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JDH
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Tech question
« on: Aug 29th, 2003, 9:06am » |
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Okay, I’m a dinosaur and STILL have a dial up connection at home and I have a question.
I think my ‘puter got hit by lightning Wed morning ‘cause the modem seemed to be fried (couldn’t find a dial tone). I change modems yesterday and everything seems ok now but I’m wondering if there’s going to be any degradation to the system down the road because of this. Anyone know what I can expect?
Also would like to know if there’s anyway to tell if a lightning strike is what caused the old modem to die such a horrible death.
Jim
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TomM
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Re: Tech question
« Reply #1 on: Aug 29th, 2003, 9:26am » |
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Hey Jim--Modems, and any computer component, are sensitive to voltage spikes. I've fried motherboards and memory modules by just touching them.
What kind of degradation are you mean? Slower speed? If you replaced the modem with the same speed (I assume its 56K) and use the v.90 drivers you should, I say should, have the same speed.
My suspicion was not the lightening but a power surge. My humble opinion.
TomM
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JDH
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Re: Tech question
« Reply #2 on: Aug 29th, 2003, 9:54am » |
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Thanks Tom,
My speeds seem ok and maybe even a little better.
Is it possible to fry a modem w/out damaging the motherboard?
Jim
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Mark C
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Re: Tech question
« Reply #3 on: Aug 29th, 2003, 9:56am » |
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The PSU (power supply unit) takes the brunt of spikes & brown outs. I see these fail the most. If you can, invest in a good $$ UPS to lengthen the life of your PC.
on Aug 29th, 2003, 9:54am, JDH wrote:
Is it possible to fry a modem w/out damaging the motherboard?
Jim |
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Oh yeah!
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| « Last Edit: Aug 29th, 2003, 9:57am by Mark C » |
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Kirk
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Re: Tech question
« Reply #4 on: Aug 29th, 2003, 12:15pm » |
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Get a good UPS that you can also plug the phone cord into. Lightning coming through a phone line is not unknown. Since it took out the modem and not the power supply, it is a good bet it came trough the phone line.
TTFN
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Azrael
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Re: Tech question
« Reply #5 on: Aug 29th, 2003, 12:20pm » |
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And if you can't afford a UPS, get a good, high quality surge protector... One you can also plug a phone line into.
PFDAN........................... Drk^Angel
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TomM
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Re: Tech question
« Reply #6 on: Aug 29th, 2003, 12:31pm » |
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Oh Yeah, is right. You can fry one component, two or more and yes, I've done that too.
UPS, quality surge protector for power and phone line are great ideas. All it takes is $$$$.
Good ideas, Drk and MArk.
Tom
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JDH
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Re: Tech question
« Reply #7 on: Aug 29th, 2003, 12:50pm » |
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Thanks guys. I know the importance of a good UPS.
I guess I better break down and get one before something worse happens...always looking for an excuse to go to Best Buy anyway 
Since everything else seems to be running ok for now do any of you think I might have anymore problems down the road because of this?
Jim
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TomM
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Re: Tech question
« Reply #8 on: Aug 29th, 2003, 2:53pm » |
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I would mail order it from some place like www.cdw.com. You'll save $$ and have better quality. As a matter of fact, I mail order everything. Staples, BestBuy, CompUSA etc. usually have a high mark up.
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Azrael
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Re: Tech question
« Reply #9 on: Aug 29th, 2003, 4:54pm » |
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I would say, whatever will happen, has happened, unless there's problems you haven't noticed. Although, if you get another spike without protection, all bets are off.
PFDAN............................... Drk^Angel
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