Networking equipment fried

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newb5000

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Mother nature can be a pain in the rear some times...

There was a storm last night and a lightning bolt struck extremely close to my house. I didn't think much of it...until this morning, when I saw that not only did I not have internet access, but a few lights on my networking equipment were not lit :mad:.

My (simplified) setup is as follows [ I tried to draw a diagram using ASCII, please don't laugh :) ]:

ADSL Router x x
|--x PC 1​
|--x Switch​
|--Wifi Router​
|--PC 2
​
|--PC 3​

As you can (hopefully) see from the diagram, the ADSL Router has two cables coming in - one from PC 1 and one going to the switch. Then, the switch is connected to my WiFi router and PC 3. PC 2 connects via wireless to the Wifi router.

The extent of the damage has been marked with red x's. What resulted from the lightning bolt is that
  • PC 1's onboard NIC got fried - it does not pick up any network connection anymore
  • Both connected ports of the ADSL router got fried (the remaining two ports that were not connected are still OK)
  • The port of the switch which connected to the ADSL router also got fried, the rest of the ports seem OK.

Luckily for me, I had a spare old NIC, which I installed on PC 1. I also moved the two connections on the ADSL router to the unused ports. Finally, I gave up one of my used ports on the switch and plugged in the ADSL router.

I have a few questions:
  1. What can I do to prevent this from happening again?
  2. Can I install a lightning protection unit just on the phone line and power source of the ADSL router?
  3. Is there any chance that I can repair some of the damaged stuff?
  4. Is there some way that I can test if anything else got fried on PC 1 besides the onboard NIC?

Thanks for reading and any advice that you may have :D
 
lightning protectors will work but they dont always

if there is a lightning storm your best bet is to unplug everything

mostly lightning fries the board's or it fires major parts of equipment

rendering them useless and to expensive to repair
 
Thanks for the prompt reply.

I'll definitely try to remember to unplug everything when there is a storm, but there is a chance that I am not home at the time or I just simply forget. I will get a lightning protector for the router (I actually have one elsewhere - it has a power outlet and a place where you can plug the telephone line in) and hopefully this can be avoided in future (as you say, it may or may not protect the router).

I think the surge came from the power line and not from the telephone line. Reason is that an old VCR also got killed (and it obviously does not use a telephone line). The surge must have propagated through the ADSL router to its direct network connections, through the CAT5e cables.

The strange thing is that only the connected ports of the router were fried, as well as whatever was connected to them - the other ports of the router still work, as I mentioned.
 
the ports that was not used never had a closed circuit.Remember electron surge flow from negative to positive,In laymons i guess you just lucky all ports was not closed electronically
 
What make of router do you have? Some models like Billions cost ~R300 to repair which is cheaper than buying a replacement. You may have to live without a router for a while though.
 
Well it's actually a Mega 200VWR - the ones that you get with self-install. It's still under warranty - I think I'm going to try my luck with Telkom :D
 
Off topic: Eish, rain+storm season is coming. Today a massive tree in our garden fell over. Luckily another caught it and it's away from the house. It's a mess nonetheless.
 
@newb5000: There was some speculation that the Mega 200VWR was a Billion in Telkom clothing but the Billion representative has refuted this.

Yes, try your luck with Telkom first. From my experience routers are really sensitive to any kind of surge - much more so than analog modems. Good lightning/surge protection equipment is unfortunately quite expensive. You could look online for equipment from Clearline etc. You can't really safely leave your router on during the rainy season. Disconnect it whenever you leave home or at night in case an electrical storm develops. I also managed to destroy my first one in less than a year so I'm really careful now. I now have a very scratched and scuffed 'refurb' as a replacement for my pristine condition original router to serve as a constant reminder about the perils of electrical storms.

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=83217&highlight=Mega+200VWR+firmware
 
Last edited:
Lightning protection is a rather complicated topic.

There is a thing that is now referred to as a step potential which is a massive voltage difference (up to thousands of volts) between 2 points that are as little as 2 meters away from each other. These potentials cause massive currents that can be electromagnetically coupled into anything metal including CAT5 even if there is no direct strike.

Another problem is that many electricians think that connecting the electrical earth, plumbing system and any metal structures (ie metal roof) together is a good idea. This means that an indirect strike up to half a km away can be coupled into the buildings electrical system on the circuit that is meant to be protecting you electronic devices from damage.
 
I also have seen that in some cases the equipment will work after a lightning strike, but fails a few days or weeks later.

Best bet is to unplug everything and wait for the lightning to seek greener pastures :D
 
Living currently in Silverton x11. Had a couple of thunderstorms as well, but no fried equipment yet.

Lost one router a long, long while ago due to lightning at the same location though. So far it was the only casualty.
 
The_Librarian said:
Living currently in Silverton x11. Had a couple of thunderstorms as well, but no fried equipment yet.

Lost one router a long, long while ago due to lightning at the same location though. So far it was the only casualty.
Click to expand...

Someone was not reading dates ...
 
The_Librarian said:
Or the whole thread actually :(

My kop raas :(

I do blame the spammer who resuscitated this thread to peddle his warez for this sad state of affairs :mad:
Click to expand...

Lolz :D, there's sadder yet, I was reading dates, I saw a 2010 thread had been revived, glanced for other old threads and saw an ancient 2007 :erm: :wtf:
 
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