Opening your personal computer to clean up hardware or check some of the components can be dangerous to its health. Motherboards and components such as memory, video cards, sound cards, and hard drives all contain small Integrated Circuits which are very susceptible to Static Electricity. Static Electricity is the spark you see when you touch a doorknob after walking across the floor. The problem with static electricity is if you touch a component in your computer when your body is charged up then there is what is known as an Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) across the components. ESD causes pitting of the surfaces of the components which may not cause an immediate failure but can lead to failure in the long term and cost a lot of money in replacement costs. Below are some precautions to follow as well as tips to remember when working on your computer.
1. Unplug your computer when working on the inside or well known inside of central processing unit (CPU). You must unplug the power cord to ensure that there is no power to the motherboard.
2. Capacitors inside the computer can store an electric charge for a short period of time after turning off and unplugging the computer so it is wise to wait a few minutes after disconnecting the power plug before actually opening the PC case.
3. Get a grounded wrist strap from an electronics supply house and connect it to a ground before handling the parts, such as memory, video card, modem, hard drive, etc, inside your computer. If a grounded wrist strap is not available then touch a safely grounded object such as a metal pipe to discharge any static electricity that may have built up on your body.
4. To avoid damage due to static electric discharge, hold circuit boards by the edges and avoid touching the individual components, wires, chips, or capacitors.
5. Use a grounded anti-static pad or the bag the component came in to place the components on and prevent static discharge when they are removed from the computer. Avoid dropping your hard drive as it is heavy and will most likely stop working if dropped.
6. Dont ever touch the non-serviceable. When you come across labels that say "No serviceable components inside" don't take it as a challenge because its a serious statement. Remember some parts of a computer are just not meant to repaired and this label is usually seen on the power supply which isn't a good idea to try to repair. Replacement is best.
Keep in mind that failure to protect yourself can cause injuries and it can also damage your computer and the most common accident is erasing stored data (due to hard drive crash). These are simple things to remember to protect yourself, software, hardware, and most important to protect our precious stored data on our computer.
1. Unplug your computer when working on the inside or well known inside of central processing unit (CPU). You must unplug the power cord to ensure that there is no power to the motherboard.
2. Capacitors inside the computer can store an electric charge for a short period of time after turning off and unplugging the computer so it is wise to wait a few minutes after disconnecting the power plug before actually opening the PC case.
3. Get a grounded wrist strap from an electronics supply house and connect it to a ground before handling the parts, such as memory, video card, modem, hard drive, etc, inside your computer. If a grounded wrist strap is not available then touch a safely grounded object such as a metal pipe to discharge any static electricity that may have built up on your body.
4. To avoid damage due to static electric discharge, hold circuit boards by the edges and avoid touching the individual components, wires, chips, or capacitors.
5. Use a grounded anti-static pad or the bag the component came in to place the components on and prevent static discharge when they are removed from the computer. Avoid dropping your hard drive as it is heavy and will most likely stop working if dropped.
6. Dont ever touch the non-serviceable. When you come across labels that say "No serviceable components inside" don't take it as a challenge because its a serious statement. Remember some parts of a computer are just not meant to repaired and this label is usually seen on the power supply which isn't a good idea to try to repair. Replacement is best.
Keep in mind that failure to protect yourself can cause injuries and it can also damage your computer and the most common accident is erasing stored data (due to hard drive crash). These are simple things to remember to protect yourself, software, hardware, and most important to protect our precious stored data on our computer.
About the Author:
Kermil J. Fogarth has excellent free reports on Backup Your Copmputer, or Surviving a Computer Crash
