One other point to make. There are also many wierdisms that are caused by something professional techs call "static wounding." This occurs when a sensitive high density IC chip (or a single discrete transistor for that matter) passes through a static field. It also occurs when a non static-protected person opens a sealed static bag and touches the components inside. Static sparks jumping from the person to the component are also a sure sign that you don't need to waste your time; go ahead and throw the component/device away.
What happens is that a moving static field (like the one that's on your body 90% of the time if you're not grounded) passes through the IC device, which induces voltage in the microscopic conductive traces. This can cause the energy thus generated to jump a nonconductor gap across to the next nearest tracer. This leaves a valley in the nonconductor "wall" between the tracers, offtimes seeded with vaporized tracer material. Contgrats; with no prior experience, skill or intel fab plant, you just created you own tracer. That's right; you're just that good. The correct procedure to follow when you are working on your computer is to wear a static wrist band, and to keep your computer components away from nonconductor surfaces. (read: carpet). Anti static spray is not reliable. Static wrist bands are available from your local Radio Shack. To avoid electronic mea culpa and endless firehose quantities of frustration, I recommend that anyone working on a peripheral or mobo wear a grounded static wrist band until the box is closed up. Touching the case is not totally reliable, since you can generate several thousand invisible static volts just by raising your arm, if you have any sort of synthetic garment on. In other words your static shadow just regenerates in short order. I'd venture to say that from what Ive seen, about 80% of all RMA's, marginal functionality, failures, and most frustrations several months after installation are due totally to improper handling. Read: Laziness. The problem is rampant (and I mean RAMPANT) in mom-pop computer shops. BEWARE of these. Next time you walk into your local computer store, go straight to the back without warning and surprise the techs; specifically, see if they have their wristbands on when servicing customer's equipment. I've got money that says they won't have them on. Typically I try to order my mobos from high volume internet shops on the pacific coast so I can get the mobo right after it comes off the ship. I never trust one that's been handled by anyone other than me; that keeps me from having to worry about looking backwards. I always know that my problem is somewhere ahead of me. If that makes any sense. This goes for peripherals, too. I've got a few suppliers that I trust. As I said above, the requirement for static wounding only involves a static field; this implies that you do NOT have to touch a component in order to damage it. All you have to do is pass your hand near the component. This is why static bags are there, and this is what they prevent; they stop not just touch, but static fields as well. Synopsis of above soapbox/wooden nickel contribution: Correct procedure for computer service work is to wear a grounded static wrist band. Best Regards, LX -- ��������������������������������������������������� Kernel 2.4.8-26mdk Mandrake Linux 8.1 Enlightenment 0.16.5 Evolution 1.02 Registered Linux User #268899 http://counter.li.org/ ��������������������������������������������������� _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
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