Lightning strike affect on Desk top Dimension computer- ? Will not start up?

Probably the fuse in the power supply which usually means replacing the power supply.   With lightning tho, there is no telling what may have been damaged.  I hope you have home owners insurance that can replace the damaged equipment.  Check the power supply connections with a volt meter for 5 volt and 12 volt dc outputs to the drive.  If you do not have these voltages on the connector that goes to the drive, you probably have  a bad power supply.

Thanks, I will check  the power supply  and  check with a volt meter .

Ldkz,

It definitely sounds like your motherboard may be fried.  However, you can manually test your power supply as follows.

Go here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dime520/en/SM_EN/techov.htm#wp1060548

 Note or print out the pin assignments for the power supply's motherboard connector.

1. Unplug the power cord from the computer.  Open the case.  If a little green light is on, press and hold down the power button until the green light goes out.

2. Remove all i/o cards such as modem, video, etc..  Reconnect power cord.  Does the unit turn on?  If yes, then remove power, reinstall an i/o card, reconnect power and turn on the unit.  This can help you find which i/o card is defective.  If the unit fails to power up, proceed to the next step.

3. Unplug the power supply's motherboard connector, as well as power connectors to internal drives such as your hard drive, floppy drive, etc.

4.  Using a large paper clip formed into a "u" shape, short pins 16 (the only green wire) and 15 (a black wire) of the the power supply's motherboard connector.

5. Leave pin 16 (PS On) and pin 15 (COMmon) shorted, and plug the power cord back into the power supply.

6. If the power supply fan comes on, then the power supply may be good.   The motherboard, its CPU and/or memory chips may be fried.  Memory chip removal is fairly straight forward, but removing and reinstalling the CPU can be tricky even for a technician.  At this point you probably need to have the unit looked at by a qualified tech who can connect a known good power supply and troubleshoot the system. 

Hope this info helps,

Tony

ldkz

First check that the outlet has power and if there's power available, connect the desktop's power cord directly to it.

Remove all PCI cards from the system, take out the video card, disconnect power & data cables from all the drives. 

Try to power system on, see if you get any power indication on the power button.

No difference, remove the memory from the system and try again. 

Still shows no signs of life, you could be looking at a motherboard & maybe a processor replacement.

If there are signs of life, re-install the memory, if you are still getting power indications, install the video card.If you get video, start adding devices one at a time, starting with the hard drive, then the DVD-ROM, then the PCI cards.

Lightning strikes at a minimum usually take out the Modem or NIC.

Bev.

Thanks for your help, I will check this out