Question Lightning strike next to house - PC not working right

[agdodge4x4]

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/agdodge4x4/saved/#view=mK2HWZ

Brand new build.

During last night's storm, our oak tree which is about 50' from the main panel took a direct hit from lightning. So far

4 switches
Cudy P5 LTE router
Mesh wifi system
and Computer

All not working. Everything is behind it's own ISOBAR surge protector. All still say protected and seem to be functioning fine, so I don't know what the hell the point of those is.

Anyway, my son's BRAND NEW gaming computer that we built is not working.

On boot it goes to the BIOS screen. Saving and exiting just takes it back to the screen.

If you get past BIOS screen it flashes HDMI and goes black and goes back to BIOS. It's a DP connection.

How do I troubleshoot what the actual issue is to get it to boot? I gues the video card is OK since it's sending a signal. But otherwise...just start throwing parts at it? Surely in 2023 with as fancy as these GUI are there are some diagnostics?

 

[USAFRet]

I had very similar a couple of years ago.

Multiple seemingly unrelated components, dead.

There is no easy way to test.
Just have to start swapping in known good parts and see what happens.

 

[kerberos_20]

All not working. Everything is behind it's own ISOBAR surge protector. All still say protected and seem to be functioning fine, so I don't know what the hell the point of those is.

they protect devices when there is surge up to lets say 2000 joules, higher joule rating, better protection it has, you also need to have working ground wiring as excess surge gets thrown there... btw typical lightning has roughly billion joules on direct hit

 

[Eximo]

I would always start with the power supply in situations like this.

If you can, pull the GPU as well and see if it boots from integrated graphics, if available.

 

[agdodge4x4]

New update. For whatever reason, it booted to windows. No internet. The internet LED on teh back of the case is dimly lit yellow.

That's what the LED's on the back of my 550 dollar LTE router looked like as well. I think the network part of the motherboard is toasted. Wifi adapters do work fine. So, I think the first course of action is to replace the motherboard first and go from there.

It seems like it hit the switch that was NOT on an isobar and then the remaining surge went through the ethernet wire and nuked nearly everything connected to it.

 

[USAFRet]

That's what the LED's on the back of my 550 dollar LTE router looked like as well. I think the network part of the motherboard is toasted. Wifi adapters do work fine. So, I think the first course of action is to replace the motherboard first and go from there.

Get a PCIe ethernet adapter. $20.
That is one of the thiings that happened to mine, and what I did.

 

[helper800]

New update. For whatever reason, it booted to windows. No internet. The internet LED on teh back of the case is dimly lit yellow.

That's what the LED's on the back of my 550 dollar LTE router looked like as well. I think the network part of the motherboard is toasted. Wifi adapters do work fine. So, I think the first course of action is to replace the motherboard first and go from there.

It seems like it hit the switch that was NOT on an isobar and then the remaining surge went through the ethernet wire and nuked nearly everything connected to it.

More than likely, the ISOBAR saved the PC but since the ethernet had no protection it, as you said, nuked the port. They make surge suppressors that have ethernet inputs and outputs to filter/suppress surges on the network as well. If you had this model it would have probably saved you.

You can submit a claim on the tripplite website for the insurance that comes with their products. They usually have insurance on everything that is plugged into their surge protectors.

 

[agdodge4x4]

The PC boots to BIOS again, not sure why.

I have been told by some that in instances like this, i need to be replacing everything in the machine. Basically, keep the case, replace everythign else or I'll be chasing issues forever. Is this true? Do I really need to rebuild from scratch with new parts? I will, I am going to claim this on insurance, it's already far exceeded my deductible, but I don't want to claim things i don't need and I sure as hell don't want to do unnecessary work.

 

[USAFRet]

The PC boots to BIOS again, not sure why.

I have been told by some that in instances like this, i need to be replacing everything in the machine. Basically, keep the case, replace everythign else or I'll be chasing issues forever. Is this true? Do I really need to rebuild from scratch with new parts? I will, I am going to claim this on insurance, it's already far exceeded my deductible, but I don't want to claim things i don't need and I sure as hell don't want to do unnecessary work.

You need to replace the parts that are cooked.

In my instance, on the main PC, I only needed to add a $20 PCIe ethernet adapter.
The system has continued to work for almost 3 years.

Other things in the house were totally cooked and non-functional.
2x HDMI ports on my Denon AVR, ethernet port on my printer, etc.

 

[agdodge4x4]

You need to replace the parts that are cooked.

In my instance, on the main PC, I only needed to add a $20 PCIe ethernet adapter.
The system has continued to work for almost 3 years.

Other things in the house were totally cooked and non-functional.
2x HDMI ports on my Denon AVR, ethernet port on my printer, etc.

OK. Well, as I said, it only boots to BIOS now, and I don't know why but when you restart or 'save and exit', it only goes to bios. I get a flashing "HDMI" notice on the monitor while it does it, so perhaps the video card is toasted as well in some way.

 

[helper800]

OK. Well, as I said, it only boots to BIOS now, and I don't know why but when you restart or 'save and exit', it only goes to bios. I get a flashing "HDMI" notice on the monitor while it does it, so perhaps the video card is toasted as well in some way.

If you have time and a friend that is local it is time to start swapping parts that are known to be good. If you do not have the time or a friend to do this with you should look for a local PC repair shop that will do this for you. Is there anything on the PC that is not backed up or critical data?