Re: [Nolug] Consumer-grade network stuff extra-sensitive to lightning?

Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net> writes:

> Hi,
>
> Yesterday morning's storm zapped my 5-port router, and I'm
> wondering why. (In fact, this is my 3rd 5-port switch/hub,
> and 3rd 16-port switch. :()
>
> The 5-port switch's wall-wart is/was plugged into a UPS,
> just like my cable modem, firewall, 16-port switch, 2 PCs,
> etc. (No, they aren't all plugged into the same UPS,
> but I did replace the old one and add a 3rd UPS)
>
> The cable modem's input coax comes straight from the wall,
> and I could understand if it got zapped, but it still works
> fine.

That input coax should be pretty well grounded so zapped
cable modems are relatively rare.

> A NIC on the other side of the house seems to have died,
> too. The spike that killed it, apparently went down the
> coax, thru the cable modem, killed the 5-port switch, thru
> the Linux firewall, thru a 16-port switch, and to the box
> with the now-dead NIC in it. That box has been plugged
> into it's own UPS for a while, and, otherwise, still works.
>
> Very strange that nothing else died.

Indeed. If that's the pathway the apparent surge took, everything
should be damaged. Perhaps the surge was small and brief enough to
damage some but not all of the equipment....

-- 
Scott Harney<scotth@scottharney.com>
"Asking the wrong questions is the leading cause of wrong answers"
gpg key fingerprint=7125 0BD3 8EC4 08D7 321D CEE9 F024 7DA6 0BC7 94E5
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