Anti-Static precautions?

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DavidWright05

New Member
I am about to start work on building my first PC>...

what steps do i have to take to ensure anti-static? I know to take socks off... thats about it...

does it hurt to have a TV on nearby?
 
I dont know much having tvs nearby ( i suppose It wouldn't hurt if the tv is far away) but I have avery good suggetion, You can get a special Bracelet that with a wire that connects to the pc case and sends any static electricity through the case and to the ground.
 
Ground yourself from time to time and you'll be ok :)

From Crucial:
  • Turn off the computer, monitor, and all accessories (printer, speakers, etc.)
  • Leave the computer power cord plugged in. (It's OK to unplug your accessories if you like.)
  • Briefly touch an unpainted metal part of your computer case.
  • Plant your feet and don't walk around. If you do need to walk around, ground yourself again before touching any of the internal parts of your computer.
 
Gee? I never had to take socks off to build working cases? But a few smart precautions are never anything to consider worthless just because "someone else" didn't do the same thing. Having a tv running right close to where the case is being worked on would be a possible hazard to sensitive components like memory(especially), cpu(close to screen), and expansion cards(video, sound, tv tuners).

Many especially in certain businesses to avoid liability will stand on non conductive mats and wear wrist straps clipped onto the chassis of the system they are working on. Most will simply maintain contact by having at least one arm lying on the side of a case when handling various hardwares as a precaution. Some will simply grab a cpu with only two fingers and even walk around with it(not advised here).
 
Yah, i usually dont bother with much, just figured id do a quick google and look for something from a respectable source (and given crucial --> memory --> memory is particularly static senstivie so would make a decent idea)
 
If you avoid contact with the contacts(that one sounded good :P ) you can handle memory all day long as long as you are on solid wood floors and not on static producing carpets and wool rugs. You also avoid the contacts on any of the hardwares being installed.

(You don't want to break pins off of a cpu do you? :eek: ! You don't fry that before you have time to overclock it do you? :eek: ! "Common sense" does go further when newbies take precautions. :D )
 
It's always better to be too careful, but to be honest with you, I have never destoryed anything by shocking it. I sometimes will even leave motherboards laying on my carpet!
 
Although precaution is always good, I can tell you, from fisrt hand experience, that computer compenents are more durable/protected than you think. (Oh boy, I've been waiting to tell this story.....) When I was either fourteen or fifteen when my parents decided to get a new computer. They kind of put aside the old one so I decided to open it up. I really liked the case it came in so I decided to try and put in my own computer parts inside. I also decided to do this ALL ON CARPET FLOOR. So basically I had two computer's worth of parts spread out on the floor, trying to figure how to put the computer back together again. My HDD was smaller than my parents old computer HDD so I decided mounted by HDD with boxing tape!!! And when I thought I was finished, the wouldn't computer turned on. That seriouslt scared the crap out of me..... My dad ened up puting my computer back the way it was and it still worked!! Anyway, I kind of learned my leason from that and now I'm a lot older and wiser.
 
What you learned there was that just laying down on a carpet failed to see any "esd"(electro static discharge). It's when you walk or run even across any carpeted floor and touch a door knob you get "zzzzzaapped" by esd. That is the type of shock that can damage hardwares. When going across the carpet you actually stored a charge until you touched a ground source.
 
Ya, everyone does make it seem like you have to be extremely careful, as long as your ground yourself by touching the case like pc eye said, you will be fine.
 
You really don't have to worry about it, to an extent. Just whenever you open your computer up, just touch the unpainted metal (like The_Other_One) said. Just give it an occasional tab as your assembling the computer.
 
Why are you supposed to keep the power cord plugged in? I always un-plugged it to keep from getting shocked...
 
Well, nothing was damaged, but my dad just like 'f this' and scrapped the old computer. Nothing gained, nothing really lost. I just kind of learned my lesson and I have no problems taking apart and putting back together a computer now.

Just make sure you don't touch what you're not supposed to touch, like exposed hardware, aka an exposed HDD. Also, careful when you unplug stuff so that you don't take out the socket as well because it's nearly impossible to put it back in for some sockets since the connects maybe flimsy, aka SATA sockets.
 
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Starwarsman said:
Why are you supposed to keep the power cord plugged in? I always un-plugged it to keep from getting shocked...
Click to expand...

You keep it plugged in, but you switch the PSU off. This allows the computer to be grounded so it doesnt shock you and cause damage to sensitive computer parts.
 
That's kind of funny since I've build enough cases without ever having the ac cord plugged in. That includes swapping hard drives, memory, video and sound cards, cpus, supplies, and even moving into another case. Just don't plan on opening up crt monitors and power supplies anytime soon. Crts can shatter when hot and both have caps that store..... zzzzz.. zzzz... zzzzzzap! uoorgh...:eek: ! lethal charges.
 
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