Down in the Dumps

I seem to be in a funky situation where I can't make any progress on the rest of the damage done by a lightning strike. Yesterday I finally got the start capacitors for the motorhome air conditioner. When I closed the breaker I immediately knew I still had a problem because the fan started even though the A/C was shut off at the thermostat. I ran outside and looked at the wiring and I could see smoke coming from the PC board. That part of the board was not visible before because of a wire in the way. The new wire was routed differently. When I checked the old wire, it was burnt in the same place. OK, so now I need a new PC board. I found them listed on the Internet for $318.00. Ouch. I went on the RV.Net forum and posted a question asking if anyone knew of a less expensive source. I got a reply this morning with a source for $212.00. That's still not cheap, but it's a lot better.

Then I got a call from the Computer Doctor this afternoon saying that my desktop was all fixed. In a jiffy I was up there and saw the computer working flawlessly, and fast. They replaced the motherboard and did a quick tune-up and the performance was awesome. They ran a few programs for me and showed my how it accessed the Internet. It was a bit expensive, but at least I had the desktop back. At my computer desk, I hooked up the computer. Then I removed power from the cable modem and the router for a few moments. I re powered the modem first, then the router, then tried to turn on the computer..........nothing......NOTHING. ARGH!!!!

Back at the Computer Doctor they connected it and tried to boot up. NOTHING! The owner was not there and I talked with his wife. She claims that I must have something in my system that is shorting out the motherboard. No problem, I can buy another one and they'll put it in for free. Again I say ARGH! The wife said that her husband MAY choose to return the board as defective.

In the meantime, I'm supposed to find out if something I have, (mouse, monitor, printer, etc), would cause the board to short out.

This is bugging me because I want to get the problems fixed and behind me and these situations that will not go away are causing me grief.

OK, enough ranting for now. Thanks for letting me vent. I feel a little better now.