FreeLists / va-richmond-general / [va-richmond-general] Re: A warning about storms

[Al Warfield <warfield101@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wendy and others interested,

We are using a cable connection to the internet, and have found the
following the hard way:
Always unplug the modem (and router if you have one) at the first thought of
a thunderstorm, or if you will be away for any length of time. If you also
have a phone line modem, unplug the line. Turn off the computer (s) and
unplug from wall. We use an APC backup unit on our desktops, so that has not
always been needed, but in case of a direct hit, may be a good idea. If you
loose a program after a storm, try running Scandisk.  Files can be damaged
if the programs are left running during a storm.  It doesn't even have to be
very close.  Comcast couldn't figure out how to get us back running, but
after running Scandisk, the internet worked again. If the motherboard is
fried, try going to a local computer store and get them to rebuild your
computer. They can use many of the existing parts, and it will be much
better than one that you would get from Dell, Compaq., etc.,  for more
money.

Al Warfield

----- Original Message -----
From: <WEalding@xxxxxxx>
To: <va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, August 03, 2002 8:06 AM
Subject: [va-richmond-general] A warning about storms


> Not strictly a birding topic but relates to online usage.  The severe
> thunderstorms in Chesterfield yesterday afternoon resulted in lightning
> strikes to our house and a tree within 30 feet.  The lightning hit the
phone
> line and blew the phone jack connector across the room, but not before it
> fried two desktop computers and a printer.  The only reason I am able to
send
> this story is that our portable was not connected. Moral of the story is
that
> it is not enough to turn off and unplug a computer during a thunderstorm,
you
> should also disconnect it from the phone line.  Also remove any backup
> floppies or zip disks from their drives.  My backup zip disk with 30,000
plus
> birding records and all our banking records was in the zip drive at the
time.
>  We were eventually able to eject the zip disk by connecting the drive to
the
> second desktop that still at least has power although it won't boot up,
but
> we still don't know if the data is OK.
>
> Wendy Ealding
>
>
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