A friend of mine had a computer struck with lighting while the computer was on. This of course caused the computer to shut down instantly. He then proceeded to reboot the machine and “nothing happened”. This happened in 2003 or so. Since then he has not touched the machine and it has sat in nice isolated environment ever since then. He gave the machine to me recently and since then I have trouble shoot it briefly. I first booted it up and the flashing green HDD activity light blinked green briefly for only a few seconds. Then the computer simply sat there. No input to the monitor, or keyboard and most odd no system beeps of any kind. My first thought was maybe a bad HDD, since it tried to access it for a bit but then stopped. So I tried it my machine and it worked fine and I was able to access and recover all the data with no issues. I am unsure of the next step. All the fans spin, the PSU and heat sink push out air- it runs very quiet. Motherboard seems to work fine since everything “has power.” The CD drive opens and closes… I have an extra PSU I can try and I do not wish to spend any money on this project. Any help or pointers would be much appreciated for I have never dealt with a machine like this before. Thanks for your help. Bio Star 2 gig RAM OCZ, AMD 64 3400 Athlon Thermaltak SVKing Case XFX 7600 GT Zalman CNP Heatsink 500W Antec TruPower

The PSU would probably take the brunt of the power surge. A bad PSU may still put out enough power to spin a few fans or open a CD drawer, but not put out the required amperage to fire up an entire system. The fact that you're not getting a beep though would suggest a bad CPU. A bad HDD would not prevent a PC from at least displaying the initial BIOS screen. Try removing (or at least disconnecting) all "non-essential" hardware. Unplug all drives (floppy, HDD, optical)...remove all cards but video...disconnect all external devices except the monitor & keyboard...remove all RAM except one stick. Now try to boot up. If you can't get a display, you've narrowed it down to a few possibilities. If you have an extra PSU, give it a try. It doesn't even have to be mounted in the case....just unplug the cables from the old one & position the "new" one close enough to plug it into the motherboard.

i agree. you should check your smps, motherboard, ram sticks as well as processor itself. rhi. ---------------- Reviewed list of free anonymous proxy's is here

The first thing you should do is physically remove the modem and see what it does. If the computer was stored that long after the incident,you also need a new CMOS battery.

Thanks for your input. I tried a “new” PSU today a Thermal take Pure Power not the greatest brand I know but I have tried it other machines it worked. Here is what I did. I removed the non-essential parts, the modem, LAN card and CD drive. I then installed the new PSU and proceeded to reboot the machine and there was slight change. I noticed the HDD light stayed on from the instant I pushed the power button. It did not flash for a bit and then go off like it did before. I am unsure of what this means. I then decided to check the CPU. I removed the heat sink- the label on the CPU was stuck/glued/”not to be easily removed” from the heat sink. The left over thermal paste on the CPU came off easily but the heat sink left over’s I still was unable to remove even with rubbing alcohol. There is still some ugly looking black paste on the heat sink surface. So I believe this is just from the age of the machine rather than from the lighting strike? I seem to have forgotten my thermal paste at school so unless if I find someone who has some before then I won’t be able to retest the machine until Tuesday when I pick some up. Regardless of all this the CPU looked to be just fine, no brunt spots, or anything of that sort. I did not try a new CMOS battery for they are hard to find around here and ordering one costs money. And what are SMPs? Thanks once again for your help. Bio Star 2 gig RAM OCZ, AMD 64 3400 Athlon Thermaltak SVKing Case XFX 7600 GT Zalman CNP Heatsink 500W Antec TruPower

Switch Mode Power Supplies, or SMPS. What CPU do you now have?

"I removed the non-essential parts, the modem, LAN card and CD drive....I noticed the HDD light stayed on from the instant I pushed the power button" Apparently you still have the HDD connected? The HDD is also a "non-essential" part....unplug it. You're trying to diagnose a hardware problem, not boot into Windows....