PC went boom. Need help with Insurance claim.(updated)

Hey gang,

This week I came home from a day of running errands to a disaster. There was a storm in my area, and evidently it caused a power surge. Now I am not certain of this, but this what I found.

My Modem, Wifi router, were all non functional and did not reset properly. Basically, they did not display correct lights and refused to reset. One or more lights stayed lit, and would not change, or be detected by other equipment.  My PC refuses to turn on, as well as my pc speaker. Here is the strange part, most of these items was on a seperate surge protector and seperate outlets. I even had a speaker bar in a seperate room refuse to turn on.  As far as I can guess it seems like it was a power surge. It baffles me that these items were all on surge protectors, and even still on seperate outlets.

Needless to say I am hurting bad, as my pc was pretty much the most expensive thing in my house, and its for all intents a brick at this point. The PC is an alienware X51 and it was a combined christmas gift from my entire family for passing my national emergency medical technician practicals and exams. It is around 1 year old and out of warranty. Obviously. Don't these things always happen as soon as the warranty goes away. I have tried to determine what happened, but to no avail. Here is what I have tried.  I have disconnected the pc externally from everything, and inspected the internal components and I see no physical damage. I have removed ever component save the CPU and reseated the components to no effect.  I have perused the FAQS and website suggestions for my pc. I have followed those steps to no effect as well.  I know its a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone in the family has had this happen or something similar. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Even if its bad news any additional information would be helpful so I dont waste time or money I don't have.

I was anticipating spending a couple hundred dollars of my meager savings to repair the pc, when I got another surprise.  My significant other has just found out she is pregnant and I will be a dad for second time 8 years after the birth of my son. Needless to say this was a huge surprise, and we are eagerly awaiting the birth of our child. However, this obviously tanked my plans to splurge several hundred bucks on my computers repairs. It was pretty much liquidated in paying for the inital doctors visits, prenatal care scripts, and misc baby prep. So my repair fund is basically gone. I'm hoping someone can point me to some low cost repair solutions or any ideas of things to try to bring my pc back to life. I'm pretty sure this topic will get very little replies, but as you can tell with my horror story, I'm desperate to try most anything at this point. 

Thanks for taking the time to peruse my story, and any help or commiseration is greatly appreciated.

Prae

Update:

In my effort to see what I could do I contacted alienware tech support to gain this gem of information. There are not parts for purchase for my model of pc. So even if I find out what is damaged, I will not be able to replace it. The likely of finding small factor parts for the x51 not from alienware doesn't thrill me. The option they offered, 300 dollar repair by sending in the pc and hoping it could be fixed. no refunds obviously and that is BEFORE parts and labor.  With that option not possible, I went to the local repair route and tried the geek squad at best buy. And they added this customer service gem. 70 dollars to take a look at the pc, if I get repaired the 70 dollars is put toward the repair bill. However, if they cannot repair the pc, or order the parts to repair the pc then I paid 70 bucks for them to tell me they cant help me.

So moving down the list, Ive tried my insurance company to see if I could file on my renters insurance. However, they are not open on the weekend and I have to try to get a hold of them during the week when I am out work. boy this sounds fun.  Plus it looks like in my paperwork there is a 250 deductible on claims, and that will probably sink that option as well.  Here's hoping someone has an idea.

Without knowing what got toasted, there's not really much anyone can do to help you out. Was the computer on when the storm hit? If so, it's likely your power supply popped before any other damage occurred to the computer itself. The power supply acts a bit like a surge suppressor in that it absorbs the surge first and usually fries out before the surge hits other components - but not always.

When you try to turn the computer on, do you get ANY sign of power at all, or does it just do nothing. If it does absolutely nothing, the power supply is definitely dead. That will only cost you around $100 to replace and it shouldn't be anything special even in an Alienware. But before you do all that, swap the power cord. Sometimes those suckers go out before the surge even hits the computer. If you are lucky, you might get out of it with a $3 cord!

That whole situation, though, sounds odd. I've never heard of a whole house getting blasted by a surge. A properly wired breaker box would end up distributing the load down one or two circuits, unless you were deliberately attacked by someone who knew what they were doing (which, unless Mother Nature is out to get you, is unlikely). If you live in a really old house or one that is wired out of code, it's possible of course, but still unlikely. Worst case is your main power conduit got hit by lightning (assuming its not underground) and that surge could really mess things up. That's why Mike Holmes always swears by a "whole-home lightning suppressor" on all his jobs. But sadly most of us don't think of that until it's too late.

I would wager a guess that based on all the damage, your best bet is insurance. Even at $250, if you have to replace the router, modem, sound bar, speakers, computer, etc. etc. you're probably saving money. Sucky situation, I feel for you. I actually one time had loaded up my car with around $10,000 worth of equipment, proceeded to be cut off by an illegal mexican with no license or insurance (obviously) and, the car burned to a crisp. Had to use my renter's insurance to replace it all. The $500 deductible was far less than what was lost at least. Coup de grace for me: my girlfriend was in the car and pregnant. The hospital did her first ultrasound to check that everything was still ok: oh it's twins, surprise!

Thanks for replying Aalwein!

Let me see if I can address what you said.  The PC was off whenever this happened, as it was working fine that morning as I had turned it off and wasnt working when I returned later. The computer does absolutely nothing, no power up, no fan or HDD spin up, nothing at all.  As for it situation sounding weird, I totally agree. The house is brand new built in 2011, and I am the first occupant.  The spread of the issue is what boggles me. I don't understand how items on three different outlets died, with one of them in a totally different room.  Add to the fact there were items on the same surge protectors that are uneffected and I for one am stumped.  I seriously believe  the odds of a cable modem, router, pc, speakers and speaker bar all dying on the same day are astronomical.

As for the PSU being standard and getting lucky with a 3 dollar cord. The x51 is a mini ATX form factor pc about the size of a PS3 or Xbox360.  The PSU is actually a external brick PSU and power cord in one. Here's the other strange tidbit. The power supply cord brick, for lack of a better term has a light on the end of it to signify it is receiving power. That lights up just as normal. However, pushing the power button does nothing to the rest of the computer. 

 Also it doesnt have the standard appearance of a psu, and Im not sure what the actually difference is as far as shock protection is. When you open the case  up there is no section for PSU, it is just the  HDD, motherboard , DVD, GPU. So my guess the brick is the entire psu, althought it mystifies me there is no fan or airflow for it.  However, thats not a bad idea, I might try to hook it up to another power supply, and see if I can get any rise out of the motherboard that way. Thanks! I didnt think of trying to buy pass the psu with a standard one by hooking it to the motherboard instead of the one on the computer. 

 As for your accident, I can honestly say I feel your pain in a slighly less expensive way. I brought my wife flowers for our anniversary several years ago when she was at work. While returning home I got rear ended at a red light, by what I guess was an intoxicated person, or individual not wanting to speak to the police. They hit me so hard, it bent the tracks for moving the seat forward and totally messed up my back. Then they backed up and drove away after totalling my car.  Gotta just love humanity huh?

 The insurance thing, I'm not entirely sure about. I wonder if filing such a small claim would be worth it, and how badly my rate would go up if I do end up filing it. No way to find out other than to see.  I'll be looking into that come monday for sure.  Did your renter's insurance premium go up drastically after that claim?

» Edited on: 2013-08-17 17:30:56

Do you have your own house? If so you can look online and get a lightning arrestor that will protect your whole house (or apt) . Last one I bought was around $50 if I remember right. They DO work (at Least Delta brand do). They are very easy to install if you are at all handy. Just a couple wires in your breaker panel. There are also surge protectors you can install there. These ARE differant. For max protection use both. I have both and still use seperate surge protectors at equipment. For power surges a surge protector should work but I wouldnt trust them for lightning protection. Lightning is much more then a power surge and believe me, after working with electrical for over 40 yrs, lightning can do some very strange damage. I think everyone should invest the cheap price for protection of a lighning arrestor.

BTW I didn't mention, I would use the Delta brand. They work and are reasonablly priced. Others can be very expensive no reason IMO.

I just thought of something. If you used strips there should be some kinda guaranty involved. I'm sure it would take time to get any payment but.....

» Edited on: 2013-08-17 18:04:02

Is this a laptop or desktop?  If it is a desktop I would suggest, if possible, seeing if someone has a power supply you can use to test if that is the issue with the computer.  If its a laptop, that would be more difficult as it would pretty much require you having the right type of power supply for it.

You don't happen to live in the Tampa, FL area, do you?

The LED indicator on the PS really just shows that the source is powered - that means it's getting 110 VAC from the wall (I'm assuming you are in the US, of course). That unit converts the 110VAC into various DC voltages used by the computer - it's THAT section that is likely fried. Did any of the surge protectors die?

Honestly, it actually sounds like you got hit by an EMP. Not even kidding - the effect of an EMP would be described a lot like what you've described. I would say you might have made a friend in an evil overlord community!

My insurance premium didn't change at all and it was around a $10k claim. If you haven't made any claims in the past - or none within the last couple years, at least - and your insurance company is in any way reputable, I would say it is still your best option. I mean, you are looking at several hundred if not a few thousand dollars to replace everything. A $250 deductible to replace everything is about as cost effective as you're going to get.

I agree with Zudrot that if you own your home, you should definitely invest in a lightning arrester/suppressor. They don't replace surge protectors but they would protect you from a lightning strike or main conduit surge, which is clearly what happened here. The surge protectors are still need to protect from over-voltage surges throughout your home (internal); the whole-home lightning suppressor protects your house from external surges.

I can answer a few of the questions while Prae would be asleep.

• Yes, he is in the US but off the top of my head I can't remember 100% exactly where.
• The PC isn't a laptop but a Mini ATX Case.
• Unfortunately, he doesn't own the place he is in at present.

Honestly, for a laugh, with the kind of year Prae has had so far in the last 12 months, I wouldn't be surprised it he stepped on someone's toes and they are giving him 12 months of unending potential for a new TV series! :P 

I just drafted up a huge reply but lost internet connectivity as I posted it.

Short answer:

Check your surge protector for a reset button or switch, you would be amazed how many techs overlook something at this end.

Also, your surge protectors maybe cactus after too many surges or one big one.

If that isn't the problem, there's a good chance your power supply took the surge and flipped out (if you're lucky).  Aside from that it could be your CMOS.  Last time I had a PC that wouldn't even fire up it was the CMOS.

I've actually never dealt with any personal gear that's been fried by a surge, I see plenty of it at work caused by lightning storms.

EDIT:  Just for info, I'm halfway through a CTech apprenticeship (Not trade qualified yet) and I worked on IT in the military for 10 years.  My IT skills are a bit behind the times now though.
» Edited on: 2013-08-18 03:27:09

Unless I am reading the write up for the Alienware x51 wrong (or looked up the wrong system), the cord you plug into the wall IS your PSU http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=331-2429&mfgpid=225148  This would also explain how there is no fan or such in the case for the PSU; cause it's external.

Also found them on Amazon for $20-$40 http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Replacement-Alienware-AM18X-6732BAA-compatible/dp/B00CGA5JQM/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1376822244&sr=8-12&keywords=alienware+ac+adapter (That was just the one that specifically says it's for the X51 Desktop there were others that were cheaper.)

Hope that helps.

Wow! So many replies. I'll try to make sure I address them all. 

I'm in the US, South Carolina specifically. I'm renting the place I am at now, so Im not sure about the lightning arrestor that was suggested. However, That sounds like an EXCELLENT idea, and I might ask my landlord if it would be ok to get one.  All three of the surge protectors still work, as far as I now. They still light up when plugged in, and items attached to them function normally. One of them has a reset button, and pressing it makes no change.

At this point, I think I need to clarify that I took each of the "dead" items to different outlets in the house and attached them to an outlet to no effect. Most of them light up showing power is getting to them, and then do not function. The modem "online" light stays lit, and no other lights function, and it makes no attempt to connect or to be recognized by a connected pc. The same happens with the wifi router. Both sets of speakers, the pc and the bar just flat on refuse to power on. 

MID POST UPDATE!!!

As I was sitting here formulating your reply, I thought it was strange that the power plug for one of the items seemed to work and the one for the other didn't. So I check the states, and stats. The original plug was a 13V  (-)----()----(+) and the remaing plug was a 12V  (-)----()----(+). I plugged it up and Behold the speaker bar works now!!!

Going to test some other items really quick and then try to address the comments again!  Thanks guys! you are all awesome!!!

and Im back.

Ok. I tore through my parts/packrat closet and tried several ac adapters, none of them had the proper voltage or plugs. However, I did manage to find on underpowered ac adapter that did the other speakers. It turns out that I'm 50 50 for now. The Wifi and the original modem remain non responsive. The PC speakers and the Speaker bar both now work and power up with an alternative AC adapter. 

I've called down to local radioshack to see if I could obtain AC adapters that fit exactly and they are saying the do not carry one that is 13V 1.8A. However they do have various other sub 12V adapters. I'm going to head to the local thrift stores to see if I cant nab one on the cheap, before forking over for a 20 dollar one. Might even hit up my brothers parts room.

As for the PC. Enlivened by the good news of minimal damage to speakers I attempted to find a power supply I could use to test the theory on the pc. no luck. I'll have to wait until monday to see if the local store which I found out offers free tech assisted repairs to open up. 

Ok, now on to the responses.

@Zudrot,

That is an excellent Idea. I am a big fan of mike holmes and his take on maintaining your house. I will definately be asking my landlord if I can do this when I have the money, or even if he would do it, seeing as it is a new house and I don't see how it would be a bad thing. 

@Mystriss Freya

I bow to your searching skills, or just shake my head at my own bad luck/ blindness. I tried for ages to find that very thing and even asked dell tech support to help me find it. Thank you for giving it a try and I will keep that cord in mind if I find out that is what my issue is. 

@Elth

I feel your pain man, I can't count how many times I had a good rant or pithy reply up and the net, or the browser crashes. Thanks for offering the help. I think to be on the safe side I will be using other surge protectors and look into purchasing some newer ones once all this is repaired, or resolved. 

@Aalwein

Whew thats good to hear that your premium didnt jump up. Just curious, but do you mind me asking what company you had that policy with? I too agree with Zudrot. I wish I had known that earlier. Both Surge protectors still work, and as far as I understand it show no indication of being tripped. However, both of them are of some age.   As for the evil overlord I wouldnt be surprised at the year Ive had.  As Jase as said, I think Im either the unwitting star of my own insane reality show, or I pissed of some dark malicious deity somewhere along the line!

@Everyone.

I am constantly amazed at the people and events that happen as part of GSCH in a good way. I'm a veteran of guild hopping trying to find my place in this electronic world. With that said I am delighted to call here home, and I am awed at the amazing people. Thank you all very much for your suggestions, advice and commiserations. It was and is GREATLY appreciated!!

Prae

I gotta remember work's browser wipes my text.. 

All I was saying Prae was in response to your @ everyone is "I told you so"  :-P 

At the time of that accident I want to say I was with Allstate. Most of the major insurers will not bump your rates for a single claim because they know how easy it is for you to switch. If they do try to raise it, just tell them that you'll switch to someone else if they do. I also made a small claim years before that when my car was broken into and my stereo and CDs were stolen - along with a Blockbuster rental. Who steals a Blockbuster rental?! Honestly! That was so long ago I was on my parents policy with Farmers and their rates didn't increase then either.

My car insurance rates also didn't increase after my most recent accident.

Read through all this and it's freaker than all the electric issues I had last year, but we figured out the breaker on the pole kept blowing because it was burning out.  Amazingly, with the help of a good electrician my hubby knows from work, we got it fixed for 200 bucks, but it made me spend about that much on an UPS to be on the safe side.  Though the UPS can still flake out if power is flipping on and off too much like it did a week ago with an outage.  Anyway, electricity can be a pretty crazy thing.

On the insurance side, I've had the same insurance for car, renters, and various homes since 1996 and no claim has caused a rate hike.  Only rate hikes I get are the little annual expected deals which I had with other insurances prior to that, too.  So checking with them as well just to be sure is definitely not a bad idea and 250 dollars is way less than what you might have to replace even with getting yourself to 50/50.  =)

For the power supply test - it might not have worked due to not being right for your computer.  I only say this since you got the smaller case set up with the external and might be pickier on what it needs than the standard internal unit.  Really shouldn't be that odd, but again electronics is weird and I've seen some crazy stuff in my day at home, in factories I worked in, and definitely in the telecommunications world.  You can even cause a brown out by having too many things on the same surge protector in an outlet.  Do not put your coffee machine on the same circuit as the channel bank for your phone system like one company did.  That was an expensive fix for them since we had to charge them to tell them that.

Keep us posted, it will be interesting to see what really happened there.

Sounds like you got a lot of good advise here... one last thing I would offer is that a surge hitting multiple outlets is not that un-fathomable, especially if the outlets you had the issues with are wtihin 1-2 rooms close to each other.

Many eletricians will wire multiple rooms (especially bedrooms) to a single breaker. 1 15amp breaker can handle 10 plugs, or up to 14 lights.

Thus if you had these things in two bedrooms that were near each other, it is feasible that a single surge hit them.  I do hope you get the rig fixed with just the cord+PSU (that is the best place to start, and if the surge hit multiple outlets on that breaker, it may not have been overpowering to actually "fry" stuff)... if you can verify those are "good" and it still doesn't work, like the previous feller said, check/reset/replace the CMOS battery. After that it may turn into more of a snipe hunt, hopefully you wont have to start clapping and walking around your porch at night!

One last thing... did you check you breaker box (guessing it is moot at this point, but that would confirm what outlets go to what breaker)? you may have a half-flipped breaker thus not getting "full power" to those outlets? I have seen outages/surges where they won't fully flip a breaker, but you need to cycle the switch to get it running at full capacity again.  Every house I buy I always map the breaker-box... so you know which switch to throw to cut power just in case.

I took in my power supply thinking I could get it tested to determine the extent of the damage to it, or if my forum assisted guess was right. Well turns out the proper Voltage is being transmitted throught the cord, however, they will not test the amperage and according to them the test is inconclusive as the power supplys other qualities could be affecting it. They state outright they have no idea what caused this,  and that they could "try" another power cord provided I buy it first, and its non returnable.  They want $200 bucks to diagnose the issue.

So I finally got in touch with my cutthroat renters claim department. Here's their list of demands.

A "Certified" PC repair technician preform a diagnostic.

Said Tech submit a Repair (replace parts) estimate and a whole pc replacement estimate

Tech must also sign a notarized affadavit stating lightning or power surge caused the damage.

They also want the tech to take the repair affadavit and have it notarized.

Now, In addition to these demands they offered no clarifications. When I inquired what constitutes a "certified" tech, they could not tell me. If the Tech cannot or will not testify to the fact the pc was damaged by lightning or power surge they will deny the claim. Oh and of course everything has to be done by the same technician.

Do these seem outlandish to anyone else? I called several major chain computer stores that offer repairs, and none of them had heard of anything like this and were unsure if they could do it. I don't see why any repair tech in their right mind would do this. It honestly seems totally unreasonable to me. I expect the estimate and the replace estimate, but no want to make the tech notarize it and sign a legal document stating this is what caused it seems a little much. Has anyone heard of anything like this?  

So far, I am striking out.  Best Buy states, their techs are "certified" but they refuse to supply legal documents reguarding repairs. The staples I call states their techs are not "certified" and there is no such thing. 

@Briseadh  The power supply for the router and modem both still work. I hooked them up to other items and they function. The modem and router however remain unresponsive.  The Speakers are still working with alternate power supplied purchased from thrift store junk cord box. I don't like the idea of using them permenantly but I have no other idea what to do. 

@Raven   Yeah it was the first thing I did when I got home, strangle enough nothing was tripped and there is no damage I could see. The outlets continue to work fine, and the other items that were hooked into the surge protectors continue to function as well. I even went so far as to replace the surge protectors (which didnt seem to be tripped) With new ones my mother bought when an local electronics store went out of business. They are brand name GE rated for 9000 joules. (which I hope is good.)

I do insurance claim repairs frequently, having access to the giant pool of military pcs'ers (computers get broken by government movers all the time). I've never had to do legal papers for any of them, however, it wouldn't be an issue to get them (notary services are free for military and dependents). I have had to answer questions on the phone verifying service and causes which I had no problem with.

None of that helps you, but to let you know, I am not certified by any official papers or licenses. If you are close to a military base, you could reach out to it. Every base community has at least one dependent running a home business repairing computers. They are usually reliable, cheap, and have access to everything you need for your claim. And they'd be more than willing to put on paper that a surge blew it up. You can find one by looking around Facebook. Every base fields a "wives page" or "home business" page you can likely find through keyword search, and if you ask in one of these groups you'll quickly be pointed to a handful of options.

If that isn't an option, find a small business repair shop. Don't go to a big box place. The little guys are way more willing to go above and beyond to help you. I would call the insurance company back, let them know getting anything notarized isn't something any of the repair centers around you do. Have them direct you to a place that does and if they can't, tell them you'll get them everything but the notarization. Make your own "affidavit" - just a document that says "blah blah blah computer damage by surge caused by lightning blah blah," have the tech sign it when he does the repair (like I said, the little guys have no problem with this for insurance), and let the insurance company sort it out. Give them the guys number so they can call and verify.

@Aalwein,  

                I tired refusing the notary. I was told no notarized affadavit no claim. I guess its my own fault for going with the budget choice. Sadly I am nowhere near a miltary base, but I will attempt to find a small business shop that might be willing to do this.  Thanks again for the suggestion.

I had to send affidavits for lightning insurance claims many times, and I'm talkin like back in the seventies till I quit working. All you gotta do is verify that, in your expert opinion lightning caused the damage. I don't remember if they had to be notorized or not but either way it was no big deal. I also subbed for Florida ower and Light inspecting claimed damage and verifying again in my expert opinion, that FPL did indeed cause the problem. Again no big deal. I was never challenged in any case but FPL had a lot more paperwork involved, hehe. The demands from your insurance company seem like the same for any lightning damage I had to process. Insurance rates are bad enough now. Could you imagine if they payed on unverified claims from idiots trying to put one over. I mean I hate insurance companies, but think about it.

Update

Basically, I think I'm declaring surrender.  The claims adjustor is a total ass and offer 0 help. He works for them, what do I expect an honest person?  He wants recipts for the items damaged that I cannot produce. ( the recipts not the items). some of the items I purchased years ago and I have no idea where. He refuses to budge on the notary issue, and the only shop that will do it wants a 200 dollar insurance diagnostic fee, and to get it notarized it is 25 dollars an hour to get it notarized and back to a minimum of 2 hours. 

Thanks for everyones help and suggestions. It was appreciated. Best of luck to you all.