Narrative:

[During the] arrival; I noticed an FMA advising the autothrottles had disengaged. I looked down to FMC 2 and saw that there was an error message stating 'independent operation.' I stated this to the first officer and looked to FMC 1. Within seconds of looking down; both fmcs blacked out. This lasted for approximately 10 seconds. I pushed the heading selector to activate heading so we could continue our current direction. When the fmcs came back up they both showed all data dumped. I told the first officer that I had the airplane and for him to select the secondary flight plan. It too; showed all data dumped. We entered direct to [a fix on the arrival] and the fmcs took that and the course line showed up on our nav display too. We then tried to lateral off [that fix] and enter [the airport] as the destination again; but the new dest prompt was not there. We had continued because the airport was reporting VFR.sometime around this point in very heavy rain; we received a lightning strike on the upper nose of the aircraft. We did not notice a loss of any other equipment. We built the arrival again manually; but when we tried to enter crossing restrictions; they would not take and we got an error message saying 'no destination.' we tried to enter [destination] on the flight plan page after the discontinuity and before the discontinuity; but neither would take and we would get the error message 'no destination.' ATC told us to descend via the arrival landing south.we told him we were having nav problems and can he just give us a specific altitude to descend to. He gave us 14;000 feet. As we descended through FL200 ATC gave us holding instructions. We built the hold in the fmcs and held. We then built the approach manually because the fmcs would not allow us to lateral off a fix and select the approach. Each time we tried we got the error message 'no destination.'we were released from the hold and continued on the arrival. When we attempted to manually tune the ILS into the fmcs we would get the same 'no destination' message. Approach gave us a heading to intercept the 18L localizer and we informed him we could not get the localizer to come up. We asked him for direct [final approach fix]. He gave us that and then informed us the airport ceiling dropped to 800 ft. I told the first officer to [request assistance]. The controller acknowledged that and said he would give us headings down final. He asked if he could change us to [a different runway] so he could keep [other runways] open. We agreed and he started to give us headings.we started our descent. The controller gave us headings and advised us we were heading in between [the runways]. Approaching 800 feet the first officer stated he saw the approach lights off to our right. He stated we were too high and he called the go around. I started the go around and realizing the control tower sits in between [the runways]; I went to firewall power and started climbing. We cleaned up the AC and ATC asked us our intentions. We said we want to go to [an alternate] and could they verify that ZZZ1 was still VFR.departure gave us a heading while they checked the weather there. Departure came back shortly and advised us that ZZZ1 was VFR and cleared us direct to the airport. We proceeded there and landed uneventfully.other than a general mechanical failure of the fmcs or their components; it is possible that static electricity from the storm played a role.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported diverting to an alternate airport after experiencing FMC anomalies that contributed to an unstabilized approach.

Narrative: [During the] arrival; I noticed an FMA advising the autothrottles had disengaged. I looked down to FMC 2 and saw that there was an error message stating 'Independent Operation.' I stated this to the FO and looked to FMC 1. Within seconds of looking down; both FMCs blacked out. This lasted for approximately 10 seconds. I pushed the heading selector to activate heading so we could continue our current direction. When the FMCs came back up they both showed all data dumped. I told the FO that I had the airplane and for him to select the secondary flight plan. It too; showed all data dumped. We entered direct to [a fix on the arrival] and the FMCs took that and the course line showed up on our Nav Display too. We then tried to lateral off [that fix] and enter [the airport] as the destination again; but the New Dest prompt was not there. We had continued because the airport was reporting VFR.Sometime around this point in very heavy rain; we received a lightning strike on the upper nose of the aircraft. We did not notice a loss of any other equipment. We built the arrival again manually; but when we tried to enter crossing restrictions; they would not take and we got an error message saying 'NO Destination.' We tried to enter [destination] on the flight plan page after the discontinuity and before the discontinuity; but neither would take and we would get the error message 'NO Destination.' ATC told us to descend via the arrival landing south.We told him we were having Nav problems and can he just give us a specific altitude to descend to. He gave us 14;000 feet. As we descended through FL200 ATC gave us holding instructions. We built the hold in the FMCs and held. We then built the approach manually because the FMCs would not allow us to lateral off a fix and select the approach. Each time we tried we got the error message 'NO Destination.'We were released from the hold and continued on the arrival. When we attempted to manually tune the ILS into the FMCs we would get the same 'NO Destination' message. Approach gave us a heading to intercept the 18L LOC and we informed him we could not get the LOC to come up. We asked him for direct [final approach fix]. He gave us that and then informed us the airport ceiling dropped to 800 ft. I told the FO to [request assistance]. The Controller acknowledged that and said he would give us headings down final. He asked if he could change us to [a different runway] so he could keep [other runways] open. We agreed and he started to give us headings.We started our descent. The Controller gave us headings and advised us we were heading in between [the runways]. Approaching 800 feet the FO stated he saw the approach lights off to our right. He stated we were too high and he called the Go Around. I started the Go Around and realizing the Control Tower sits in between [the runways]; I went to Firewall Power and started climbing. We cleaned up the AC and ATC asked us our intentions. We said we want to go to [an alternate] and could they verify that ZZZ1 was still VFR.Departure gave us a heading while they checked the weather there. Departure came back shortly and advised us that ZZZ1 was VFR and cleared us direct to the airport. We proceeded there and landed uneventfully.Other than a general mechanical failure of the FMCs or their components; it is possible that static electricity from the storm played a role.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.