How to prevent damage from static electricity?

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cryl

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Feb 19, 2012
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Hi. This winter when I moved to another place I noticed that I would get shocks all the time, all I did was leave the room where my pc is in and then when I went back I would get static shocks on my desk metal legs, the keyboard and my pc. My keyboard is made of aluminium.
Now when it's summer I don't get it much.

One day in January I was going to insert something into my front usb port and got a shock, after that I seemed to have damaged my motherboard because both the front and rear 3.5 mm audio jacks gave a crackling noise in my headphones and speakers. It sounded really bad.
I bought a cheap sound card and put in, the front ports are connected to it and it seems to be working all right. But the rear port on the sound card doesn't sound quite right for some reason.

This is very annoying because I wasn't planning on buying a new motherboard for years. And I don't think MB's with my cpu socket sell any more. It's an i7 4790K.

Perhaps I should try to find one used or something. I mean it is working okay with the sound card but still, do you think anything else could be damaged?
Maybe I should have noticed that by now, the pc has been running without any problems what so ever since it happened.

When it comes to esd, do you have any tips to protect my pc from it. I usually get a shock on my keyboard and then that's it, no more shocks on anything until I leave the room and come back again.
What can I do to ground myself before getting my fingers close to the front usb and sound ports?

Thank you in advance.
 
Solution
groundrat
I don't have any idea how much damage has occurred to the motherboard or any other component. The voltage was enough to blow the iso caps on the audio section of the MB (why its getting static interference now). That's enough for me. Any damage is too much and it will only get worse as time goes by.

To elaborate.. The computer is already grounded through its power supplies connection to your homes electrical ground. Through the power supply, the chassis of the computer is grounded as well. The object that is not grounded, that is picking up over 500 vdc of static electricity... is you. When you touch anything metal (keyboard) that is connected to the houses ground, you provide a path for discharge and you get a spark...
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groundrat

groundrat

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Dec 11, 2012
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First issue is your static electricity problem. I guess that you are in a northern tier state and that your new apartment/home doesn't have a humidifier built into the furnace/ air conditioner. Dry air, carpet and tennis shoes combine to make static electricity.

This is your enemy.

To combat this, get a humidifier and keep it set to 35%. Also ground your metal desk (consult an electrician if you are apprehensive about connecting a metal object to your homes ground grid). After that, upon entering the room, before you touch anything on the desk, grab the bare metal of the desk to dissipate any charge walking across the floor builds up.

As to your board... damage has been done. Its only going to get worse. Good news is that the 1150 socket is still at retailors (Newegg, Amazon) and can be had cheap. Decide what series you want, put it in the search bar and you are off to the races.

Good luck.
 
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Danny_112

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May 2, 2017
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Go to your local Office Supply store, and buy yourself an anti-static mat,
"the size of your desk" , at least.

They usually have a wrist ground.

Meanwhile, don't wear wool !!!
 
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cryl

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Feb 19, 2012
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I'm from Sweden and you're right, I don't have a humidifier or AC in the house. My floors are parquet and tiles. I walk around in socks most of the time.

Do you think it's only the motherboard, or could anything else have been damaged?

 
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Danny_112

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May 2, 2017
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I damaged my motherboard, by a single static discharged, for me
it was the USB port's that would randomly stop working , and freeze my computer.

Turning the power off, was the only way, to get it back working.
If your problem is isolated to your audio, that no big deal.

Disable onboard audio in bios, and use add-in audio card, "creative labs", Asus ..., for example.

Or you could purchase a new MB.
 
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groundrat

groundrat

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Dec 11, 2012
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I don't have any idea how much damage has occurred to the motherboard or any other component. The voltage was enough to blow the iso caps on the audio section of the MB (why its getting static interference now). That's enough for me. Any damage is too much and it will only get worse as time goes by.

To elaborate.. The computer is already grounded through its power supplies connection to your homes electrical ground. Through the power supply, the chassis of the computer is grounded as well. The object that is not grounded, that is picking up over 500 vdc of static electricity... is you. When you touch anything metal (keyboard) that is connected to the houses ground, you provide a path for discharge and you get a spark.

While Danny's solution will work, it still needs to be grounded. And now you have an ugly red/orange mat under your computer. All you need is a path to ground that will allow you to discharge electricity from your body and allow you to be at the same potential as the computer chassis. What I am proposing will essentially turn your desk into an ESD workstation. Meaning, you will not need the mat. Your existing non conductive desk surface will be the mat. I used inspect ESD workstations, as well as other things, for the USAF.
 
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