What are the chances?

[jabarnutcase]

Hi folks!
OK, been away for a couple of days. First time this computer has been off for more than a day in quite a while.
Got in late last night...Ahh- Tired, think I'll go to bed. :)

2:00am I wake up to a thunder clap so loud it about knocks me out of my bed. :eek:

Everything seems OK...Finally, back to sleep.

This morning, figure I better check what I know will be tons of email..Well, what do you know! "cmos battery low"-Funky looking boot...Well, you know.
OK- Big deal, guess it's time again. Scrounge around, get a battery, set up my bios, time etc. There we go! back in business! :p

What??? No internet connection? :confused: Gee...The cable modem is working fine- Uh oh...LED's are out on the Router. (4 port Linksys Router..Everything is powered up fine). ONLY the led's are out for ports 2 and 3...just so happens this computer is on port 2.

Well, to make a long story longer...Turns out that ports 2 and 3 went bad on the router! Switch the computer to 1 (and, or) 4, and everything works fine. Checked all configurations, reset factory defaults...Yep- 2 bad ports.

Now for the weird part..There seems to be no way whatsoever that this was power related or a result of the thunderstorm. I have EVERYTHING on battery back-up surge protection, and besides...The power never went out anyway...The lights didn't even flicker. (And around here, that's a miracle!)
Nothing is fried, and if a bad power surge were to get past my UPS, I think there would have been a whole lot more wrong. Even if it came through the coax, through the cable modem to the router, my WAN port (or the entire Router), my modem, and most likely a few TV tuners would be hurtin' about now.
Nope- Everything is fine!

So, here's the way I figure it.....It was all coincidence!
Nothing ever physically touched my Router or Computer...They Just got the crap scared out of em' like me.
I was just in the twilight zone again! (You know, kind of like being in the middle of the "nothing to say" thread) :D

BTW...The reason this is in after hours, is because it's a human interest story, not a problem.
There....I feel so much better now.

[Budfred]

I bet the storm did have something to do with it, but you may never figure out what. I am guessing it had to do with the cable line though....:eek: :p

[killercow]

I never knew computers and broadband modems could be afraid of a thunderstorm. Sounds like the AI is coming along nicely.:D Somethin like that happened to me too on a big thunderstorm where the computer wouldn't turn on for about 36 hours ... then while watching TV it turns on.

[steveo]

So, here's the way I figure it.....It was all coincidence!


there are no coincidences...something else is afoot

[jabarnutcase]

No I don't suppose you end up in the twilight zone by coincidence...More by destiny! :D

I even talked to Linksys...They were great. After they had me go through everything that I already had, they concluded that I had two bad ports. :p

They did say one will go bad once in a while, but not usually two! (BTW- Amazingly helpful and friendly people there at linksys!)

If it was wireless, I could stretch my imagination and say that a charge went flying through my room while I was sleeping....But I've seen what lightning can do, and if it came through my cat5 cables or coax, I'd be smelling it. :eek: I'd probably have fried ethernet cards and burned motherboards to "boot"- (No pun intended)

And it's a strange bolt of lightning that drains my cmos battery without hurting my CPU, Ram, or any number of other sensitive components....I'm telling you guys- The twilight zone!!! :D

All is not lost...I'm getting another BEFSR41 just like this one...I love this thing.
And the old one is still usable....2 ports is better than none....Especially with extra switches or hubs.

Again, please note this is purely a bedtime story. No problem here to be solved at all......"Do not adjust the horizontal"..."Do not adjust the vertical"....Just stay in the "zone". :p

(Edit) Well, ok...You can humor me a little...Strange things like this happen to me all the time. I didn't become a "nutcase" by coincidence!

[gracious]

Jabar, maybe Twilight Zone, what were you dreaming about before this happened? Maybe you transferred something from your dream and it became reality for that span of time between sleeping and having the kajeebies scared out of ya by the thunderclap. Hmmm, this could lead to a whole new thread about dreams.....yes....dreams...reality....dreams, thunderstorms, routers, batteries...dreams....Twilight Zone...dreams...

:D

[jabarnutcase]

Yikes! :eek:
Now you've got me worried gracious....What if I'm just dreaming right now that I posted this silly story in the PC Guide?

When I wake up tomorrow, the first thing I'm gonna do is turn on my computer and see if this is really here! :confused: Have I gone to sleep yet? This is scary.

[gracious]

Ssh, go back to sleep......

[mjc]

Trust me....you were awake enough to post it.;)

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Was it a filament of nature's creation...

...or a figment of your imagination???

http://www.kronia.com/images/lightning.gif

[gracious]

......"Do not adjust the horizontal"..."Do not adjust the vertical".

Aha! It wasn't the Twilight Zone, it was the Outer Limits. Jabar, now maybe that makes more sense! :eek:


Gosh, I hope nobody was standing next to that tree! Talk about crispy critters.:D

[Steve]

What are the chances?

Ummm...3 to 1, in favor.

Lighting? :eek: Kind of reminds me of THIS (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9231&highlight=lightning) day. It was right about this time of the year too.