[CA] No communication E7 and instruments

[BlackButterfly]

We have an E7 chartplotter with I7s,P7 and radar wind and depth. These have all worked fine for the past 5 years. We left the boat late 2017 returning May 2018.

All instrument panels had power but no data, no autopilot. The E7 showed no instruments or data at all except the radar.

First thing I did was update the firmware and the charts, this has been done regularly over the years, no difference. I started to remove one instrument at a time and found when I disconnected the E7 I finally got data to the instruments, except wind. I reconnected the cable from the E7 and the instrument data was still going to the instruments but not to the chartplotter.
The chartplotter itself is not acting normal, it is slow to start, has always been, but now the screen does not seem to acknowledge any input, but if you wait it will eventually do what you have asked.

The boat has been in the water the whole time and there was a lightening strike to a boat on the next dock. Approximately 100 ft away.

I am presuming that the E7 may have had an EMP glitch.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated on what else I should do or check. I would normally have updated the instruments but as the chartplotter cannot see them I can’t.

Is it worth sending for checking and repairing or are the newer chartplotter better for the money?

Glenda