Thunderclap.

Hey.

A lightning strike fried my router and my PC, which was connected via LAN. The network card is built right into the motherboard.

I don't see any obvious burn marks on the board. When I plug the tower into the outlet, the green light on the motherboard comes on, but when I hit the power button... nothing. Dead.

What are the odds that just swapping out the motherboard fixes everything? Or is there a good chance the rest of the components are toast too?

From what I’ve seen, a few years back, a lightning strike fried every single one of my components too. So, first things first—just grab a new motherboard, but make sure you double-check that the socket matches your current processor. Once you have the board, try hooking up the rest of your parts just to see if the PC will actually boot up..

Jerry Thomas14 said:Hey!

A lightning strike fried my router and my PC—the computer was connected via LAN, so it went down with the router. The network card is integrated into the motherboard.

There's no visible damage on the motherboard (no scorch marks or anything), and when I plug the tower into the wall, the green LED on the board lights up, but when I actually hit the power button... nothing happens.

What are the odds that just replacing the motherboard fixes everything? Basically, what's the chance that other components were fried too?

The odds are exactly 34.78%.
I also predict the dollar will drop within the next month.

Alexander Smith69 said:Your odds are exactly 34.78%.
I also predict the dollar is going to drop within the next month.

You're dreaming.

I know the question is a bit poorly phrased, but I don't have any experience with this stuff, so I won't get into all the details.

Jerry Thomas14 said:You’re dreaming.

I know the way I phrased this question is a bit silly since I don't have much experience here, so I won't go into too much detail.

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself—what a question, what a response. 😁

Anyway, you should probably check if the power supply is functioning correctly first, then work your way through the components one by one. Just make sure you don't plug anything directly into that network switch.

Unfortunately, nobody on an online forum can tell you exactly what's wrong just by reading about it.

Who was calling my name?
Pardon me, but I’ve dealt with exactly seven lightning strikes and more power surges than I can count over the last decade, so I believe I am quite the expert on this matter...
😵
Let’s go through the list...

My motherboard didn't die once in all seven instances.
The network card, however, failed all seven times.
The router, all seven times.
The GPU, only once.
The PSU, I believe twice.
The monitor flared up once, but it still works perfectly fine after nine years.

So, the first thing you should check is the network card. They cost about 50-$20, so pray to Ilija it’s just that, because then you’ll be fine. I often suggest people buy a dedicated PCI network card instead of relying on the onboard one, specifically for this reason.
Second is the power supply; it doesn't necessarily have to smell burnt to be dead... definitely check it.

And finally, it happens that the capacitors on the motherboard drain... I'm not technical enough to explain the "how" or the "why," but I've had situations like yours where leaving the PC plugged in—but turned off—for an hour or two did the trick.

That is all from me—I hope this helps you somehow.

It actually happens more than you'd think—your PC just won't boot because the network chip on the motherboard is fried. In plenty of cases, even if there isn't any visible damage, you can just desolder that little guy, pop in a PCI card, and you're back in business.
Since most surges come through the phone lines rather than the power grid, it’s honestly way smarter to stick with wireless instead of being physically tethered by a cable...

Michael Jackson10 said:It happens where the computer won't even power on because the network chip on the motherboard is fried. In quite a few instances, even if there isn't any visible damage, you can just desolder the chip, pop in a PCI card, and everything works fine again.
Since most surges come through telephone lines rather than the electrical grid, it’s probably smarter to stick to wireless to avoid physical cable contact...

What about actual physical protection for your gear,😁 such as a high-quality surge protector or perhaps a decent entry-level UPS with AVR?Taking precautions is vital in practice, especially when we're talking about standard PCs or other electronics, which aren't exactly cheap these days. You have to be realistic—people go out and buy expensive hardware and rigs, yet they completely ignore preventative measures, acting like a surge isn't going to hit them.

Switching to wireless is often totally impractical and frankly unnecessary for a standard desktop setup. Even if you manage to do that, you're still tethered to the power grid, so once lightning strikes nearby or Exelon sends a massive voltage spike through an unstable line, you're right back where you started with damaged gear.🍿

Let's talk about lightning strikes coming through phone lines: how it fries the router and then kills the network card, which eventually takes down the whole PC.
For an average setup, using Wi-Fi instead of a hardwired connection isn't actually a bad move (even though I’m a total cable purist when possible). It doesn't really slow things down much, and looking at other threads, most people want internet everywhere in their house without dealing with a massive mess of cables running through the walls.
Down here, we see cases where about 20 fried network cards lead to one computer getting absolutely toasted by a power surge from the grid—usually in those outlying suburbs way out near the 1.9 miles outskirts of town. Basically, whether the local power grid is acting up or totally stable, the damage is relatively rare, but when it hits, it hits hard. Modern power supplies help by handling minor voltage fluctuations, but they aren't built to survive a direct lightning strike. So, what happens? After a few burned-out network cards following a storm, people just grab a USB Wi-Fi dongle and call it a day. Let the router take the hit; that's the ISP's problem, right?

Now, if we want to talk about general PC prevention, it’s obviously smarter to have a UPS or at least a high-quality surge protector. You really need to make sure it has phone line protection too, otherwise you're protected from the wall outlet but still vulnerable to a surge coming through the data lines. I say "smarter," but I know how some people budget. They'll spend a fortune on a flashy case with neon lights and extra fans, or overspend on a beefy GPU while skimping on the CPU, and then there's zero money left for decent RAM, let alone actual surge protection.
Honestly, you see this lack of foresight even with business users. Companies with mission-critical data often cut corners on protection, which is crazy. But hey, if you're just trying to protect a bunch of birthday photos or a playlist filled with the latest Madonna hits, maybe you don't care as much...

Anyway, that's the gist of it. I just wanted to touch on this specific scenario...