This page created 08-27-2002

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Lightning damage to networking components

Click thumbnails for a larger view.

The evening I left for Cambridge England, we had a storm in Plymouth, and lightning struck something in the area of my house. I suspect it hit the cable company's box out near the street since my neighbor lost his cable TV service at the same time.
I think that this is the path of the damage:
1) Entered at pillar near street. Cable end blasted.
2) Up the cable, and entered the modem. Modem blasted.
3) Out the ethernet connector into the WAN port on the router/switch. Switch blasted.
4) Out a connector and up to the Dell laptop cradle. Interface not working.
5) Out a connector and into the Sun Ultra-60. Interface not working.
6) Out a connector and into the Brother laser printer. Interface might not be working
7) Out a connector, outside, downstairs and into uplink port on 4-switch. Switch blasted.
8) Out a connector and into a DEC Alpha 4-processor server. Interface might not be working


The cable pillar

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I found this in the cable company pillar box


The 3Com cable modem

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Outgoing ethernet connector
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Many toasted components
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Side view of the connector


LinkSys EZXS554 5-port Ethernet switch from the basement.

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LinkSys BEFSR81 8-port Ethernet Cable router/switch from upstairs.

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This chip is missing something
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Another blasted ethernet
socket
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The cable modem connector
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Melted metal on the cable
modem connector
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Plasitc underneath the PCB


The new lightening-proof setup.

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An optical fiber interconnect link. $85 from eBay


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