Hi,I have had a cable modem connection in koramangala, bangalore since almost a year. In March and April this year, both the modem and the motherboard got burnt when the power supply went off. The company said that it was because of problems with the electricity supply or the earthing at my home. I got the wiring checked and the electrician found nothing unusual. Now with the electric supply - there is little I can do but to use a good UPS - and I have been using APC UPS bought with the PC right from the beginning. I believed the ISP company the first time. However, this is the second time it has happened, and I just cannot understand why the modem is getting burnt with the motherboard. Both times the modem gave a burning smell and had soot on top. Also the motherboard got burnt at the port where the cable modem was conneted. Can anyone throw some light on what the problem could be?Thanks,Manu
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Cable Modem and Motherboard getting burnt
- Thread starter manukumar
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A
abdulrahman004
Do u have a mobo with a LAN on board ? If yes then when there is a power surge the surge comes in the cable and into ur computer and the mobo gets .sshhhh...burnt away. If you have a separate NIC card then this shudnt haapen its only the card which shud go off instead of mobo.
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Yes. Both times I had a Mercury mobo, with LAN on board... Thats been my hunch that the surge comes from the cable... I have been trying to tell the ISP the same thing, but they refuse to accept that any surge could have come through the cable.
What is the cause of this problem???? Should I change the ISP, add a NIC card or get better earthing?
BTW- the ISP is hathway. Don't know if they are LAN-based.
Check the earthing of the premises where you get ur connection from. Specifically the plug point where the switch is connected to. If there are other customers connected to that switch u would have to check those as well. Earthing is something of a black art in this country where no one seems to follow codes properly.I am assuming there is only one external connection coming to you. Connecting a light bulb to the live & earth, if it lights up all is fine. I had a similar problem when i was on a LAN based ISP, it killed the hub over 6 months. That was because another of their customers, connected to my hub had bad earthing.But not as bad as yours.
A
abdulrahman004
and go for a separate lan card too if possible
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Thats what I have been trying to figure out for the last two months... What exactly is wrong with the earthing - if anything at all... and the best thing is that I have drawn a complete blank. I called a local electrician who did a simple test, like you said, checked the earth and live with a bulb. It lit up when the switch was on. So there was no leakage.
Next, I spoke to some engineers. They said that the ideal difference between earth and live should be between 3-5 volts. I got that checked too. It was hovering between 5-6 V in a matter of a few minutes. Next, I checked if the neutral was connected with the earthing. It was not.
Despite all these checks, I have no clue of what happenned... Though your suggestions are most helpful and I plan to purchase a LAN card and of course change my ISP, I still want to solve this mystery...
I am going with BSNL broadband now. Hopefully, will not have these problems with their service... 🤔
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Dear Manukumar and Group,
You are not alone. Cable modems / Lan Cards and all the equipment connect to them bruning away is not new at all. It does not even matter which broadband provider you used: Satyam, Iqara, Hathway and all other broadband companies have a fault. Read below.
Many many people are victims of this recurrent problem. Infact you will be surprised to know that dispite using the best available surge protection equipment for your computer and completely fault less earthing in your mains does not protect you from the surge through the broadband cable. This is because of substandard cable infrastructure and absolutely irresponsible and crude technical personal coupled with fragile cable infrastructure in India liad carelessly without surge protection equipment box installed at customer premises where their cable enter the customer premises. This is mandatory in other countries and otherwise they are not allowed to run their business. They are responsible for surge in their cable till this box installed at your house. You are reponsible for internal wiring in your house and having an extra LAN / TELEPHONE / Cable surge protection equipment between your cable and computer equipment.
To top it broadband companies in India lay their cables on metal electric poles which are known to leak current during rains and you hear many many people losing lives just touching electric poles, this is another form of surge only found in India!!!!!!! :angry:. Had they installed the surge protection box at your your premises where the cable enters your home that would have given protection from this also, though this does not justify using the electric poles in the first place.
In most cases when modems, lan cards, computers get burnt it is due this reason because many people who buy computers buy good UPS with surge protection along with it unless they are non-technical and/or stingy, which is very rare. Almost always people take their lives into their hands when they do that any way.
When you are protected from your mains through your surge protector and your earthing is fine how is your equipment getting burnt? The truth is that the surge is coming to you from the broadband cable. It is simply the responsibiliy of the broadband provider and you can sue them in the court. Unless we do this these companies will not install the surge protection equipment at the subsriber homes which is mandatory in other countries. Cable guys are responsible for surge in their cable infrastructure not entering the customer premises and vice-versa too. Surge from your mains should not be allowed to enter their network. Otherwise think of this say some one on the same cable network who does not have any kind of surge protection in his mains can burn his computer equipment during power surges in his / her mains. This surge can easily enter the cable network through his/her cable modem / Lan cable and burn all the other equipment connected on that network. THIS IS REALLY REALLY POSSIBLE. You will be surprised to know none of the broadband companies in India are protecting the customers from such surges as well. Cable network by itself is simply prone to surges because of charge collecting on the cable wires that run in open air. This charge will come as surge through the earthing sheath that is in the cable wire. If this earthing sheath is not properly earthed (not your earthing the cable wire has earthing sheath that needs to earthed by the cable guy) this charge will enter your cable modem / lan card and burn it.
My own equipment got burt in June 2005, when they are not even plugged into mains. This is just because of what is explained above. I am suing them in State Consumer Forum. Sue the cable guy since you can prove none other equipment connected to the computer (keyboard, mouse, etc.,) are burnt and none ohter equipment in your house is burnt in such cases. You will get legal protection. Save the evidence before you to to state Consumer Forum. You have the right and the broadband company has the obligation to provide seure safe network.
Do you know of the case a 16th ranker of IIT entrance sadly died before he even joined IIT because he tried to check his TV cable wire when the signal suddenly went away? Unless we sue these kind of un-professional companies how can there be value for life and property in this country? Think. IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CLEAN THIS MESS.
Ven
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OK, so you have checked that you don't have an earthing problem. What about those that connect to you ?
I think you would only need to go one step away in the chain, as if it's elsewhere it would burn any equipment, hubs included before it got to you.
If you go with BSNL, (or Airtel) for that matter then you will be getting a phone line. The voltage on these does not exceed 50V DC, also they have surge protectors installed in the exchange or distribution box (i'm told they do, you can ask them to show you). This is mostly to protect against lightning.
I have yet to hear of people getting thier phones burnt due to surges ? and many of them have electronics in them nowadays.
As to suing the ISP for an electrical problem, they will just point the finger at the customer that has the faulty wiring in the first place. There are codes in place for safe installation of electric cables. The problem is that it is not done properly in most premises. It is really upto the customer to make sure thier earthing is fine. A neighbour lost a lot of electronics equipment due to surges in the power line some years ago. I don't thin they got very far with suing BESCOM (Bangalore Electricity Supply Company) even tho it was clearly their fault.
Using surge protectors on ethernet cables is expensive, i was quoted bout Rs.2000/piece. They also have an effect on the speed, but i think this might not be a problem since most ISPs are offering speeds < 256kbs anyway.
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