[geeks] Whee! Lightning strikes, AGAIN!

[Phil Stracchino]

Lionel Peterson wrote:
> I think my hardware was killed by an EMP, because the computers work
> fine, except the NICs - every NIC (save one, so far) that had a wire
> of any length attached to it is DEAD. A power surge would have taken
> out the computer AND the NIC, but that didn't happen. The two TVs that
> were hit are CRTs, the flat panels (actually rear projection and
> plasma) are fine. I suspect the CRT somehow "collected" enough energy
> to kill the set. The garage door opener and A/C controller had
> electronics that weren't very well protected (compared with, say, a
> sealed up, grounded, PC chassis).

Really sounds like you need to switch to gigabit fiber when you replace
all those NICs, doesn't it?  Assuming that shielding the house is
impractical.


(Side thought:  The outer shell of this house is stucco over wire mesh.
 I find myself suddenly wondering whether the wire mesh layer is
grounded and, if not, whether it would be of tangible benefit to us to
ground it...)


-- 
  Phil Stracchino, CDK#2     DoD#299792458     ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
  alaric at caerllewys.net   alaric at metrocast.net   phil at co.ordinate.org
         Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
                 It's not the years, it's the mileage.