So I came home from work the other day and my router wasnt working...no lights no power...nothing. We had had some weather that day (no lightning where I was but maybe some at Redlands) but I figured that it had probably just conked out....So I went out and bought a new (better ) one, in installing it it became apparent that my modem was also dead....FUCK! Sooooo, I went out and bought another modem....and now I've discovered that my AirTunes is also dead.

What happened here? Is it possible for a surge to traveling through Cat5 to sufficierntly knock out 3 pieces of equipment?

The modem and router (also my computer speakers) have their own surge protector independant of my computer BTW and all is well with the everything else.

As long as there's a path (and there is in this case), it's very possible, methinks.

Yeah, I'm a pretty smart boy and I realize this. Shit I'm the one that wired this crazy ass network....Hmph.

Wonder if their is a way to ground a Cat5 network?

Where the fuck is Cap'n Squirgle when I need him?

Yes, Are you on DSL or Cable?

Phone lines are very much subject to surges and lightning strikes. And since DSL goes over pots (plain old telephone service) lines they can and will toast modems and such connected to them.

Check w/ your provider and get recommended devices for protection.

I'm on cable. Both TV cable boxes where fine.

I suspect there is, but, yeah, somebody that really knows some shit needs to step up here. I'm like:

[img][650:488]http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/1497/050904bump4iu.jpg[/img]

It can happen. I'm on cable too but a couple weeks back I came home to find my connection down and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Called Cox and they had me do what I should have remembered to do - unplug my router and modem from the power, restart my computer, and plug them back in to reset the IP. He said they'd been working in the area that day and there had been a power surge that knocked everything offline. Once they recovered, the router powered up faster than the modem and so didn't see the new IP. A mental note has been made to remember to do this in the future before waiting on the phone . . .

Buy a good UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) and it'll have connections to let you ground phone/ethernet. Plus, it'll give you backup power so you can power down during a blackout so you don't lose data.

I recommend APC.

I actually have two of them (I keep my router and modem on their own one sos I can shut them down if I need to) but I never ran the ethernet cable through them......duh.

Thanks smafty. Not sure why I didnt think of that before.

No chance that running the ethernet through the APC will slow the signal down is there? Also, should the path be Modem > APC > Router? That makes sense I guess.......

I don't know of any UPSs that have an ethernet port on them most have a phone jack to isolate external lines from internal.

The thing to keep in mind is that internally you won't have a problem. what you want to do is make sure that anything that contacts the outside world is/has a buffer.

So, in other words the point that your network connects with the cable, phone, modem, electyrical etc. is the ONLY place you need a surge protector.

1) between your cable/DSL moden and phone line/cable line
2) between all equipment and places that you plug in to a wall outlet.
3) use a UPS if possible on critical hardware like your computer, drives and anything you value. on other things you can just use a high-quality surge protector.

Other than that it should be good. Like Who-fa says tho be sure that you cycle the power first. starting from the point closest to the modem so that it can get connected and get an IP address first. unless you have a static IP address then it shouldn't matter. When restarting shut down and wait for a minute before turning it on.

Sorry man. Been away from the computer.

As has been mentioned, copper is copper is copper. Juice outside wants in, it'll run up the first highway it finds, be it phone / cable / line voltage. You know that.

As far as protection, there's no way to actually ground anything Cat5, as it doesn't build up any surplus (stray) voltage due to the twists, thus no need to dump the little remainder. If you've ever stripped a foot or two of cat5, look at the pairs - there are 4, and each is twisted at a different rate. This is so you don't have any cross-talk / interferance betwixt pairs, and it's what cuts the noise floor of data sent over it down so much vs "phone" line wire. Yada yada. Anywho, no grounding required / possible. But yes, you most certainly can surge protect it, by running it through anything (strip, APC, etc) that has cat5 In/Out ports. Get it where it first comes in, and you're as set as you can be. Here's the one wrinkle:

Surge protecters work by using something called MOV's (metal-oxide varistors) which are just these little catchers mitts for voltage. When something big comes through, it hits the MOV first, and burns it up all to shit, but stops there. MOV's can stop a ton of juice. BUT** they don't catch the smaller spikes. The average household gets over 1000 surges a year. Most are just 3 or 4 volts - lightning hits a mile away, etc. Anything under 10 volts is hard to even see in a light bulb... they'd just brighten a tad for half a second, then go back to normal (or blow the filament). Most gear you plug in at home can handle little spikes, but some things are touchier than others. Lightbulbs, stove, most tv's, no sweat. But it sounds like you had something right in the magic zone, big enough to nail your sensitive routing gear but small enough not to trigger the MOV in the strip. That's really rare.

I think there are line conditioners out there which will monitor and stop this, but they're $$.

What's funny Ky, is that, despite the fact that we do get a lot of storms at Redlands (Tyrone sits in a "hole", also in a line with my boyhood home in the Cannongate area that gets more storms than PTC). What I don't get is a lot of noticeable surges.....

Edit: Any possibility that a hit could have hit the shop (hardwire connected to the router) that could have flatlined the whole works?

Well yeah, most of the surges are gonna go unnoticed. Like I said, anything smallish will just annoy your gear for a second and then go away.

What did all three things have in common? All linked to the same homerun of cat5? My guess is that Something went up the line they all share, and fried the first three things on it. It's very, very easy for a good (but smallish) hit to go right on up through 2 or 3 items before something fries that stops it from going further... like it keeps destroying towns, but not burning bridges. Then finally a bridge burns out and it stops. Also, I could see the speakers not being as sensitive to it. Not much in there but a beefy (wattage) dc transformer and a crossover.

Yeah, the only common thread is the CAT5 connections; as I mentioned earlier, the CATV boxes wur fine.....the central receiver was off and is fine (the stereo system and big screen are actually lurking behind TWO(2) surge protectors) all the other low voltage stuff is fine.....but three pretty pricey components are. just. done.

BTW, link me to the product that you have linking your computer to your stereo....now that Air Tunes is dead, I'd like to get something that will play any computer related media, not just iTunes (most specifically the 790 stream that is only in WinMedia)

Ok, but I must warn you of sticker shock...

This is the distributor / receiver, that sends whatever to 6 different zones, and comes with a built-in xm receiver. You put keypads up on walls, etc etc.

http://www.futurehomesystems.com/rucam.shtml

Then you need the media manager, which is basically a 250gig harddrive that stores anything you want, catalogs it, and lets you request it from any room. Then, if you hook it up to ethernet, it will use your internet connection to go to actual streaming audio sites and save them as "radio" presets. So you can be in the bathtub, pick up the remote, and pull up KEXP.org. And only play it in that room - the lady in the living room can be listening to something else.

http://www.futurehomesystems.com/rusms3.shtml

Sorry to hijack but...
Hey Ky,

What do you know about Bose 901's?

I know that they've been around since the 70's, that they have 9 x 5-inch speakers in them at a bunch of different angles, and that they sound really good. I've also run across replacement speakers for them on ebay.

What's up?

I found a used set for sale cheap! and am thinking I need to buy myself a pair for Xmas.

901 series III with eq. very reasonable. Walnut finish.

the look like they're in decent shape. haven't listened to them yet tho. will check them out.

Dude, do it. Especially if nothing's blown in there. Those things have only been around so long because they sound Good. Very dispersed, very rich. Just beware of the slippery hi-fi slope... next it'll be vintage all-tube Macintosh power amps and shit. Goodbye, paycheck.

Holy Fuck! Welp, time to get another home equity loan.

Jesus man, you described this shit pretty accurately to me but now that I actually see it......you win, I bow down. Bitch. *shakes fist*

I wish we weren't cramming all that wonderfullness into a tiny condo, but it will be neat to learn from it. The programming part of the manual makes me break out in hives... yikes. Charts, diagrams, etc. Only problem is that I wired for a slightly different system, ABUS. So I only ran cat5 from the A/V closet out to each room, then speaker wire from the box up to the spkrs. Now I nees 2 pair spkr wire out to each room too. And the place is built / sheetrocked / fuckin' finished. Ahhh, marriage. But I'm nothing if not a crafty little monkey. I'll get 'er done.

Meanwhile, oth of those beasts you just looked up are sitting next to our bed at her sister's place. But to be able to pull up internet radio?! That's friggin awesome. I'll give her that.

Well yeah, being able to have everything on my iTunes coming out of speakers on my front porch while I sit in a big ol' rocking chair reading is just amazing....its not the control of what you are doing but to tell you the truth, I didnt even know about any of this stuff when I wired my house....I just went on faith.

To the original question: sorry to be a simpleton, but is it possible that you just threw a breaker? Put a light on the same circuit and see if it turns on...No, dude, don't do it. You can usually get better for the same price.