On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 23:37:13 +0100, Richard Urwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Saturday 25 Sep 2004 4:55 pm, Erylon Hines wrote: > > On Saturday 25 September 2004 07:33 am, Lyvim Xaphir wrote: > > | But for all the *newbies* here reading this, statically wounded > > | circuits can show weird symptoms months after installation. > > | Sometimes weird stuff like what Ron is seeing. That includes > > | (especially) motherboards. It's best to have a grounded static > > | wrist band on when you are inside your computer and before you > > | remove the static packaging from any new component. (static > > | packaging isn't there because it's pretty.) If you always do this, > > | you can be sure that you've kept your equipment in mint condition. > > | > > | LX > > > > A note on grounding. Most times when I see instructions for this it > > says something like, "Unplug your computer". > > > > DO NOT UNPLUG YOUR COMPUTER. If you do, you will remove the machine > > from the system ground and your box will be "floating". Any time > > equipment is floating, there is a chance that it's potential will be > > different from ground potential. Turn it off, but leave it plugged > > in and the case will be bonded. If you are not on a workbench with a > > known good bond to ground, attach yourself to the metal part of the > > case, and you are good to go. > > I think "Which" was told off and had to publish a retraction not so long > ago for publicly giving that bit of advice. > > Some things to bear in mind: > 1. If there's an earth fault the live wire is connected to you. > 2. The switch is in the live wire. If, like I did, you have an extension > cable with the live and neutral swapped, then the live parts are still > live. It may still be a problem with a properly wired connection if > your neutral is at a different potential to your earth. OK, not such a > problem with a PC because the PSU is enclosed. > 3. Anti-static straps have 1MegOhm resistors in them. Without such they > are considered serious health and safety violations. Since every piece > of anti-static equipment has that, the actual resistance to earth of > professional gear is usually several meg ohms. > > Personally, If I have my wrist strap with me I leave the box plugged in > and use it. If I don't then I still leave it plugged in, but just touch > the case frequently to keep myself at the same potential. I think very > long and hard before I decide to connect myself to the case with a > piece of wire. > > Another word of warning: some PSUs do not have an off switch. The button > on the front of an ATX case leaves power to some parts of the > motherboard. If there isn't a rocker switch on the PSU, you can not > leave it plugged in without having an external switch somewhere.
The best external switch, for boxes without an external (rear) switch, is using a good quality powerbar that has a switch - not just a fuse.... yikes.... cross wiring is one thing, but stay away from carpets altogether. Of all things to happen a number of years ago (1994 or 95 I think) was I killed a keyboard as I stepped away from my grounded box, walked across the carpeted room, picked up the keyboard (zap) and I couldn't get the box to boot. Puzzled for several days, I had to bring it in to a shop, twice for them to tell me the box was perfect. Lo and behold I wasn't bringing in the peripherals. I stuck in a floppy and OS2-warp disk, powered up, only for the install program to tell me I had keyboard errors - buffer overflow. I didn't even know I zapped the KB but walking about 16 feet on hair-raising carpet must have overloaded it, and yet I was so careful with installing the new drive. Regards, Sean Pritchard -- Registered Linux User# 156507 Mandrake User Since May 1999
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