Hey, this is extremely off topic.
Out in CO we have been having some pretty extreme thunderstorms. Well today there was a particularly loud clap of thunder and maybe even a strike on or very close to our house. Now 3 or 4 outlets on the top floor will not work, a tivo box and a sound box at opposite ends of the house do not work, our outdoor lights seem to be blown, and it appears nothing happened in the basement.
What the hell! These problems bear no consistency or logic. I guess that is electricty, but seriously this seems extremely random. If any of you who know something about lightning or electricity or something else, please inform me. There are no circuits blown by the way.
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I can't really tell you anything, but I do have a story regarding lightning screwing up the electronics in a car. A friend's BMW 530 was stopped at a light in Dallas and a bolt of lighting struck a tree about 15 feet from the car. Besides scaring the crap out of him his car immediately started running rough and the service engine soon light appeared. He finally replaced the main computer box and all was well again.
I can't really tell you anything, but I do have a story regarding lightning screwing up the electronics in a car. A friend's BMW 530 was stopped at a light in Dallas and a bolt of lighting struck a tree about 15 feet from the car. Besides scaring the crap out of him his car immediately started running rough and the service engine soon light appeared. He finally replaced the main computer box and all was well again.
Interesting, I think that is very relevant, there to be some kind of field that comes with lightning, maybe that is what is going on...........
A tree just outside my house was hit by a lightning several years ago. The bolt came through the tree, worked its way through the root and jumped to low voltage exterior lights and transferred over to cable TV wiring. As a result, the the surge popped the timer out of exterior lighting transformer mounted next to the panelboard and blew a few bulbs. It also fried the network card and the cable modem. Our irrigation system controller had to be reset and the garage door opener combination had to be reset as well.
I do recall that the lightning strike did not trip any of the breakers in the panelboard at our house either. I am not an electrician but perhaps the reason being the surge took place downstream of panelboard and never traveled back to reach the circuit breakers.
Regarding outlets on the top floor: are they part of the GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) circuit? Look for outlets with typically red and black buttons and see if the reset button (typically red) is at 'out' position. Push the button in and see if it stays in place. If not, replace with a new GFCI outlet ($10 - $15). Be sure to turn off the specific circuit at the breaker in the panelboard and put the tape over breaker (so nobody flips the switch back on while you have the exposed lead of hot wire pinched between your fingers) before you set off to work. Follow the instruction included with the replacement GFCI (I recommend the one by Leviton with the LED indicator) and it should be a straightforward job.
I suspect the same thing that happened to my cable modem may have happened with your TiVo; the surge may have come through cable or satellite dish. Call TiVo and see if they'll replace the unit - the cable company I subscribe to had absolutely no issue replacing mine.
With outdoor lights, set the timer in the transformer (if it comes with one) to turn on the lights and see if your transformer hums. If it doesn't then the transformer may be shot - it may be a electrical fire hazard so replace promptly with the same capacity or larger transformer. If it hums, examine bulbs.
I don't know enough about sound box nor its wiring specific to your installation so I can't offer much help but hope the rest helps.
One time I felt a charge inside the house while I was on the first floor. I heard a crack and some of the kids toys on the third floor were lit up; it was like a scary movie. One of the fire truck toy didn't even have batteries in it when I did a post event check.
When I lived in NY, my cordless phone got fried by lightning despite, as far as I know, no strikes to or near the house. I think as has been suggested, when it comes to lightning 'chance' and 'random' are the key issues. The energies involved are so huge that depending on the appliance, substantial and damaging currents can be induced even at a distance.
Nao's words seem wise. You may find your household insurance covers you for any repairs/replacements.
Sounds like some mind control equipment was set a bit too strongly. I've seen this before.
Try wrapping your entire roof in tin foil. Use the good stuff. That should keep the aliens and the government from being able to scan your brains. May not do much good for your cellphone reception though, so make sure you get a scrambler for your POTS line. If you see any black helicopters outside, leave your keys in the mailbox and drive north into Canada as fast as possible.
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Lightning Strike 
These problems bear no consistency or logic. I guess that is electricty, but seriously this seems extremely random. If any of you who know something about lightning or electricity or something else, please inform me. There are no circuits blown by the way.
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