We have a wireless internet connection via a roof mounted unit. Believe we had a lightening surge come down the CAT 5 cable, through the power injector and router. The mini was using the ethernet cable to connect to the router. It will not turn on. Is there some way to trouble shoot this unit?
Or what could the surge have damaged?
Thanks, John
Is this a good question?
Rep: 169
3
There is no great way to troubleshoot this sadly that i have come up with. My first thought is if you have another computer to check your router, if it is still functioning its hard to think that it wouldnt fry up that thing yet it would fry up the computer. Not saying it isnt possible because i have seen things that are a bit more odd.
That being said if you had possible lightning hit your house it could have done damage all over because as we all know electricity likes to jump and jump far. The Mac mini that you have has an external power supply this is a plus in this situation because it may be easy enough to take it in to a local Mac dealer and see if that cant just plug it in for you and see if it powers on. If this does not happen to work yes you may have harmed it beyond what i would recommend repairing.
If it is not the power supply it is bound to be the logic board. The logic board of a computer really only has Five main functions and one of those is distribution of electrical power. IF you did get a surge through it one way or another yes it could have hurt your logic board and at this point with the age of your machine i would pull the hard drive get your data and cut your losses. Hope this helps if you get any more info please update me and i will be happy to help!!! Best of luck!!
Was this answer helpful?
Thanks Chris. Did take it to apple Store and they couldn't get it to boot. Have bought new mini with lion and so far, not liking it! Haven't been able to recover files from a time machine back up done hours just before the strike. Karma? Good thing it was a fresh backup.
How does one use the HD? Could the drive be used for backup?
What operating system were you using on your old Mac Mini? I just had this issue with a customer and i went to his home and found that he had backed up his MacBook using the new Mountain Lion yet he had installed a new hard drive that only had Lion on it. If the Backup is a newer version then the computer it will not restore so make sure everything is up to date first. It may seem like a pain but there are certain changes that the OS makes that it cant restore until you update. Hope this helps and keep me up to date!
Past 24 Hours: 0
Past 7 Days: 0
Past 30 Days: 0
All Time: 758
