lightning long term damage on computer!

[connrad96]

Hey everyone sorry if this sounds stupid I had a bad thunderstorm last night and the computer went off for 5 seconds then resumed where I was straight away however it made a typical electric sound, computer seems absolutely fine I didn't unplug it because I wasn't aware you had to (noob alert) haha anyway is there any long term damage to the computer cheers everyone

[Lord Pantaloons]

There could be some damage obviously but only if the mains that your house is hooked to actually took a hit. Keep an eye on it as the likely thing to be damaged is the PSU.

[W-L]

Your PSU is usually the first thing to take a hit in the best case scenario protecting other components, but best to have a surge protector at the least or an uninterrupted power supply (UPS).

[Guest]

My surge protector tripped last night during the storm.

Just keep an eye and ear on the PSU to make sure nothing is getting too hot or making any strange sounds.

[Sauron]

List your components, it helps us judge the situation. In modern componentry, surge protection is advanced enough to pretty much guarantee your pc won't suffer permanent damage from a couple of surges, however as @Lord_Pantaloons pointed out your psu will unavoidably suffer from it as it's taking the brunt of the current and "using its own body" to shield the rest of the computer. I suggest you bring it to a specialist for testing if it still makes that buzzing noise, if you don't and it was damaged the next power surge might not find a big obstacle and just zap your pc.

[connrad96]

It's a corsair 750w cx Amd fx 8350 Amd r9 280x Asus sabertooth cheers everyone no sounds now but just paroniod now

[connrad96]

Also sorry if it sounds silly

[Hyrikan]

If the PC resumed after 5 seconds it was probably not directly hit by the thunderstorm. Usually a small pause indicates that it was influenced by a strong electromagnetic field without direct contact. If something had hit the PC directly it would either be dead or at least off after the hit, since a surge protection mechnaism would have turned on.

 

While there still could be a long-term damage it's quite unlikely - either the PC fries or it wasn't directly affected and is fine.

[connrad96]

What do you think could have been damaged long term and any way to diagnose it.

[Hyrikan]

The only thing I could come up with are capacitator or sensors that rely on an electromagnetic effect to measure or store something. Sensors should be easy to test, just look at your temps - capacitators or transistors would be very hard to check since you had to test every of the billions of them in your system. But as I said, you'll probably be fine at this point.

My PC underwent some pauses due to electromagnetic fields caused by lightnings hitting nearby (living at the top of a hill ftw) and I had no issues until now.

[connrad96]

So personally do you think it should be fine no damage really?

[Hyrikan]

Yes. If there were some sort of damage it would have very very likely shown up to this point.

[connrad96]

Okay sweet, guessing you live south of England then judgying by the storms

[Hyrikan]

Germany . Currently it's not nearly as bad as it was when I still lived with my parents. Living on a 900m hill with nothing around can be quite a problem as soon as a thunderstorm hits

[connrad96]

Oh haha in England we had some intense storms punishment I guess for the good weather we had, I'm letting my girlfriend just play the computer she's been on Sims for like 3 hours not exactly intensive but saves me testing it

[ExcitezR]

it could be ether the PSU or the Ethernet port try and unplug the Ethernet and see if the sound goes away 

[mr moose]

Just make sure all your power cables are plugged in tight, if it all works fine now then you have probably dodged a bullet and won't experience any further issues. But to be sure, back up all your stuff to another drive just in case.

[connrad96]

Okay thanks everyone the sound only happened when the lightning struck but now it doesn't make a sound so hopefully it's all good