[Solved] Chasis is live!

Hello!

I recently buily a computer for my brother and found out the hard way that the case was live .

When I would touch the chasis I would get a slight tingle.

So, naturally I turned the computer off and did not turn it back on for several days, until I had some idea of what could be wrong.

After pulling several pieces of hardware, I noticed that the problem no long persisted.

After narrowing down what hardware could be causing this I found that after removing the GPU and testing the chasis the problem no longer persisted.

I am quite sure I have the problem well in hand (or not?) , however I am not sure what would cause the GPU to do this.

Also, there were two HIS 6850s in the computer and only one seems to be the cause of this issue.

Any ideas?

A component problem should not cause this - Your chassis SHOULD be tied to earth ground which means that the voltage on your chassis should be less than 1 volt. UNLESS you have a grounding problem with your house wiring. USA - 3 wire outlet, one hot (!20 VAC, one nuetral (should be very close to Zero V) and one earth ground (0 volts. There should be zero ohms diff between your chassis and the earth ground. Erth ground is tied to PSU chassis and that in turn to the Computer case.

One - you have a problem with house wiring or you have an open in the line.

Chassis is grounded to power supply. Power supply is grounded via the third wire to the wall's power outlet. Are you using an adapter to circumvent that connection, perhaps on a 2-prong wall outlet?

If you have a 3-prong wall outlet, your building probably has a wiring problem that could cause a fire, while you sleep peacefully, never to awaken again.

if you plug in the gpu and your then getting shocks it means the gpu is earthing to the case. sounds like something in the gpu is earthing against the cooler or some other outer surface... i would rma it asap. as it sounds like a build quality problem.

i would also check the connectors from the psu. try the 1s from the other card, if the problem persists its the gpu, if it stops then its the connector from the psu.

You could also run out and buy an outlet tester such as this...
http://www.outlettester.com/
They are fairly cheap and any hardware store such as Rona, Home hardware or electrical store should have these.

JQ

i live in the uk m8 we only use 2 wires live and neutral on the most part. so when you get a shock from the case it genraly means its using you to ground out.

Back of my mind, in UK I thought Nuetral was tied to Ground. Primary difference (beside the 50/60 Hz) was that Voltage was single phase, ie lamps and Hot water heater both used 220/240 - Hot = 220/240. In US it is two phase, that is normal circuits 110/120 VAC and hot water heater/ stove where 220/240 - two Hot 110/120 which are 180 degrees out of phase. one half of the house uses one phase, the other half the 2nd phase - to balance current.

My power to the house got cut (tree fell on power line) - good old power company came out and repair. Everythin in the house worked EXCEPT the stove and the Hotwater heater. They had connected both Hots to the same phase.

Everything that I have mentioned, I have seen.

DoomsWorld, what was the problem?
And thanks.