Talk to Sega. How on Earth was it hit by lightning? And why wasn't everything else fried, because everything else probably is if it was hit by lightning.
I've never heard of the dreambox. Dreamcast, yes I've heard of that but not the dreambox.
In any case, if your equipment really has been hit by lightning, then the damage is likely to be more than just one chip. Sometimes, if the strike is light, the damage can be limited to a couple of components but in your case I get the impression that a component has been completely and physically destroyed as a result of the shock. This increases the risk that the spike went on to ripple through the circuit leaving a seemingly random trail of damaged components in it's wake. Equipment which has suffered at the hands of lightning damage are often amoung the hardest to fault find on because the failures do not follow logic. Also, they can often be the most expensive due to the types of components susceptical to damage from this kind of abuse and the sheer amount of components which can go down.
How do you know it's specifically lightning damage and not a normal equipment failure?
By the way, the IC you describe seems to be some kind of MOS device. A lot of the descriptions I found also carried the acronym "IPD" which I looked up and found that it means "Integrated Passive Device".
Apparently, **broken link removed** are offering the device for sale. One guy wants over $1300 for one!!!
Most of them seem to be asking around the $50 mark though. I've never tried these kinds of suppliers so I don't know what they're like?
Perhapps it's called the Dreambox in his country. Sega did a similar thing with the Megadrive, in the US it was called the Genesis due to problems with trademarks.
Thanks for all the answers.
Dreambox is a satellite receiver running on Linux. I dont think the lightning hit the box directly since it was inside my house, but was hit through the dish.
I can't see anything else fried, but as you say maybe some other parts are also damaged. Every time I install a new fuse and connect the power, the fuse burns at once.
A new power adapter cost $100, but its very hard to get one.
Sorry for no picture. I will buy a new camera tomorrow.
It's highly likely that much more extensive damage has been done - best option is to contact your household insurance, they should cover you against just such an occurance. Over the last few weeks I've seen four or five digital satellite receivers destroyed by lightning every week!.
Even worse, my wireless router died last Wednesday - I was just having my tea when there was a flash, followed almost immediately by a huge BANG, everything shook and cats panicked everywhere!. My router still works OK by ethernet, but the wireless side is completely dead (even the wireless LED isn't lit) - the router also won't let me perform a hardware reset, or try and update it's software. Luckily I have another one!
It's highly likely that much more extensive damage has been done - best option is to contact your household insurance, they should cover you against just such an occurance.
I agree that it's likely much more damage has been done. Usually, equipment which has suffered at the hands of lightning damage will have a huge trail of damaged components where the HV has rippled through the entire circuit. However, in my experience (well actually I should say my customer's experience) insurance companies try to get out of paying for these kinds of events. They claim that the lightning strike is an "act of God" and therefore is not claimable under the insurance.
For me, that's proper BS. If you pay your insurance, they should pay out!
However, in my experience (well actually I should say my customer's experience) insurance companies try to get out of paying for these kinds of events. They claim that the lightning strike is an "act of God" and therefore is not claimable under the insurance.
However, as I said, I've NEVER heard of any insurance company trying to claim an "act of god" in modern times - that was probably the 1950's?.
I probably do upwards of 20 lightning damages letters per year, never ever had a problem!.
I might mention my younger brother, Peter, his house was actually struck almost a year ago. It blew a big hole through his expensive handmade roof tiles (£22 each!), vapourised a couple of rafters in the roof - and (obviously) killed ever electrical item in his house (and he had a LOT!!! of electrical items - for an example, he had FOUR 5.1 surround sound systems!).
The first time I heard about that was in my economics class. Maybe not all companies have it or not all their employees are aware of it (or have the guts to use it).