What else could it be?

Question

We had a power surge and the computer wouldn't turn back on, we changed the power supply and it still doesn't work. The little thing we think is the hard drive is black at the end, do you think it got fried or can we still salvage what's on it? I checked the outlets so it's not that, what else could it be?

Answer 1

Wooo! that was some power surge. Now you need to be sure to put a good Universal Power Supply between your pc and the outlet, or it will just happen again. Unfortunately, lightening often causes power surges and it does hit in the same place again and again.

If the drive was burned it is gone, but the actual disk might have the data still on it. If you need it, take it to or send it to a professional data recovery outfit.

;-D A UPS is a definite need for you.

Answer 2

If you mean by "hard drive is black at the end", there appears to be scourch marks, then your hard drive is likely fried. But, so could your motherboard, NIC card, etc.

Best advice, if you don't want to take it in for a full inspection, is buy a new PC. There's virtually nothing worth salvaging.

TIP: Disconnect all cables to your PC before a lightning storm and reconnect after the storm is over.

Answer 3

When you turn it on are any of the fans connected to the motherboard coming on? If not your motherboard or processor are probably shot. If the fans come on, is there anything displayed on your monitor, like BIOS start up or splash screen? If you are not getting anything on your display listen for any beeps when the computer starts up. If you can here some beeps you may have a damaged video and need to replace it. At this point, I would suggest that you take it to a professional, if you are not sure about the components you are looking at. Good Luck.

Answer 4

How did you post this question if you can't get the computer on?!
Check your wires outside your house, thats what happened to ours.