static electricity

[Steven21]

How would i know if a CPU or Motherboard was damaged by static electricity, would it boot at all, would i see the POST screen, or would i get a blank screen??

 

[JimmyDean]

Wow im sure we can answer that one....

<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]

LOL, depends on what you zapped!

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

 

[stealth_blade]

chances are, unless were hugging a static generator while putting together your machine, you didnt damage anything with static,

but we really couldnt tell you, cause damage could cause minor simptons, like the ocasional instability or random reboot, or it could totally destroy your board, we really cant tell you

"Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion."
- Gen. (Ret) Norman Schwartzkopf

 

[Steven21]

i said Mobo or CPU. Im trying to find out whats wrong with my cousins PC. Ive tried:

different PSU
different IDE cables
different HDs
Clearing the Cmos
Tried a Pci Vid card
Tested the mem in another PC, both sticks worked
tried with only 1 stick of mem, then tried the other
took out all other cards, except AGP vid card

i cant get past the POST screen, the cpu is new, the mobo is less the 2 years old, dont know if the mobo is bad or what. im to lazy to test the cpu in another mobo, so i was wondering what happens if a cpu or gets damaged by static electricity.

 

[Crashman]

You just don't get it, do you? The CPU is made up of millions of transistors (logic) and capacitors (cache). Depending on which were fried, you could see various problems.

Now the motherboard has so many chips I don't even want to think about the possibilities, probably thousands of different problem combinations you could encounter!

Anyway, I doubt you fried it with static electricity. I've actually ZAPPED parts with static before and never seen damage.

The most likely cause of your boot failure is a grounded motherboard (a mounting post contacting a circuit on the back), or an inverted IDE cable. Didn't you even bother to read that first post, labled FAQ?

Did you even try booting it without drive cables? Have you rechecked to make sure there are no mounting posts (called "standoffs") shorting the board?

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

 

[Steven21]

Yes i tried it without cables, the cables arnt inverted and i dont think its the standoffs cause it worked before with no problems.