Thread: Removing the electrical charge

It has all been said; I touch the chassis or a door knob every once in awhile. But I would add that I rarely take care to discharge static and I have never damaged anything from static, and I have handled bizzillion parts in my time. Not saying dont worry about it, just dont worry to much!

Ya, your more likely to damage something by leaving it turned on and dropping a screw onto the mobo than you are with static cling.

I've got an anti-static wrist strap that I've had from my years in IT. I'll use that anytime I'm dealing with hardware.

OK, now you went and pissed me off. My pic was of a machine that creates static electricity, and damn was that funny. I hurt myself I laughed so hard. Screw all of you guys trying to really help him. :P

Originally Posted by CivilWars

I always work with one of these close by. Just in case.

I used to think static wrist straps were for nerds - and then I zapped a sound card...it was the funniest thing, I heard the teeny tiny "pop" sound and thought..."Noooo, it couldn't have been..."

Sure enough, DOA.

I still think the wrist straps are for nerds but those nerds dont replace hardware because of static discharge.

It was mandatory at a few of my previous employers to wear the wrist straps. Had a guy fry a server motherboard by not wearing one... needless to say the money came out of his paycheck... the guy was paying for that for a long time.

Originally Posted by Consultant

I used to think static wrist straps were for nerds - and then I zapped a sound card...it was the funniest thing, I heard the teeny tiny "pop" sound and thought..."Noooo, it couldn't have been..."

Sure enough, DOA.

I still think the wrist straps are for nerds but those nerds dont replace hardware because of static discharge.

I've been lucky and have never used a wrist strap and never fried anything in about 5 boxes built in 10 years. That was all in Florida though. Now I'm in TX, who knows if there's more or less static here.

I got so lucky I even didn't fry my box when I sprayed compressed air NEAR (not into) the intake fan, which was still stupid when the intake fan sucked in from moisture from the condensing airstream and shut my computer off with a loud POP! I found black burnt dust all around my processor inside the case but that was a year ago and all still works fine.

I did lose one motherboard to a giant lightning surge once... through the onboard LAN since my surge protector didn't have RJ45 passthrough. Of course the one I use now does.