PC wont boot after Lightning and Rain - LED on GPU glows

Hi Guys!

Today was a bad start for a weekend.

It was raining quite heavily last night with thunderstorms, and I had gone to sleep early with my PC turned off. When I woke up this morning, the PC wont turn on, and the SMPS fan wont even rotate. But the 2 leds on my GPU blink steadily for sometime, before going pulsating. If I remove the power cable from the GPU, leds on it blink red, indicating that somehow the motherboard is getting some power. But nothing on the motherboard lights up (status lcd etc). I have checked the motherboard and other parts but there are no burn marks. Nothing else on the system gives any indication of being live (no leds, no noise, no beeps etc). Nothing else seems to be damaged - monitor, router, modem, speakers etc are all working.

How can I make sure exactly which part is damaged? I don't have a spare PSU to test the same. Also, if the PSU is dead, will they honor the warranty in this case? Thanks in advance for your replies!

First of all, don't leave appliances plugged into wall socket if there is a thunderstorm. Second, you need to arrange a PSU from some friend's desktop or somewhere to check your system.

harshilsharma63 said:
First of all, don't leave appliances plugged into wall socket if there is a thunderstorm. Second, you need to arrange a PSU from some friend's desktop or somewhere to check your system.

The rain started after I had gone to sleep, though I will certainly keep this in mind from now on. Since I don't have any friends here having a desktop, I will have to buy another PSU, and sell one later (if the non-functional one gets RMA'd). Would Seasonic replace it if it has been damaged by thunderstrike?

most probably no..

warrnty does not cover "acts of god" unless explicitly stated in the warranty terms.

remember that some psu's fan does not rotate until a specific load is demanded by the system. and when you give the psu for rma, never ever say anything about thunder storm/lightening.just casually give it to them and tell them that in a fine morning it stopped working

. otherwise your warranty will be void.
have you checked whether the fan rotates by shorting green and black wires in the psu?

rijinpk1 said:
remember that some psu's fan does not rotate until a specific load is demanded by the system. and when you give the psu for rma, never ever say anything about thunder storm/lightening.just casually give it to them and tell them that in a fine morning it stopped working . otherwise your warranty will be void.
have you checked whether the fan rotates by shorting green and black wires in the psu?

I tested the PSU last night by shorting the green and black wires, and it turned on. It seems that the motherboard is shot. I will take it to the service center and see what they say.

aniket.cain said:
I tested the PSU last night by shorting the green and black wires, and it turned on. It seems that the motherboard is shot. I will take it to the service center and see what they say.

never mention about thunder storm or lightening.

rijinpk1 said:
never mention about thunder storm or lightening.

my point exactly.
say that you were using your pc during the day and it shut down on you.

Thanks, I won't mention thunder as the motherboard doesn't look burnt. If I plug it into the psu, the area around the power/reset button on the mobo gets quite hot, but nothing else shows any signs of life. I hope that RMA won't be painful. Anybody here has experience with AsRock RMA?

AsRock RMA is handled by Digicare AFAIK. And Digicare provides good service. Take it to them.

It seems some pins got bent while handling, though I am sure it wasn't the case when I left home this afternoon. Anyway, they have now refused to cover it under warranty. They said they will repair it for a charge but I am not sure if I should get this repaired or buy a new one.

aniket.cain said:
It seems some pins got bent while handling, though I am sure it wasn't the case when I left home this afternoon. Anyway, they have now refused to cover it under warranty. They said they will repair it for a charge but I am not sure if I should get this repaired or buy a new one.

get a new better motherboard

aniket.cain said:
It seems some pins got bent while handling, though I am sure it wasn't the case when I left home this afternoon. Anyway, they have now refused to cover it under warranty. They said they will repair it for a charge but I am not sure if I should get this repaired or buy a new one.

whose handling?? you sure it wasnt you?

You bent the pins!! How!!
And how much are they charging you for the repair?

I am sure no pins were bent when I packed it this morning. But when they checked the mobo they said they wont take it as many pins were bent. I argued for a while but they won't listen. I didn't want to go for a repair after that as they would now charge me for the burnt board too. So I decided to purchase another and got an Asus Z87 Pro. Re-assembled everything and now am typing from my own desktop.

wow.

now, make those pins straight and go back after a few days/a month.

- - - Updated - - -

btw, Pics or it didnt... you know the stuff..

Yes I will have that repaired/RMA'd later, and maybe some friend can use it.

Oh and the pics!

Since I have already reassembled the system:

*i59.tinypic.com/rk24i9.jpg

*i59.tinypic.com/2lxaywn.jpg

Wow man.. Sooo sexy!!

now im depressed again.

Congrats on the new purchase.
How much did it cost BTW?

saswat23 said:
Congrats on the new purchase.
How much did it cost BTW?

Thanks! It cost 16k. Purchased from Ankit Infotech, SP Road.

Congrats on the purchase.

Now change your siggy

Sexah, congrates.. such win win

No win for my wallet. It cried. :-(