Fried Modem

The story goes like this....

Late afternoon there was this nasty storm and downpour. Electricity tripped, I dont really bother bout that because there's no point I switch it on and to let it tripped off again due to the lightning strikes.

Spend awhile studying tomorrow's Biology practical exam. Done with the reading, so I boot up the laptop using it's laptop battery. Wanna play Civilization 4 again, heh.

Weird huh, today the lightning strikes pretty close to my house, there were white flashes struck not so far outside of my house, close encounter with the deadly bolt.

While I was playing Civ4, another lightning struck, as if the lightning ram into the house, and there goes, frying my ADSL modem on the way.

It was a real shock, because the modem is placed just underneath the computer table. There's this flashy sparks came out of the modem vent. Horrible. I immediately shut down the laptop to prevent any further damage.

Was freak out for that moment, but I can't do anything to diagnose the problem as it's still dangerous to resume the electricity when the storms haven't clear off the sky. Waited and waited, pretty much dreaded anticipation.

Checked the fried modem when the rain stopped. Although the power button still lit, I can smell burning from the modem. I know there's pretty much the end of the modem. Called Yee Kai to ask him about it, since he got similar experience, twice.

The fried TM modem, ZTE ZXDSL 831 in its last action.

After consulting him, I called Streamyx's customer service. The operator is pretty helpful, I guess he handled lots of calls regarding modem struck by lightning, pretty common here. Since the modem's warranty voided 4 years ago, there's no point I send the modem to TM to check and replace it. The only solution, is to get a new modem.

I immediately bought the replacement in Carrefour for RM 79, cheaper than my initial budget. I thought modem cost ~RM 200, well that's the price few years ago. I'm out-dated in terms of modem prices. Anyway, was pretty please with it, for now.

Aztech DSL605E

Setup is simple, it works exactly like the fried modem. Just plug all the cables in, and it's ready, no extra setup is needed. Both modem shares the same 3 lights (power, DSL, LAN), same cable ports and most importantly, same function.

I hope this Aztech won't get too strained because I'm a heavy user. Well, the fried modem had serve me for good 5 years since 2003, no complains now. Too bad it "died" in a sparkling matter.  :\