I know is working because there is a lamp plugged into it, and its on. I push the power button and... same result, no lights, no fans, dead.

Stand up, put hands on hips, take a deep breath... kneel down again, push button, it will be different this time. Nope, still dead. Push it in rapid succession, then hold it down, then toggle the power switch on the PSU and then plug and unplug the power cable from the PSU... nothing.

Ok, time to open her up and see if anything is burned.

Off comes the case, it looks fine, nothing smells burned, everything is plugged in. Try the power one more time, nope, still dead.

Google says that its my PSU most likely. Thankfully @SlumLord had sent me a pretty cool corsair 860W when he moved offices a while back. Im saving it for my gaming rig, but this is an emergency so I off I go to find the box and bring life back to my computer.

I have to say that Corsair really knows how to package their stuff nicely! I should do an unboxing of this PSU because its a piece of art!

New PSU is in hand, old PSU is about to be removed, but you know what? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result.

As such, and as leader of TEST, it is my duty to push the power button again!

I reach over, feel for the button without looking at it, push it and...

IT FUCKING WORKS!!!

IT FUCKING WORKS!!!

FANS SPINNING, LIGHTS BLINKING!

WTF?

Ok science guys, what happened here?

Is this computer possessed, or is there an explanation of how a dead computer comes to life when threatened with a PSU transplant?

This mystery must be solved!

No, I was not drunk, I just had one drink earlier!

 

[WarrenPeace]

Pretty simple, actually. As a long-time native of North Carolina, the thunderstorms there are particularly intense, moreso than can actually be accounted for by simple meteorology. The lightning strikes are being augmented by the supernatural discharge from the various Indian mounds, backcountry hexin' groves, and other sites that contribute to the above-average background paranormal radiation. Obviously one of the lightning strikes was close enough that some of the supernatural energy was conveyed into your computer, allowing it to operate in an aetheric state for a short time. While it appeared to be turned off, it was simply functioning on a plane beyond our perception. Once the energy bled off, your computer returned to normal functioning.

 

[SeungRyul]

Oh I forgot mention that I paid a poltergeist to trigger you until you get banned from the forums, kinda stupid of him to target your computer though since you needed to be on RSI forums to rant :/

My guess is that there was some residual power from the lightning strike in the power supply and just needed time for it to completely power down. Its like when you call up tech support about internet problems and they tell you to disconnect the router for at least 15 seconds for all those capacitors to reset completely (of course in this case it would take longer due to a powersupply capable of carrying a lot more power).

But the real fact would be that it simply went on strike from you not saying hello enough to all your pc components and wanted to simply greet its master (thats why I have a acrylic side for me to wish good morning to the computer parts every day.

 

[dubbzy]

I have a degree in physics, not Electrical Engineering, but I can take a guess as to what happened.

If the power strip isn't actually a surge protector (not that I'm doubting you, but a lot of people call every power strip a "surge protector"), then the storm could've caused a surge of power that your PSU couldn't handle. Surge protectors can also be blown out; they don't last forever. If its an old surge protector, this could be the issue. Even if your strip is a working surge protector, it still might've passed through. Your power supply could also have a similiar safety feature, where it will blow its own circuits in order to not pass the voltage through everything else, and then the electronics in the PSU will need time to cool off and reset

Another idea is that a "brownout" occured, where the amount of power is lowered for a short time. The storm could've messed up something along the power grid, and you had a momentary loss of some power (lights briefly dimming/flickering, etc). Although I'm not quite sure how this could damage your computer; it seems like your computer should have failsafes to turn off, or it would shut down anyways from a lack of power.

EDIT: I spent a lot of time googling this issue, only to re-read your post and see that the old PSU was working. I fixed my info accordingly. D'oh!

 

[Fenrig]

Ok science guys, what happened here?

All that button-pushing flooded the carburetor and it just needed some time to drain all the electrons out.

Seriously though, is it possible you were hitting the reset button or something before the last attempt?

 

[The Chaos Pope]

You probably have a failing power supply. I've seen them do all sorts of crazy things when they're on their last legs. I had one that worked great, as long as you left it on. Once it was shut down, I had to disconnect it from power for 30+ seconds, reconnect power and then the power button would work. Further anecdotes are available upon request.

 

[Shive]

Nice story

 

[thanatos73]

This I do know something about, used to be an RMA tech for a music company(like Muzak, but different). A power surge, not big enough to trip the surge protector, but too much for the PSU to handle. Most modern(like within the last 8 years) have some basic surge protection built in. The excess power will be pushed to the capacitors, and charge them, like a rechargeable battery, and they stop filtering the power. If the motherboard doesn't get the right voltage AND amps on all the lines, it won't turn on. Then you have to either wait for the power to bleed out, or short it out. the funny thing about capacitors in a power supply is that they don't store power, they filter it, trying to keep the voltage levels right.

 

[Dalarast]

Targeted EMP blast.... That's the answer. Those other organizations are stepping it up a notch. :)

 

[Krystal LeChuck]

Thunderstorms create excessive amounts of static electicity buildup in the atmosphere. Those are enough to burn motherboards and PSUs while they are even unplugged. If your grounding is not good then you might have problems like that.

 

[Black Sunder]

Im upstairs getting the kids to bed, there is a huge storm passing through, wind, lightning, rain... my PC powerbar is a surge protector, so Im reasonably safe.

I come downstairs and see that my computer is off, "oh oh, this can't be good" I mutter to myself.

I go and push the power button... nothing.

Fuck.

The clear course of action for this scenario is to swear, then repeatedly push the button, hold it down, push it fast, push it slow, push it hard, then count to ten... nothing is working.

Now comes the headache of crawling under the desk and removing the spiderweb of USB cables, monitors, speakers, mic, webcam, hotas, pedals...

Fuck.

Computer is now disconnected from everything, I take it over to another wall plug just to confirm its dead.

In it goes to the plug which I know is working because there is a lamp plugged into it, and its on. I push the power button and... same result, no lights, no fans, dead.

Stand up, put hands on hips, take a deep breath... kneel down again, push button, it will be different this time. Nope, still dead. Push it in rapid succession, then hold it down, then toggle the power switch on the PSU and then plug and unplug the power cable from the PSU... nothing.

Ok, time to open her up and see if anything is burned.

Off comes the case, it looks fine, nothing smells burned, everything is plugged in. Try the power one more time, nope, still dead.

Google says that its my PSU most likely. Thankfully @SlumLord had sent me a pretty cool corsair 860W when he moved offices a while back. Im saving it for my gaming rig, but this is an emergency so I off I go to find the box and bring life back to my computer.

I have to say that Corsair really knows how to package their stuff nicely! I should do an unboxing of this PSU because its a piece of art!

New PSU is in hand, old PSU is about to be removed, but you know what? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result.

As such, and as leader of TEST, it is my duty to push the power button again!

I reach over, feel for the button without looking at it, push it and...

IT FUCKING WORKS!!!

IT FUCKING WORKS!!!

FANS SPINNING, LIGHTS BLINKING!

WTF?

Ok science guys, what happened here?

Is this computer possessed, or is there an explanation of how a dead computer comes to life when threatened with a PSU transplant?

This mystery must be solved!

No, I was not drunk, I just had one drink earlier!

Had a similar situation on my own computer. I turned it on one day and came back and it was dead. Tried it a few hours later and it worked fine. Power Supply was failing and it looks like yours had just been 'coerced' to start doing that. My PSU lasted 3 days longer before it finally died for real but I had gotten a new one by then.

 

[Montoya]

This I do know something about, used to be an RMA tech for a music company(like Muzak, but different). A power surge, not big enough to trip the surge protector, but too much for the PSU to handle. Most modern(like within the last 8 years) have some basic surge protection built in. The excess power will be pushed to the capacitors, and charge them, like a rechargeable battery, and they stop filtering the power. If the motherboard doesn't get the right voltage AND amps on all the lines, it won't turn on. Then you have to either wait for the power to bleed out, or short it out. the funny thing about capacitors in a power supply is that they don't store power, they filter it, trying to keep the voltage levels right.

This seems like the most plausible answer, either this or the one about ghosts!

 

[Black Sunder]

either this or the one about ghosts!

 

[ThomSirveaux]

Targeted EMP blast.... That's the answer. Those other organizations are stepping it up a notch. :)

HERF Gun. Obviously.

 

[MzHartz]

 

[Black Sunder]

I'll fix that for you:

 

[GameFleek]

Computer Derped? It works for the Captain sometimes.

 

[CaptainRichard]

Something always goes wrong. It's a daily occurrence. You get used to it. ;)

 

[Star Pilgrim]

Simply pay for a power cord with surge protection.
Problem solved for less than $10.

 

[Yex]

This happens to my PC on occasion without a storm. Google said it was the PSU as well and I thought the dodgy GPU I bought from eBay had blown it.

Turns out the cause was just a simple short circuit on the Mobo which by default wouldn't let the PSU spin up/Mobo post. I'd pushed down some cables when installing the new gpu

Mine was caused by the front IO connectors but check all your loose cables. Took month to finally root the problem. All is hunky dory now after I rewired it.
This mystery caused me so much stress I swear, the only reason I knew it wasnt blown was because I moved the pc and poked the wiring inside must have rejigged it enough to come back to life. Which I assume is what has happened to you. Took a few times of it happening for me to be like.. Wut.

Internet has very little info on these symptoms as nearly all just say RMA
I simply wiggled everything while slamming the power button until it posted lol