Being zapped by computer case?

[RedDevilShot]

Got an odd question. So is it bad if you feel a slight tingle when touching you computer case? It depends on location and which hand. I only feel the zap in my left hand and always near the back of the case closest to the psu. It's not bad kinda like a little tingle. at the moment my left hand has a cut on the pointer finger so that might be the reason I can feel it there?

[Swealteek]

7 minutes ago, RedDevilShot said:

Got an odd question. So is it bad if you feel a slight tingle when touching you computer case? It depends on location and which hand. I only feel the zap in my left hand and always near the back of the case closest to the psu. It's not bad kinda like a little tingle. at the moment my left hand has a cut on the pointer finger so that might be the reason I can feel it there?

Had the same ting i dont know the english tralstion but its calt "geaard" or grounding ??? look if you wall out let has this type off plug. It wil not damg your pc bud its kinde enoing

 

TL:DR, its a 3 conncort on you wal outlet thats connect to the ground. If you have a older house it may not be there or its only in your wasser/drayer room. New homes ar required to have this.

 

https://www.google.nl/search?safe=active&client=ubuntu&hs=8ob&channel=fs&dcr=0&biw=2752&bih=1432&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=stopcontact+met+aarde&oq=aarde+stopc&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.0i8i30k1l2.47755.50235.0.51404.11.11.0.0.0.0.108.935.10j1.11.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.11.927...0j0i67k1j0i19k1.9z7YHKucMQM#imgrc=rRQdiTtR4LlqdM:

 

http://www.ecmweb.com/contractor/failures-outlet-testing-exposed

[Leonard]

It is bad if you touch the components, they will be fried. That tingle you felt is how it feels when you get hit with static electricity, if it was like serious electricity your whole body would feel that way and wouldn't know why....once you live. I

 

Polyester/carpet/ can make this even more a problem.

[Wi RoZ]

No idea. Make sure the PC is attached to a grounded outlet. My family once owned an old Dell Optiplex of which I (ignorant as I was back then) tried to overclock the busspeeds. Didn't succeed very well, reverted back to original clocks but damage was already done. Thing became the longer the more unstable until my brother tried to boot it on a dreary saturday morning and got zapped. Never POSTed again after that. The PC that is. Luckily my brother was fine

[RedDevilShot]

1 minute ago, Leonard said:

It is bad if you touch the components, they will be fried. That tingle you felt is how it feels when you get hit with static electricity, if it was like serious electricity your whole body would feel that way and wouldn't know why....once you live. I

 

Polyester/carpet/ can make this even more a problem.

I have cement flooring

[RedDevilShot]

I have the breaker box in my room. I checked it and the breaker connected the outlets in here is indeed grounded, the plug also has a ground on it so I'm not 100% there.

[Leonard]

Just now, RedDevilShot said:

I have cement flooring

Then it could just be your natural way but if this has only now started with say a new PC then something is wrong because you should not get shocked and yet the components work.

[RedDevilShot]

Just now, Leonard said:

Then it could just be your natural way but if this has only now started with say a new PC then something is wrong because you should not get shocked and yet the components work.

it's always been like this, literally every computer I touch I feel the tingle so I decided to finally ask.

[Swealteek]

Just now, RedDevilShot said:

I have the breaker box in my room. I checked it and the breaker connected the outlets in here is indeed grounded, the plug also has a ground on it so I'm not 100% there.

It needs to be every ware ground not just at the connector. And try this, make you hands try as you can than touch the radtior / space heater. than touch your pc case

[NumLock21]

Cold weather will do this too.

[Swealteek]

Just now, RedDevilShot said:

it's always been like this, literally every computer I touch I feel the tingle so I decided to finally ask.

Is your power bar ground. Everything in the circle has to be ground not just the outlet

[Leonard]

Just now, RedDevilShot said:

it's always been like this, literally every computer I touch I feel the tingle so I decided to finally ask.

Then it is just you. Some people just naturally produce static electricity more than others, Linus is one, he always gets zapped. you can either use a static wrist strap on your leg or get a old PSU and plug it in but don't turn it on and just touch it randomly.

 

if you touch any of your components and you have the electricity ready to pop then the components will die so be careful.

[cj09beira]

you will need to follow the ground wire as there must be a place on your electrical grid that doesn't continue the wire until the ground.

if you live on a house (not apartment) you could make your own ground connection by making a hole in the ground and having a small spool of wire there, then extending that wire until your closest ground point (that is connected to your pc in some way)

[RedDevilShot]

Just now, cj09beira said:

you will need to follow the ground wire as there must be a place on your electrical grid that doesn't continue the wire until the ground.

if you live on a house (not apartment) you could make your own ground connection by making a hole in the ground and having a small spool of wire there, then extending that wire until your closest ground point (that is connected to your pc in some way)

I've actually tried that. I took a copper wire and put it through one of the tiny holes in the back of my case, (its a metal grid for airflow) and stuck the wire in the ground. I still felt the tingle

[cj09beira]

then try having the wire under a screw with the paint under the screw stripped away, as you need good connection, and also make sure the wire under the ground has good connection to it (step on it a few times)

[cj09beira]

i had the same problem and i am writing this through a computer that has a wire going out of the window into the ground right outside, in my case it fixed it very well

[turkey3_scratch]

When something is connected to ground, ignoring other external forces acting on any charge inside of the object in question (in this case the metal of the computer), the charge will be neutral. This means the protons and electronics will cancel each other out, meaning there won't be an electric field produced by the computer case.

 

However, if your body itself has a net positive or net negative charge, then something happens when you bring it near the neutral computer case. If your body is negatively charged, then positive charge in the computer case is going to relocate to be more close to your body. Likewise, if you are positively charged, negative charges in the computer case will shift more toward you, even if the total number of positive and negative in the case is the same. No longer are they equally distributed, your electric field from your body has caused a shift. I depict this here with Nicholas Cage. In this case he has more negative than positive charge, so the positive charges in the case shift toward him, as the negatives are more repelled.

 

 

When Nicholas Cage actually touches the computer case, crap happens. But I guess the moral of this is theoretically you can still get shocked even if the computer case was grounded. When a computer case is not grounded and you get shocked, the typical case (no pun intended) is that the charged case comes in contact with your neutral body. It's basically the upper image but in reverse. This situation is a little different, though, where a charged body comes into contact with a neutral case.

 

That's my thinking at least.