Vista Box Blown

There was a huge electrical storm in Tennessee Wednesday (July 15^th), which knocked-out the power. Some 1000 customers were without power for 30 some-odd hours, including yours truly.

I unplugged the phoneline from the computers, but the storm seemed to abate and I plugged them back in. As I'm walking through the basement, lighting candles, another lightning bolt crashed and I heard a loud "pop." Of course, I feared for the computers, so I unplugged the phoneline again, but left them plugged-in because they were plugged into a surge protector.

I know, how cana surge protector protect anything when the power is out? Well, many years ago, my dad bought two large-screen TVs, but not the overpriced warranties. A big storm came and I unplugged the TV, not realizing it was on a surge protector. Sure enough, it killed the TV and I've never been able to live it down. Needless to say, said experience taints my every decision in such circumstances.

Anyway, the Vista computer was on the end and it will now power only the fan. Neither the light on the front panel comes on, nor do the hard drives sound like they're spinning. Worst of all, I don't have the money to repair it at this time, and won't for a few weeks. I just hope the data is still there, because the last time I baked it up was like four months ago. It's not a huge deal if it isn't, but I hope it is.

I'll deal with it later. Still, if anyone has any light to shed upon the matter, I'm all thumbs ears.

© C Harris Lynn, 2009