If not properly protected, a lightning strike can destroy your computer and cripple other interconnected devices that are connected together. For proper recovery, it is important to understand the type of damage and treatment method that will help.
Lightning Damage Explained
Lightning creates a powerful electrical surge that can flow through power lines, phone lines and everything in between. This surge can damage the more delicate electrical parts in computers, creating failures that may not become apparent for some time. Most common affected parts :
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Hard Drive
Graphics Card
Power Supply
If your computer appears to be functioning fine now, some amount of internal damaged may still have been done during the strike and cause errors in the future134.
Assessing Damage
Steps to verify the damage:
Examine Surge Protector -Has the surge protector tripped or failed. It just means that the protector has done its job of soaking up the overcharge but did not protect your computer if it stopped operating.
Check Individual Components: Try another system with the machine failing, probably CPU / RAM and Graphics card.
Always be on the lookout for your PC displaying symptoms — such as failing to boot, blue screens or funny sounds which can often denote specific component failures5.
Repair or Replace?
If you notice any of these parts are damaged, do the following:
Replace Specific Parts: Sometimes, only a few parts of the entire system need to be replaced rather than everything. It is an enormous cost saver for businesses and soon to be individuals12.
Professional Assessment: In cases of severe damage or when you are uncertain about a components health, have it professionally evaluated for repair options.lightning damage (ad)
Preventive Measures
How to reduce future storm risks
Unplug Devices: Computers and other similar devices should be disconnected during thunderstorm conditions.
Buy Surge Protectors: Purchase surge protectors that are capable of handling large surges.
Installation of Lightning Rods: Installing lightning rods on your property34.VMLINUX_INCREMENTED_VALUE
All in all, even though lightning strikes can cause serious damage to electrical equipment, know how to deal with the damaged goods will save your pocket and lead back the device appropriately.
