After Lightning Strikes, One iMac Becomes Two

Summertime is the time for big thunderstorms here in the Washington DC-area and elsewhere around the country. With every big thunderstorm comes the woes of computers damaged by lightning strikes. I've had lightning take out the Ethernet port of a lovely iMac DV Special Edition I bought in 1999. In the old days, the only way to fix that kind of problem was to purchase a replacement motherboard -- to the tune of several hundred dollars.

Today, though, there's a neat little trick you can do if lightning fries an Ethernet port of your iMac or other desktop Mac. Through the magic of Firewire networking, you can bring Internet connectivity back to a Mac which otherwise would be sent off to computer recycling.

Last week a friend of mine called me to say her iMac G3 had been struck by lightning. It no longer worked on the Internet and she desperately needed to be back online.

Happily, I had picked up a donated iMac G3 computer a day before from a school that was no longer using it. I took a 6-pin to 6-pin Firewire cable with me when I headed over to her house. A quick Google search brought me instructions on how to share an Internet connection using a Firewire cable via the Sharing Systems Preference.

The only small hitch was the warning message I came across where Apple explains, "Your Internet service provider might not approve of your sharing Internet this way." How on Earth an Internet service provider would know that Internet is being shared via Firewire rather than via an Ethernet hub or switch is beyond me. Why an ISP would even care about that also is beyond me.

Soon after I proceeded past that warning my friend had two iMacs surfing the web, including the donated one I had brought over and her beloved other one, with a considerably faster processor.

With a wink of the eye I explained to my friend that the next time lightning strikes I'll be bringing over another donated iMac. Firewire lets you chain up to 63 devices together.

My friend laughed and said, "Well, we don't have room for a huge number of iMacs in our small house." "Okay," I replied with a smile. "The next time you hear loud thunder, kindly unplug all your iMacs -- and don't forget to remove the Ethernet cable between your DSL router and your iMac. Lighting loves to travel down that Ethernet cable."

Incidentally, if you'd like to buy a 6-pin to 6-pin Firewire cable, do me a favor and stay away from Radio Shack. They'll gladly sell you a Firewire cable for $40. Pick up a $7.75 Firewire cable (including shipping) from this outfit, which I found by searching DealMac for Firewire cable. PCWorld.com readers outside of the United States can share their favorite vendor of Firewire cables in the comments section below.

Keep in mind that when you're using Firewire cable to network to Macs, you probably do not want to use a 4-foot cable or 6-foot cable. Those are rather short. A 10-foot or 15-foot cable gives you more breathing room.

Also, both Macs need to have Mac OS 10.3 or higher on them.

For Windows users whose Ethernet port has been fried by lightning, one solution is to use the USB cable that came with your DSL modem. Most DSL modems can use either an Ethernet cable or a USB cable. Note, though, that this option is only available to Windows users. Mac users are not able to connect their computer to a DSL modem using a USB cable -- unless they are running Windows on their Mac.

Yes, this all gets a bit complicated. The important lesson, though, is that if lightning harms your computer, you might have more options than appear at the surface to have your computer back up and running on the Internet.

Phil Shapiro
The blogger is an adjunct professor of education and an education-activist in the Washington DC-area. He adores MAKE magazine and is a charter member of HacDC, a group of talented makers in the Washington DC-area. He can be reached at: philshapiroblogger@gmail.com

The above tip may be freely reprinted in any Apple user group newsletter. Kindly credit the source as the Community Voices blog on PCWorld. http://blogs.pcworld.com/communityvoices

Prior blog posting - It Feels Like Freedom is Coming

Comments

Wouldn't a USB Ethernet adapter be quicker and simpler?

aep528

July 09, 2008

6:41 AM PT