Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is the sudden flow of electricity between two objects caused by contact, an electrical short, or dielectric breakdown. One of the causes of ESD events is static electricity which is generated by for example walking on a rug, rubbing a plastic comb against dry hair, rubbing a balloon against a sweater, ascending from a fabric car seat, or removing some types of plastic packaging.
Questions tagged [esd]
22 questions
17
votes
3 answers
How can I check if an anti-static wrist strap works?
I bought Belkin's anti-static wristband but i must be sure it works, since sometimes people report getting units that are defective or do not work in reality.
I have laptop only. How to check if anti-static wristband works?
UPDATE: I have tested…
Boris_yo
- 5,994
7
votes
2 answers
What exactly is grounded through motherboard standoffs?
My micro-ATX motherboard is mounted to brass standoffs inside an unpainted metal case.
What part of the motherboard is electrically bonded to the case through these standoffs?
Only the metal traces around the screw holes?
Or the whole ground-plane…
user656156
4
votes
2 answers
Using electrostatically charged air filters on computer fans? Will I just be blowing charged particles into my case?
I've searched long and hard to try to find a straight answer to this question, but there seems to only be information on how electrostatically charged air filters work (you know, the kind you put on your central air conditioning air intakes) and not…
Taal
- 143
3
votes
2 answers
Static electricity - Our computers were covered with black trash bags for about six months, is that bad?
A laptop and two desktops have been covered with big trash bags to protect them from dust for quite some time. Is there any danger of anything getting damaged from static electricity?
Is there anything I should know? Could static electricity have…
vens
- 31
3
votes
1 answer
Static electricity on my PC, and crash on USB key touch
My PC is a bit weird: Sometimes, I can switch it on just by touching the front side near the power button. Very fun in fact, I love it!
But sometimes, when I connect a USB key, the PC just crashes. In fact, I just have to touch the USB port with…
Cédric Girard
- 145
3
votes
1 answer
Should you ground yourself before touching the metal shield of the USB connector on a thumb drive?
By the shield I mean the metal rectangular tube covering the connector pins.
Is this shield designed to take ESD shocks, and does it protect the internal circuitry from static electricity? What would happen if there was a static discharge from your…
utwentyseven
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2
votes
1 answer
USB grounding issue with every port
Almost every time I plug in a USB device, it will lock my computer up, leaving me with a completely unresponsive black screen, with everything in the case still operating (fans, drive, lights, etc). I caught on and realized static shocks were…
user1362548
- 143
1
vote
2 answers
What's the risk of ESD damage moving an already built PC?
I am aware of the risks of ESD damage when building a PC. But what about moving an already built PC (where all the components are installed in a closed PC case)?
I want to take a PC, pop it into a carry bag, and take it on the bus to town. While the…
misha256
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1
vote
1 answer
Other places to ground oneself without exposed case metal?
In a computer case, if all portions of (easily accessible) case metal are painted, without having an ESD wriststrap, where else can can one touch to ground themselves to the case?
If I put my tongue on the heatsink, would that perchance do the…
Coldblackice
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1
vote
4 answers
Grounding with a wood table vs a metal table standing on a carpet floor
I have the acer nitro 5 AN515-53.
I'm standing on carpet flooring and I suspect that will produce static electricity overtime.
Would a wood table and metal table have the same grounding properties as long as they are on the floor I'm standing on?…
ShangWang
- 131
1
vote
3 answers
Will this protect from ESD?
I'm going to build my first PC soon. I've read about the ESD-dilemma but there seem to be so many different answers to this, what to do and where to connect yourself.
What I'm planning is to achieve common ground (same electrical potential) between…
copper
- 48
1
vote
2 answers
how to carry a graphics card arround if I dont have anti static bag
I want to carry a graphics card to a friends place. The Card is old and I don't have the original packaging.
I know that best way to carry it will be in an anti-static polybag and I tried hard to get one at local stores without any luck. I tried…
Rahul Tiwari
- 113
1
vote
2 answers
Did I damage my RAM?
I recently purchased Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 RAM , and for some reason I decided to take it out of the box and I touched it without anti static protection of any kind . I didn't touch the RAM connectors, but only the machined aluminium heat…
Federico Tozzi
- 11
- 2
0
votes
2 answers
ESD Wrist Strap Connection Location
We have some workers who say that the wrist strap is too short to plug into the receptacle on the ESD mat, so, they claim that it is fine to just clip the the ESD wrist strap to the mat, closer to them. Is this still in compliance with ESD standards…
stan
- 1
0
votes
0 answers
How to get the .cab file for installing the language in Windows 11?
Trying and change to English language. I mistakenly uninstalled the default language (Spanish). Now Win11 cannot boot, only have access to cmd or can be reinstalled deleting all configs and apps.
Same issue as in this question, where it was solved…
user2495207
- 129