Case Gives Off Continuous Electrical Discharge

[goodboy75]

Whenever I touch the back of my computer case it gives off a continuous electrical discharge almost like when you touch your tongue to a 9v battery. I just built it a few days a go and noticed yesterday it was doing this and my computer is working completely fine with no problems. My power supply is a Rosewill CAPSTONE Series CAPSTONE-750 750W Continuous @ 50°C, 80 PLUS GOLD Certified, Single +12V Rail, ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92, SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready, Active - PFC Power Supply.

How bad of a problems is this and what is causing it. Any input or ideas is appreciated.

 

[phil22]

Make sure that the motherboard is not touching the case anywhere, and that all the plastic mounts between motherboard and case are in place.

 

[goodboy75]

I reseated the motherboard and made sure that it was not touching the case and all the motherboard standoffs were in place and it is still happening

 

[Isaiah4110]

Does it happen when you touch the front or side of the case or is it localized to the back? If so, can you narrow down what parts of the back of the case give off the electrical discharge?

 

[rsmith13]

Whenever I touch the back of my computer case it gives off a continuous electrical discharge almost like when you touch your tongue to a 9v battery. I just built it a few days a go and noticed yesterday it was doing this and my computer is working completely fine with no problems. My power supply is a Rosewill CAPSTONE Series CAPSTONE-750 750W Continuous @ 50°C, 80 PLUS GOLD Certified, Single +12V Rail, ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92, SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready, Active - PFC Power Supply.

How bad of a problems is this and what is causing it. Any input or ideas is appreciated.

Your wall power receptacle might be wired wrong. I've seen it happen more than once, the neutral side is wired hot and the hot side is wired neutral. The ground might not be making a connection.

 

[rsmith13]

Whenever I touch the back of my computer case it gives off a continuous electrical discharge almost like when you touch your tongue to a 9v battery. I just built it a few days a go and noticed yesterday it was doing this and my computer is working completely fine with no problems. My power supply is a Rosewill CAPSTONE Series CAPSTONE-750 750W Continuous @ 50°C, 80 PLUS GOLD Certified, Single +12V Rail, ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92, SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready, Active - PFC Power Supply.

How bad of a problems is this and what is causing it. Any input or ideas is appreciated.

 

[goodboy75]

Does it happen when you touch the front or side of the case or is it localized to the back? If so, can you narrow down what parts of the back of the case give off the electrical discharge?

It happens when i touch the back usually close to the psu

 

[RetiredChief]

Can Only speak to US
1) Could not have been caused by MB - Problem there normally would have resulted in what is referred to as a smoke test, If PSU did not shut down.
2) Sounds like a household wiring problem, Primarily with the ground wire.

AC -> PSU cord should be a 3 prong plug. At the wall outlet, the 3rd wire is suppose to go to earth ground. When PSU is plugged in the ground wire is tied directly to the computer case. This means that the case should NOT be more than 1 Volt from ground UNLESS your not providing a true Ground from the outlet. I have seen some outlets wired using the Neutral wire for both the neural prong and for the ground prong. This can cause the ground wire to "float" to a higher potential. This would be identical to the "old" two wire system using only a neutral and hot and in this case if the Hot + neutral were reversed the case could then become "HOT". THIS is the reason that all Household outlets are NOW three wire. With a proper 3-wire connection, if the Hot and neutral were reversed and the Hot was connected to the case - would NOT make the case HOT, it would BLOW the house Fuse.

Bottom Line, you need to check your house Outlet.

 

[goodboy75]

Best answer selected by goodboy75.

 

[goodboy75]

Thanks, for the answer I took a little device from my dad that tells if the outlet is correctly wired or not and it said it had an open ground so we opened it up and since he is an electrician he confirmed that the outlet did not have a true ground so we plugged it into a different outlet that has a true ground and the problem seemed to stop.