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I am using Windows 7 on a Sony VAIO laptop. When I connected my PC to the charger, I felt a little electric shock when I touched the VGA and other connectors. I tested with a current detector and found that I was indeed correct: there is current flowing through these connectors. I checked my other laptops but it is not the case with other laptops.

Can anyone help in answering the following questions:

  1. Why is there current flowing?
  2. What is the negative impact on my laptop?
Hennes
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sumit
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2 Answers2

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It sounds like your laptop has issues with a ground, since the voltage on the VGA connector is floating high. You should not have gotten an electric shock, since nominal VGA signaling occurs at 0V and 0.7V. If possible, open the laptop, and try to see if any components are electrically shorted to the laptop chassis and/or other connectors.

If you only experience the shock when the charger is connected to the laptop, then you should stop using the charger immediately and get a new one. Check the charger itself for ground faults. If you are using an ungrounded charger, there may be an electrical fault in the actual socket. Start with the charger, and work from there.

Again, there is no voltage in the laptop which is high enough to shock you. I have not seen any laptop chargers provide a DC output higher then 18.5V. Look into the charger or any short circuits (either in the laptop or charger), but again, since you're getting shocked, ensure that your charger is not the problem.

Breakthrough
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You should not be getting shocks (other than maybe feet-on-the-carpet static-electricity shocks in dry winter air) from computer equipment. All computer equipment must be either "double insulated" or grounded (or sometimes both).

A laptop should be protected by it's charger. The charger should not cause the laptop to have a "charge" -- a voltage potential between bare metal parts and ground -- and, ideally, should have a 3-prong plug that grounds the laptop. (And of course one should never use a "suicide plug" to defeat the 3-prong ground.) If the charger is "putting a charge" on the laptop then then charger is defective and should be discarded yesterday.

But note that it's also possible for another (defective) device -- eg, a video monitor -- to produce voltage potential that is applied to the laptop via the device's connection. Any device that is plugged into AC power can do this if defective.

Daniel R Hicks
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