My monitor got struck by lightning - please help

[Lightbringers]

I think my house got struck by lightning. I heard a loud pop sound and saw a bright flash of light inside my house. My wife saw the same thing in another room. Just a fraction of a second after the flash of light and pop sound, we heard the loud thunder overhead (from the rain storm). After doing some research we probably saw what is called a side flash. The lightning can basically jump around to find a ground.

The flash of light in the living room was about 5 feet above the TV, and the one in my office was about 5 feet above my computer area.

Later, we discovered that the HDMI ports on our TV no longer worked.

Then I went to use my laptop & monitor, and the monitor won't even turn on. The HDMI port on my laptop is also not working (tested it with another working monitor).

The laptop was connected to the monitor via HDMI.

The little white light by the power adapter input behind the monitor is still working, but the front power light and display won't turn on.

I'm going to try to open it up and take a look at the PCB, since it's out of warranty anyways.

I live in Costa RIca, but I'm going to the United States soon, so if I need to get a replacement part I can order it ahead of time and bring it back with me when I come back.

Any ideas or help is much appreciated!

[NonSequitur777]

@Lightbringers,

Really sorry to hear your misfortune... This lightning event has never happened to me, but it happened to a neighbor half a block away from where I live.  Even though this family had surge protectors in place, it still fried several electronic devices beyond repair.

Unfortunately, you have to assume that this is the case with your equipment.  You can look for tell-tale burned out components, but often damage caused by indirect lightning exposure and the intense electromagnetic field it may come along, is invisible.

You can take your laptop to a local computer repair shop and have them take a look at it.  It may involve buying a replacement motherboard, but in addition to the hassle to change out a MOBO, other laptop components may be damaged/compromised as well (CPU, RAM, drive, power supply, etc.).

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Lightbringers]

Thanks for your response.

I took the power supply cord/brick to a local PC repair shop and they told me it's working fine.

So, I went ahead and took the monitor apart. I didn't really see anything that looked damaged or burnt out.

I really want to test the charger myself, so I can rule that out 100% before I go buying parts.

If it's not the charger, there are two PCB's that I could try to replace. I was thinking I can buy the same model with a broken screen while I'm in the states, and then just take out the mainboards and bring them back with me. I'm thinking that the actual screen on my unit is probably fine.

As far as the laptop goes... it seems to be working fine, apart from the HDMI port and Ethernet port not working.

I have a USB C hub that has an ethernet connection, and that's been working fine. But for some reason the HDMI port on the hub is not wokring with the laptop. I tested it with my wife's laptop and it works fine for her. Very strange. The only thing I can think of is that the internal device in my laptop that's responsible for processing HDMI output doesn't work, and so it won't work on the USB hub either? I already checked the device and it says it requires no drivers to operate. I guess there's a chance it's just my computer, and it's not related to the recent strike at all.

There's no point in fixing the monitor if I can't connect to it with my laptop, lol.

I can try to get a different HDMI dongle or try to get a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and see if my Mini DisplayPort's still work. The monitor only has HDMI and VGA.

Any thoughts on this matter?

[NonSequitur777]

@Lightbringers,

Yea, what you are proposing: "buy the same model with a broken screen . . . and then just take out the mainboards", sounds like something I would try to do.

In addition to trying a different HDMI dongle or a MiniDP port to HDMI adapter, if your laptop has a USB 3.x Gen 1/2 Type-C port with video output capability -either has the Lightning Symbol (Thunderbolt 3) or the "D" (DisplayPort) symbol printed next to your USB-C port, you could try a USB-C to HDMI Adapter and see if that works.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777