About a year and a half ago I had a lightning strike, lost my X-box, DVD Player, VCR, and thumb drive. My TV had no problem and the weirdest thing is, my computer was plugged in, and took the shock all the way to the thumb drive. Killed the thumb drive but nothing else. A few weeks later my bios got flashed, not sure if that was related or not. I got a new X-box, DVD Player, and VCR; I never buy those extra warernties, but I did happen to on those three items, and I am glad I did.
I've REALLY been "gettin' it". You all saw my kvetch about my HDD crash; well now my FDD works only if you push the floppy disk in deliberately hard.
Then last evening, I was about to get into my car to get home, so I use the remote transmitter to disarm the alarm, open the door, slide in, stick the key in the ignition... and nothing. I hear a slightly prolonged soft buzz, but no solenoid clicks. Then I try again and it's really "dead" silence this time. A colleague tried to give me a jump. That didn't work either, and neither do the lights, power accessories, not even the radio nor clock.
I go away thinking it's the alarm system having an open in the circuit, killing the ignition, but it doesn't explain the lights, etc.
I leave it and get a ride home, fuss and fume over it all night, get a ride in, and start looking over the car, getting advice. So we go find the battery, which is installed under the back seat, NOT under the hood, of all things. All the cabling and connections in both places look clean and snug. Neither one of us has any clue what really could be wrong. The eye on the battery was green, too.
As we finally and disgustedly agree that I should call for a tow to the service station, I decided to uncap the positive terminal just to see if there as any corrosion, just 'cuz I was nosy. I try to pop off the red plastic cap and the WHOLE POSITIVE TERMINAL POST just falls off into my hand. We look at each other and said, "I'll bet THIS is the problem!" No kidding.
But this battery cost over a C-note. I'm still kind of freaked at the cost of it; I picked one up the other night for someone else's car for less than $50.
Now the guy at the dealer (really one of the only places to get this stupid battery) tells me I'm past even my extended warranty and batteries are covered only under the whole car's warranty and to add insult to injury, there is no $5 or $10 back for the old bad battery ("You oughtta be glad I'm taking it off your hands!"). Creep.
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You know what I noticed? It's the same awful feeling you get all night, all day until it's fixed whether it's your computer or your car. (I guess it might be because some people can play CDs in either.)