I RECENTLY bought a new 486 computer and transferred my fax/modem card from my old 286. I also attached a scanner.
A week later, I was experimenting with my new toy when our apartment block seemed to be struck by lightning, or at least there was a terrific clap of thunder overhead and an electrical disturbance sufficient to set off car alarms outside and to cause alllights to dim momentarily. The computer failed with a bang. It required a new mother board, new fax modem, new scanner card, and new mouse.
I bought a ''surge protector'' to place between the power socket and the computer, and took great care to disconnect everything whenever a thunderstorm warning was issued. There were a lot of thunderstorms in May and June this year.
About six weeks after the first disaster, we were awakened at 5 am by another clap of thunder and, again, the car alarms were set off. The computer was not on (I am not sure whether it was even plugged into the power socket) but the modem was plugged into the telephone line.
This time, things were not quite so bad. Only the mother board and video card on the computer were affected, but Windows needed re-installation together with some of the other software, such as the scanner programs.
I assumed the damage had occurred via the telephone line and contacted Hongkong Telecom. They were very helpful and sent an engineer to check the line for thunderstorm protection. He said all Telecom cables were thunderstorm protected, but changed the junction box and some underground cable as a precaution.
He also said there had been no reported damage to their ''sensitive equipment'' as a result of the thunderstorm. He suggested the damage must be related to China Light and Power Cables (we live in close proximity to the high-voltage power lines that go to the New Territories). We also live in quite a high area.