Now I'm not TRYING to be insulting - but I've never seen soo much taffy
collectively distributed - much of it coming from computer-wishbook magazines.
Look, I was born with a soldering iron in my hand, my oldest computer is older
than most of you and I started working computers, specifically before a good
2/3rds of you shuffled onto this planet.
Yeh, that was only 1970 and the computer's only a Straight-8, but it sounds like
no one here has any electrical experience and when it comes to electronics, can
build a box, but may well trip over Ohm's Law. I've laid wires from the
microscopic to whole buildings, even read the electrical code.
If you don't buy what I say, please check it out for yourself.
YES and no - the metal's OK, but attach the strap to the GROUND line of the
power/mains *after* assuming the house wiriing is right and you are not about to
incinerate yourself good. Attach any ground strap human-to-case does NOTHING.
Attaching both to a good GROUND works.
The first good computer investment is one of those $2.50 3-neon bulb line
checkers - if you don't get the right lights (2 green, no red) fix the outlet
first or fry everything.> I have seen many a ground line go nowhere, and many a
ground line tied hot or neutral by Bad Electricians. Suspect Every Outlet until
checked.
Advanced APC Back-UPS and better models do this for you, but I wouldn't risk one
of those babies without checking the outlet first - Worst Possible Case - if the
outlet is wired to 2 hots and a ground, you JUST MIGHT hurt the outlet tester,
instead of blowing yourself or your gear to bits.
So test, then connect yourself to a ground, via wire or groundstrap!
Second good idea: Get an old unwanted power cord and cut off the POWER prongs on
the plug, LEAVING THE GROUND - plug this into the machine PS and a tested outlet
to pull charge off the machine - even if you draw a spark touching a grounded
part of the box, you may do no harm.
Better way is to slit the insulation, use a meter to check the ground wire
(usua,ly green) and cut about 4 cm of each of the other two wires and toss.
Tape over with good electrical tape, GREEN if you can get it so you never try to
use it as a plug again and wonder why it's not working. It just plugs in faster
that way, though.
No, because anti-static stuff is only poly that's been given a coat of a
non-hazardous-to-equipment suffactent (detergent-like stuff). Spraying the table
with the same stuff (sold in US as Static Guard for clothing) the floor around
the area and long sleeves if you are working on hot days (try ALL-COTTON
clothing) helps. In really static-sensitive areas, either lay down a static mat
or heavy aluminum foil and, again, run it to ground. Don't pay more than $20 US
for a static mat or you're being ripped off. OR work on a metal work surface,
where you can drill a hole, bolt through a wire and attach to a ground.
Save the pink and metal-flashed bags for storage!
As I said, only if they're part-whole synthetic or fur/leather. Cotton sprayed
with Static Guard is fine.
TRUE - you put the mobo in its bag in its box before doing anything AND you do
not put it on the metal - you CAN put it on top of its bag on a static mat or a
piece of cardstock sitting on one if afraid of shorting the battery, though I do
not *BELIEVE* <so I don't do it myself> that the lines for the small battery
would be run on the lowest layer of the mobo.
But just the contact with free-floating anti-static stuff doesn't drain the
charge - the charge has to have a place to flow, and that, sinto the ground. For
the real paranoid, wrap more grounded copper around your sleves if you need to
keep warm.
Suffactent - good idea, though the spraycan stuff is easier to apply. You end up
with a sticky work surface or floor!
Agreed, BUT most of today's products above the chip level can be handled without
too much care. That's not an excuse for getting sloppy.
Static discharge damage would cause that form of failure known as "infant
mortality" - dead within 2 weeks. All semiconductors (and, for that matter
vacuume tubes) and associated parts suffer from a MTBF (mean time between
failure) that looks like an inverted U with the bottom stretched for about the
length of a page |__________________etc_________| or something.
For the first month or so, everything is prone to failure due to bad
transistors on the dice to bad solder joints. RUN YOUR EQUIPMENT HARD for the
first few weeks, that is, no overclocking, just 24/7 running Seti@Home or
similar apps AFTER 2 days of BURN IN, either via program or, these days, BIOS
setting.
You may blow a memory loclation or even a CPU during that period, and
the seller had better take it back, because it won't be your fault if you follow
the plan. After two day's heavy running (checking regularly for heat spots,
exploding capacitors, the smell of frying epoxy board...) followed by 30-90 days
24/7 just running, your system should last you years, or at least through Total
Obsalescence <some exceptions exist, but, I mean Seagate even guarantees its
DRIVES for 5 years now, and I wouldn't use anything else, save Hitachi DeskStars
designed by IBM>
Trucker Al's the handle, be seeing you around
(And anyone that works around electronics with a copper wire
strapped to a body part is an idiot. )
Yeah, just the thought of that wire wrapped around my wrist and no way for
my buds to get it off quickly, while I flop round the floor like a fish out
of water, sorta scarey.
The number one static producing machine is my wheelchair.....after running
round Best Buy for ten minutes, I could put all thier floor model computers
out of buisness. LOL Once I through an arc of 4 inches to my granddaughter
hand in the airport.
