Static electricity and hardware

sniffy

sniffy

sniffy

Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2003
Posts
8,141
Location
East Sussex
Hey lads,

I'm trying to gather some information on how static electricity will affect PC components. Now we all know that once a component has been subjected to high amounts of static electricity it will break. Now what isn't entirely clear is what damage a component with a static charge can do when placed into a working PC. My guess is that the charge that has been built-up will eventually degrade and cause no damage. I can't find a definite answer for this though. I'm hoping someone on this forum has experience with hardware they knew had a static charge and tell us how they dealt with it.

A storm with loads of lighting occurred this week and my PC stopped working afterwards (won't POST). I'm not sure if it was a surge or a spike or what. There's no burn marks on any components so the only thing that comes to mind is static (lighting is basically a form of static electricity isn't it?) therefore I'm very skeptical about putting anything from my old rig into a brand new rig.

Thanks for any input.
 
Thanks for posting.

Well I've decided to upgrade anyway mate, she was getting old. I'm just hoping to salvage the optical drives and HDD. I imagine the data will be corrupt on the HDD but that isn't an issue.

How do you know static dissipates quickly? Do you have a source or just something you know? As a kid I remember having static in my monitor which stayed for ages. Let's just say the static did remain, would placing that component in an anti-static bag dissipate any charge that is in the component or do those bags simply prevent it from conducting the charge in the first place?

Edit:

Wiki claims they basically act as a faraday cage therefore it just prevents it from conducting in the first place.
 
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Will that not just prevent a component getting a static charge in the first place? I guess when I pick up the component I will get the static charge and ground it through the strap but I'm not sure though :confused:
 
I understand about grounding myself before handling components. I've done Electronics where I had to handle very sensitive ICs, I can appreciate its importance. I'm solely concerned about components which may have been subjected to this static and if they're safe to put into working PCs. As I can't find anything on google about it I guess the static doesn't hang around and kill other components. I think if I hold each component and ground myself then any charge that is lingering will be drawn to ground. I'd just like some opinions from people who are educated/have experience with this.

I will be ordering an anti-static band though ;)
 
I would appreciate more replies which back up the bit I quoted from platinum. Again I understand how to handle components so that isn't needed. I came home to find my PC wouldn't POST after a huge storm; I had no part in it :p
 
Some excellent replies, thank you very much. Much clearer picture in my mind what it's all about.

I'm going to order a new HDD and bin the old one as I don't like to idea of holding data on a suspect bit of kit. I don't mind if the DVD drive dies a bit early though :)
 
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