"Tim Edwards" wrote in message
u...
1)I recently lost a network card to a lightening strike. My computer's
power
was connected to one of those $50 powerstrips and it was undamaged. The
network card was connected to a 10 metre cat5 network cable that runs
under
the house on the underside of the floorboards to the switch in the other
room. None of the other computers or networking equipment were damaged.

Why would my network card be the only component damaged? I thought at
first
it was because it was the only part not connected to the surge protector.
But if that was so why wasn't anything in the other room (including the
cable modem - the only external connection on the network) damaged? Could
it be because the power board simply shunted the surge voltage and it went
into the computer and down the net cable as a path of least resistance to
ground?

Interconnected computer equipment should all be on the same power strip, or
do not use parallel "shunt" type suppressors (which 99% are). During a big
spike, a shunt mode discharges the surge to ground. Each device doing this
can end up with its ground potential quite a bit different from the others.
If there are paths between these devices (like a cat5 or coax cable), the
voltage surge can fry the line drivers. Lightning can do weird things, and
no matter what you do sometimes you still lose.


2) As the great Australian summer approaches with lightning storms, strong
winds and even bushfires which cause sustained power brownouts and surges
as they burn under high-voltage lines I'm looking for the best way to
protect my computers and network.

I've read in a lot of newsgroups that plugin surge protectors are useless
as
they have offer no real earth ground - at least not one that is lower
reistance than the computer or device itself.
What do people have to say about this?
Even if this is so are they worthwhile for protecting against brown outs
and
subsequent surges caused by non-lightning events such as wind blowing
powerlines over or bushfires burning under them? (a very real problem in
this part of Sydney during bushfire season)

I'd suggest the following:
Verify your electrical service is well grounded -- multiple rods and
preferably a buried metal pipe too.
Install a parallel "shunt" type surge suppressor at the electrical service
entrance.
Consider only series type surge suppressors for the computer and network
equipment (or a real UPS). Read more he
http://www.surgeprotect.com/brickwal...ce=businesscom

Consider changing all interfaces between equipment not on the same outlet or
power strip to fiber optics.

--
Mark
Kent, WA