Static Damage

[hoserb2000]

Well i got a new motherboard, and it's been in and out of the box a lot, and the chance that there was static damage grates me.

Now when I handle parts, I ground myself before and during, but is there any way to see if damage was done before i buld the system. I live down south, so it's fairly wet and muggy, somthing that does not help static I hear.

I don't think I did, but it would be nice to put my mind at ease...

<font color=blue>Let's see, 500 posts a day, each day, for 30 days, and I will have more posts than Crashman!</font color=blue>

 

[f4shionablecha0s]

If you grounded yourself, you're fine. Grounding yourself once before handing parts is more than enough to stop you from damaging anything.

The bad season for static is winter. I live in Dallas and I get almost no static during the humid summer months.

For future peace of mind you might want to invest in a anti-static wristband.

 

[hoserb2000]

Thanks, I just might.

<font color=blue>Let's see, 500 posts a day, each day, for 30 days, and I will have more posts than Crashman!</font color=blue>

 

[JimmyDean]

Alot of the times a static wristband can actually be worse. More often then not its better to just touch a piece of metal on the case for about 5 seconds. With a static wristband, it creates different potentials of energy between the card and the metal. Thats what causes a discharge

<b><font color=red>Remember kids, if you see a downed power line, suck on the end, candy comes out!</font color=red></b>

 

[soulprovider]

To be sure, always handle components by their edges never touching the IC's, connectors or any exposed parts of the circuitry.

Always place the parts down onto an anti-static bag and frequently touch a grounded point using both hands before carrying out each operation.

I worked as a PCB technician for motorola where static damage accounted for 30% of board failures regardless of all the static discharge measures implimented.

<b>Vorsprung durch Dontwerk</b>.....<i>as they say at VIA</i>

 

[Crashman]

Quit it. I've never taken static precautions and never gotten static damage. I've even zapped a couple parts before and had them come through unscathed. I've built over 1000 PC's for the retail market, so that's a lot of room for error, and never had a problem with static.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[Mortallus]

I've zapped a motherboard while re-seating a sound card. It produced a visible white flash accompanied by the gut-wrenching "ZAP" sound. It fired up and ran strong until it was replaced a few months later. I was kind of surprised to see it work.

 

[JimmyDean]

Yes truly I have never seen any damage done by static discharge. Im sure it can happen, maybe if your sucking on one end of the card, holding on to the ics, other hand on a vande graff generator, and rubbing your feet in the carpet with socks, <b>maybe

<b><font color=red>Remember kids, if you see a downed power line, suck on the end, candy comes out!</font color=red></b>

 

[Crashman]

Contrary to popular myth, keeping a hand on the metal case helps completely, even if the case isn't grounded! Because even if the case isn't grounded, having a hand on it insures that both you and the case have the same electrical potential, and are zero to each other, therfor no sparks can occur between any component in your hand and the case.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[KWPLunchbox]

Yeah, pretty much everything Crash said is what I have
experienced as well. The only time I ever fried anything
was in a room where you would shock other people or
anything else you touched because of the odd carpet in
there. (I didn't know about ESD at the time) Heh, I
can't remember how much that 4mb SIMM cost but it was alot.

<font color=purple>AMD XP 2200+, A7N8X Deluxe, 512mb PC3200 Corsair XMS DDR, Geforce3 Ti-500, Audigy Platinum, TDK 48x CDRW, Lite-On 16x DVD, XP Pro SP1, and more neon than a ghetto sled </font color=purple>