I DID A FOOLIISH THING ABOUT A WEEK AGO DURING A THUNDER STORM. I WAS ONLINE AND MY MODEM SURGE PROTECTOR TOOK A HIT AND FRIED IT...I UNPLUGGED THE MODEM FROM THE SURGE PROTECTOR AND PLUGGED IT DIRECTLY INTO THE WALL PHONE RECEPTICLE JUST TO SEE IF MY MODEM WAS MESSED UP OR NOT...I WAS ABLE TO GET BACK ONLINE AND EVERYTHING STILL WORKED FINE...HERES WHERE I MESSEED UP...I STAYED ONLINE TOO LONG AND TOOK ANOTHER SURGE THROUGH THE PHONELINE...IT KILLED MY MODEM ALONG WITH MY ANSWERING MACHINE....I REPLACED THE MODEM AND THOUGHT EVERYTHING WAS OK TILL I DISCOVERED THAT MY PRINTER PORT AND USB PORTS NO LONGER COMMUNICATE WITH ANY DEVICES...I HAD A ISA PARRALELL PORT ONHAND AND DISABLED THE LPT1 AND INSTALLED IT....STILL NO COMMUNICATIONS...THE OLD MODEM WAS A ISA MODEM ...THE NEW ONE IS A PCI MODEM WHICH WORKS FINE...HERES MY QUESTION....CAN I USE A PCI USB CARD AND GET MY USB BACK AND GET A USB TO PRINTER CABLE AND EXPCT IT TO WORK OR IS THIS ASKING TOO MUCH?...MOTHERBOARD IS A ASUS P3V4X..800 COPERMINE CPU..256 MB RAM...SOUNDBLASTER AUDIO...ATI ALL-IN-WONDER VIDEO CARD...PRINTER WORKS ON ANOTHER COMPUTER...USB SCANNER ALSO WORKS ON ANOTHER COMPUTER...SORRY THIS WAS O LONG BUT JUST WODERED WHAT ANYONES THOUGHTS ARE ON THIS STUPED STUNT OF MINE....GO AHEAD AND LAUGH...I DESERVE IT...THANKS.

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elope

Hi;

You can sure try it, if you want to save the current board. Depending on the board you have and what you want to spend (new board vs, spending cash to try the cables/PCI card). For $25.00, Belkin has a card that can be had at Buy.com
http://www.us.buy.com/retail/searchresults.asp?qu=pci++usb+card&loc=273


and I assume you want to try a usb/parallel cable that Belkin also has. Be careful, the usb to printer cable does not work on all printers.
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id=1999&pcount=&Product_Id=20651&Section.Section_Path=%2F%2FRoot%2FUSB%2FPCProducts %2FAdapters%2F

However, given the 2 hits you took....

Umm, elope-i would seriously consider buying a new motherboard( unless you have an off the shelf system like HP or Compaq, they use proprietary boards )-you'll save yourself a lot of headaches down the road-you've more than like ly fried some componets on the mother board, and it will get worse over time. If you can't upgrade just the board-you may have to go with a new case/motheroboard-but you still can use the componets from your old sytem( cpu, HD, floppy,etc..).

You can try danleff's suggestion-it'll probably get you back up and running, but you're going to be on borrowed time my friend. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif

By the way, welcomer to the forums! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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iisbob
"Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run."

THANKS FOR THE REPLIES...I JUST THOUGHT THAT I'D TRY TO GET A LITTLE MORE USE OUT OF THIS MOTHERBOARD...ITS A ASUS P3V4X WHICH USES THE SLOT 1 PENTIUM...I LOOKED AROUND AND COULDN'T SEEM TO FIND ANOTHER P3V4X OR ANY DECENT SLOT 1 BOARDS...THIS BOARD HAS BEEN VERY STABLE FOR ME UNTIL I GOOFED...I'D ALSO LIKE TO GET SOME USE FROM THE PENT III 800 WHICH IS ALMOST NEW....I SHOULD HAVE ORDERED THE ADAPTER BOARD AND USED THE SOCKET 370 BUT THAT WAS ANOTHER ONE OF MY MISTAKES...IF THIS IDEA WORKS AT LEAST I'LL GAIN SOME KNOWLEDGE FROM THIS EXPERIENCE...HAS TO BE WORTH SOMETHING...THANKS AGAIN....GREAT FORUM.


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elope