installing hardware

Just turn the computer off, and if your case has this feature: discharge it, then ground yourself. There is no reason to unplug the power connectors to stuff like your cd-rom since there is no power going to it. Just touch the case often or use a grounding strap to avoid static discharge.

<font color=red>We are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it. - Eisenhower</font color=red>

Good question to start a debate. I always leave the computer plugged in because that way it is grounded to the house wiring which is grounded to the ground. Then when you touch the case you are also grounded. The power plugs going to the devices inside your computer are only 5 and 12 volts so you ain't gonna get shocked. There is high voltage inside your PS and coming to your PS so be careful. Outside your PS as far as I know you shouldn't have over 12vdc.

Usually I am working on old computers (p-ones) as those are the ones that are broke and they actually turn all the way off. What still has/needs power on the new ones? The original question was for a PCI card, does the PCI bus stay hot on ATX? I really don't know so I'm not messing with you. TIA

It's true that you're only getting 12v, but the thing is that volts are what hurt, but amps are what damage you. You could get 1v and 200 amps, and you wouldn't even feel it, but you'd be dead. Or, you could get 20,000v and 1 milliamp, and you'd feel it (and you'd feel strange afterwards), but there wouldn't be any permanent damage.

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Apple? Macintosh? What are these strange words you speak?

Vandograph generator... woohoo!


<font color=red><i>Tomorrow I will live, the fool does say
today itself's too late; the wise lived yesterday

Yeah, one of my high school science teachers told us about how he would wire a car battery to the metal urinals in his high school.
I'd try that, but I don't know offhand of any places with metal urinals.

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Apple? Macintosh? What are these strange words you speak?

Mate, I'd never use something that would actually hurt bad. All it would have to do is give a small jolt (like licking a 9v battery). The great thing is, what do you do about it? You can't stop going, and it's not like you're going to start pissing all over the floor (well, someone might).
Besides, urine probably has a higher resistance than, say, water.

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Apple? Macintosh? What are these strange words you speak?

I doubt he's making it up, but I might not be remembering it correctly, or maybe he didn't explain it thoroughly.

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Apple? Macintosh? What are these strange words you speak?

The guy would still have to be grounded in some way, right?

<font color=green>I've had enough cookies.</font color=green> <font color=blue><i>Got milk?</i></font color=blue>

Do I need to follow you around everywhere to keep your advice from killing someone?? What kills you is the amps true enough but the amps we are talking about are the ones across your heart. Your bodys resistance changes a lot and is highly dependant on how dry your skin is. For the purpose of this example lets say your bodys resistance is a fixed number called R. Also lets say the available current is infinate. The actual current in your body is not infinate but is E divided by R where E is the applied voltage and R is the R I talked about earlier. Since in this example R is fixed the total current in your body is directly related to the applied volage only.

A high voltage will kill you much quicker then a low voltage because the higher voltage has more force (as in Electo Motive Force=EMF) to push more current into your body. The only thing keeping some high voltage sources(like TVs and fences) from killing you is that they do limit current.

One volt with 200amps available applied to your body outside will do nothing. You will not feel it and it will not kill you. Again it is the current to the heart that kills you. What you try to avoid is giving the current a chance to get to your heart. For example if you piss barefoot on a fence the current goes from your unit to your legs and out your feet never going near your heart so this is a good and safe thing for you to do. Just make sure some friends are around cause when they see how much fun you are having they will want to try it too.

As the self appointed watchdog of electrical advice I have found no errors in your post and award you a gold star. Good job!!

BTW if you all didn't already know it, pissing on an electric fence is not a good idea.