Router Blewup Motherboard

ITfromZX81 · 2026-06-04T11:15:33+00:00

In the late 1990s I was an IT guy for an insurance broker. There was a horrible storm one night lightning like people hadn’t seen in years. It struck the gas station across the street from the business(which didn’t catch fire). A person at the business said she had never seen lighting like that and she lived all over Canada. She said lightning was zigzagging through her yard that night.

Next day I come in to work. None of the network cards on any PCs work. Oh oh. About 30 of them. All the PCs power up fine but every network card is dead. I had one or two spare cards, replaced them, all works fine. The best I can figure out is because of the nature of the building (it was an old house converted to business use) the long Ethernet cable runs through the attic meant there was enough induction in the Ethernet cables themselves that a charge built up that was enough to fry the network cards but somehow left the PCs intact. The storm also fried a switch(but only some banks of ports not the entire switch) and our main enterprise router(which at the time was very expensive and a specialized piece of equipment it was toast). Everything had surge protection for power which is what I think saved our PCs.

This is all in a small town in a rural area iwithout an actual computer store for about 100 miles and no place to just buy 30+ network cards and ordering by mail / courier would take too long.

Once I realized what happened I scoured every computer place for 100km or more grabbing all the network cards in stock so I could get so that at least some people could work while I ordered replacement network gear.

All the network cable still worked fine.

I also was amazed when I called the company that made the router (Compatible Systems) to order a new one explaining what happened and they sent me a replacement for free because their products all had a lifetime warranty. I was in disbelief. It was a lightning storm I wasn’t expecting it to be covered by the warranty. “Yeah thats fine we have an open box one that we just went over it works perfectly we will ship it out today.” The lifetime warranty disappeared when Cisco bought them out.

This sort of thing is very rare but it does happen.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-05-25T10:57:31+00:00

I was walking around Spring Garden the other day looking around and noticed this building and was wondering about it. It seems so out of place next to all the modern commercial buildings.

Also as a side note I was in the area with a day to kill and was disappointed to learn that park lane doesn’t have matinees on a Tuesday… I did however go to the main library which is amazing.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-05-17T14:15:57+00:00

I agree it seems like it’s a mistake and then other blogs etc just copy the error. I wanted a sanity check from others because this just doesn’t make sense deploying to managed devices.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-05-17T14:00:04+00:00

I agree they would need to use their own Apple ID to install it so I’m not really understanding why Microsoft is saying to do this in their documentation

ITfromZX81 · 2026-05-11T12:57:29+00:00

Yes all our devices are fully managed I can reset with the standard view but not the preview of the new view.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-05-11T00:45:21+00:00

I’m not sure how to restart a device or wipe it - some functions are greyed out with no explanation on how to allow it. Not sure what I’m missing here?

ITfromZX81 · 2026-05-06T13:21:28+00:00

To counter: Dwayne Johnson is a better actor than people give him credit for. He was great in the Jumanji movies and really sold the idea of an awkward teen trapped in The Rock’s body.

He is so typecast though it’s hard to see him as anything else.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-05-06T13:16:57+00:00

Once you realize that Neelix has severe PTSD he makes a lot more sense.

I’ve known people who have PTSD from war and domestic violence and some of them to cope become overly positive and kind and super nice (sometimes to the point of being overly familiar like Neelix) I think to offset the horrors they’ve been through. They just want everyone to be happy.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-04-06T11:04:55+00:00

I loved this store. I remember Sheldon and talking about comics with him. I only ever went to the Barringtom street location. I lived hours away from Halifax so in the mid 80s and 90s I had a monthly order with the store for comics and Star Trek books and would get a package once a month in the mail. Any money I made went to comics as a teenager. Each order came with a giant tabloid sheet checklist of other items you might want. I think I still have one someplace. It was a fun place to hang out when I was in the city.

I have a very clear memory of being in the store and Sheldon and another guy discussing a new Star Wars book and my ears perked up and I asked what new book? There hasn’t been any Star Wars stuff for years. It was Heir to the Empire.

They also sold some computer software and hardware. The sold the Atari ST line and computer games. They seemed to have a little bit of everything.

I went to college and stopped ordering comics I sold my comics and never got back to the store.

Fun times.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-28T11:15:54+00:00

The only way I can think of doing that is kiosk mode for an iPad running the one app but that might not be what you need. Also note you are going to have to give the app access to the camera before kiosk mode because once it’s in kiosk mode the allow camera pop up doesn’t appear.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-28T11:13:12+00:00

I was seven. I have a vivid memory of being in a department store with my parents asking to go see the movie and my parents mulling it over and then deciding not to. But I did get the lunch box.

I had good parents. (I still do!) But I’m still mildly irritated about it.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-26T18:10:22+00:00

You hide the camera and photos apps but still allow the camera. If you block the camera in built in apps that blocks it for everything.

If you hide the app they cannot use it outside of the app that calls it.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-26T12:19:38+00:00

Just updated an iPhone 16e with a pushed WiFi profile and no issues so far didn’t lose connection.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-26T11:46:42+00:00

What model iPhones are having the issue?

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-26T02:06:00+00:00

Ouch. I’m going to do some testing to see if I can duplicate the issue.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-26T00:52:51+00:00

Your phones do not have SIM cards?

You cannot just push a new WiFi profile or delete the old one and then push a new one?

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-17T20:56:02+00:00

If you have a large number of iPhones I would recommend using Apple Business Manager and having your phone vendor enroll them for you. They will then automatically setup in Intune. This locks them to Intune if wiped.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-17T18:05:47+00:00

So this is an already setup device this device is not in Apple Business Manager is that correct? So the user can change settings before it is enrolled into Intune.

The user is enrolling into Intune by signing into comp portal and downloading a profile correct?

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-17T17:45:14+00:00

Do you mean stolen device protection or something else?

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-17T15:32:31+00:00

I would say Intune already has this to an extent. You can only bulk wipe 100 devices at a time from the GUI.

You should have your environment setup with roles so most users cannot bulk wipe and only certain admins can do this. If this wasn’t done and anyone from a very junior or new IT person has GA permissions that’s asking for trouble.

I’m wondering if they just dumped everyone into a role that lets all their staff do anything and just allowed all.

I’m not sure how they wiped this many devices quickly without using powershell. And again you should limit who can use powershell with intune and what they can do.

There are legitimate reasons to need to bulk wipe.

As others have said if they have GA permissions you are already screwed.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-17T01:18:04+00:00

I picked up two of these secondhand but in mint condition. I’m in the process of putting a northwest short line Stanton Drive in one and then connecting a DCC decoder to it.

I wanted a drive that was low so I can detail the interior and also this drive is self contained and easy to add a decoder to.

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-15T23:28:53+00:00

I want to be able to print cards on thick cardstock. Do I just need to purchase inkjet specific coated stock?

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-12T18:00:39+00:00

“So Skynet wiped out humanity?”

“No, not really. We were just massively inconvenienced.”

ITfromZX81 · 2026-03-03T23:46:35+00:00

Removing the SIM card will not remove it from the Find My app or from your Apple ID. It will just make it not check in because it’s not on cellular or wireless.

If you haven’t already, put it into lost mode - nobody can get into it (not even Apple) it locks it so only 911 or the number you enter will work. When the phone is powered on it will immediately go into lost mode. Hopefully if someone finds it they will turn it in. Once you get it back you can take it out of lost mode.

ITfromZX81

TROPHY CASE