Author: Stephen Ham
Date: 11:33:31 12/30/04
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On December 30, 2004 at 13:40:04, William Penn wrote: >>>The funny thing about the whole event is that I'm deathly afraid of electricity. >>>I kept reminding the service guy that my computer is ON, as is the power, and I >>>have 4-fans running. He kept saying don't worry. But as soon as I touched the >>>power cord to my hard-drive, I saw a spark and got zapped. >>> >>>I always thought that one NEVER deals with anything electrical with the power >>>on. >>> >> >> >>shows that you should always challenge the experts >> > >It makes no sense whatsoever to leave the Power turn ON while you're working >under the hood. Turn the power switch OFF on your computer! You were lucky. > >However it's a good idea to leave the computer plugged into the wall socket (or >power strip, or UPS) provided it has a 3-prong connector and is on a properly >grounded circuit. Why? Because that leaves the chassis of the computer connected >to true ground, so static electricity can't zap components - provided that you >touch the metal chassis to ground yourself first. There should be no dangerous >power accessible (you can't get shocked) if you leave the cover on the power >supply. The wires and plugs leading from the power supply should have no >electricity in them. >WP Dear Duncan and WP, I asked a hardware buddy about my experience. He said that the service tech that I was dealing with probably worked on a lot of laptops. There, he said it's perfectly safe to connect and disconnect units while the power is still on. But he said it's NOT OK on a desk top. Apparently desktops and laptops have a different design of some sort, with regard to electronics. Regardless, given my fear of electricity, I'll never again trust a computer tech, and will always turn off the power when inside my computer. Also, that service tech had me remove the bios battery on the motherboard. In order to do so, I needed to pry it out with a small screwdriver. So just touching metal to a battery and it's outlet scared me. Next time, I'll use a plastic knife, or something similar. All the best, Steve
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