Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Case shocks me!
I did some research on it, but I'd like to get feedback here anyway.
Whenever I touch the metal rim on my tower it gives me a bit of a shock, it's seems like it might be related to a rattling sound coming from within that I noticed this morning, so I'm just hoping it's a loose screw or something. At first I thought it was the tray of my HDD getting decrepit, but this issue with being shocked is making think that it's related, since this is a really new predicament that I would have noticed earlier.
Are there any other things I should consider? Faulty ground in my outlet? Maybe a wire hitting a fan and got worn down?
I'll pop it open when I get time tomorrow, but I'd like a good list of things to look out for.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
Comments
This is in no way an answer, only a preliminary question.
Is the wall outlet, three prong, or a two prong with an adapter?
probably a faulty or exposed power supply, put some rubber gloves on.
Wall outlet is a 3-prong, and I have a splitter hooked into it that which has all my computer junk plugged into.
~and I don't need gloves so long as I wear my shoes that have good rubber soles. I was barefoot when getting shocked.
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
Well I was thinking that perhaps it was overvoltage grounding through the case instead of the ground of the house wiring, by the PSU.
But you have a ground, or at least you wall outlet has a ground socket, the third prong.
The other guys will probably be able to give you a good explanation for it.
Whats the weather like, has it been very dry? Could this have been static electricity, do you think?
I really don't want to just guess at this, myself, I seem to remember rainy weather on homes with a ground rod for the electric box, supposedly, causing some problems, but not inside the home, as far as shocks are concerned.
Being as Im still learning, better listen to what the other folks have to offer.
Um and if you go into your case make sure to unplug eveything first. Should you for some reason try to open you psu , dont, it has some amperage in it that can kill, even unplugged, or so Ive been told. Curious if you house has two wire or three wire, to the plugs, depends how old it is, or if add-ons were done.
Anyway there will be some better ideas than mine, and it may be an electrician should be brought in.
Just be carefull, until this is sorted out, don't want you to go poof.
Hard to say - I'm leaning towards either a grounding issue between the PSU and the wall, or a faulty PSU. Loose parts aren't a source of static electricity, although obviously a metal object rattling around is an opportunity for shorting something out. Also, there aren't any output voltages from a PSU high enough to shock you, so exposed wires aren't really a factor here.
Was the plug outlet modified in any way? Was a replacement cord used for the PSU that's missing the third prong? Internal damage to the PSU is possible, but less likely unless the unit was seriously abused or extremely old.
A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs:
That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.
I use to have this problem a lot when I was still a noob tech its caused by cheap power supps that arent coated and a mix of cheap casings too if your hardware falls under this category thats it. but it also happens sometimes even if you use an expensive powersupply and a cheap casing
Just so we can have some idea of what we're talking about: what power supply is it, and what case?
well it could be static also if you have high tolerance you can try holding the case for a few sec maybe 3 and see if its a prolonged shock or a jump
Actually had a problem like this on my girlfriends mothers PC.
If you touched the bare metal part of the case and her desk trim (metal) you could feel the current run right through you (it was a vibrating sort of tingle - didnt hurt just felt really weird...)
I ended up taking the mobo out and making sure the screws holding the board down weren't touching anything outside the grounded holes. Assembled the PC and it still happened.
Swapped out the cheap no name PSU with an older Antec one I had lying around and it solved the problem.
Now on a friends PC doing all that we still could feel current flowing when you touched the case and something metal (the door knob near his PC). His PC was plugged into a surge protector strip that had 3 prongs plugged into the wall outlet. Couldn't figure out what was causing it... Decided to take my UPS over and plug the PC into that, and plugged that into the wall outlet. No more current flowing through.
So I would have to say try a newer power strip (yours might be defective) as it's probably the cheapest thing to test first. Maybe getting a UPS (Battery Backup with power regulator) could help as well. Also get a power strip/UPS that has a 'ground fault' sensor - it will tell you if the house wiring is screwy.
Or try swapping out the PSU with a new one.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
This can't be good. I believe the PSU is behind this. And even a small current in the case can hurt the components, you should replace the PSU ASAP.
yeah PSU for sure even new ones have this problem sometimes just make sure you dont remove the third prong a lot of people like doing that I dont know why its like the love plugging it into 2 prong sockets your suppose to use a AVR dammit!
Aye, hate when people do that....
Why break the ground prong off? The 3 to 2 prong grounded adapters cost like 96 cents at most...
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
im curious what sort of voltage its pulling.
any chance you have a voltmeter you check the current with? Not that I would know what the issue is beyond that, I just find it amusing and curious how much power is going through the case.
oh, and Id probably keep that thing powered off until its fixed.
if you get those rarely you shouldnt bother yourself with it , if you get it few times a week, you might wana check it out ,
pretty sure 80% of computers have it at some points, even my new one, which i assembled myself, used to shock me once in a month , then it just disapeared all together without doing anything, or maybe i replaced mobo, which made changed screws a bit, who knows, but if its just small shock once in a while its safe to ignore if you dont wana spend extra money