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I have these semi-old working earbuds that I plug into my PC, either in the front port or directly into the motherboard via port at the back of the PC.

No matter which of these it is plugged into, seemingly at random I will get a slight shock from my earbuds in my ear and hear a popping noise.

At the same time the monitor plugged in via HDMI cable will flash black and then 'reconnect'. It shows the HDMI icon in the top left corner as if it was just connected to my PC.

I have no idea what could be causing this, and with the same earbuds/PC I was NOT having this problem in a different location, so that might factor into it somehow.

While nervously trying to replicate this I did notice that moving also produced smaller popping noises (no/smaller shock) on the screen instead of all turning black would flicker a tiny bit in places. I don't know a lot about electronics so any help is appreciated!

Outdated Computer Tech
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wbrugato
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1 Answers1

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The earbuds are not the problem. The monitors are. Usually, the vga and hdmi cables carry very little charge to allow passage of signals between the monitor and the cpu. however some old monitors allow current leakage from the monitor to the cpu case. Hence the minor shocks when touching the back of your case or any metallic parts of the case. But if you did not experience this in a different location, the problem may be caused by bad earthing of your power outlet.

johnalex
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