dell pentium 4 1.3 gigs windows M.E. 256 mb rdram p.c.800 explorer 5.5 road runner broadband zone alarm 2.6 362
good evening, would like to know whats the best way as far as turning what off, and leaving what on, to prevent static electricity from frying my mother board when i open my case to attempt my memory upgrade. i know there are several versions, which makes it confusing. thanks in advance bill:-)
To combat static electrictiy, touch either the frame or the side of the power supply to ground yourself. Then take the chips out of the antistatic bag and plug 'em in.
#3. "RE: static electricity." In response to Myk (Reply # 2)
dell pentium 4 1.3 gigs windows M.E. 128 mbs n.a.v.2001 explorer 5.5 road runner broadband zone alarm 2.6 362
thanks for the input, i'll leave everything plugged in as is , and make sure everything is turned off including the u.p.s.for a ground, and i'll also use a wrist strap for extra protection. if thats it? well, thank you. if not, whats missing?. thanks again, bill
Bill, I don't know what type of power supply you have, but many of the newer supplys are now ATX, as opposed to the standard ATs.
That means that the ATX depends on a logic circuit on the motherboard to turn it on. Once you flip the power switch on the ATX to "on", (some ATXs now don't even have a power switch!), it sends a 5V 720MA current to the mobo through pin 9 on the connector. That is for WOL (Wake Up On LAN). There is a power-on jumper on the motherboard that connects to the pushbutton located on the front of the case. When the pushbutton is pressed, it sends a signal to the mobo which in turn notifies the ATX to turn on the full power.
In my motherboard, there is a small green light on the board itself that stays on permanently AS LONG AS THE COMPUTER IS PLUGGED IN, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE POWER BUTTON IS ON OR NOT.
That means that if you are tinkering around, you can accidentally short/cause damage a number of ways because there may be a trickle of electricity still active and you may not be aware of it!
Bottom line.... be sure to unplug your unit, and use a grounding strap and you will be fine
AMD Quad 3.0/Oclocked to 3.7 stable. ECO-R120 Water Cooled System 4 Gig pc1066 DDR2 RAM Asrock mobo Dual SATA DVDs with Lightscribe Dual SATA 1_TB HDs Windows 8 Pro/Windows 7 Ult
dell pentium 4 1.3 gigs windows M.E. 128 mbs n.a.v.2001 explorer 5.5 road runner broadband zone alarm 2.6 362
thanks ranchhand, the way my system is set up unplugging the c.p.u.from the back of the unit would be much easier than from the u.p.s. would that be okay? thanks again bill
Billybob, That green LED on the motherboard that stays on after you shut down should go off when you shut off the power switch on the back of the power supply. You shouldn't have to unplug it from the wall. At least that's the way my Asus works.
Yeah, just make sure that any live electrical source (direct house line, battery backup units, etc.) is directly disconnected before popping the case, and you will be fine. Considering the $$ I put into my equipment, I would rather be absolutely sure so I just "pull da' plug".
I had one class where the instructor said to "just leave the unit plugged in, and the ground prong on the power plug will ground any static; Well, he was wrong!
ranchhand
AMD Quad 3.0/Oclocked to 3.7 stable. ECO-R120 Water Cooled System 4 Gig pc1066 DDR2 RAM Asrock mobo Dual SATA DVDs with Lightscribe Dual SATA 1_TB HDs Windows 8 Pro/Windows 7 Ult
No, he was right. Turn off the power to the computer either at the power supply, the UPS, or the surge suppressor, and the ground circuit will remain intact. That way touching the metal case will discharge any static on your body to ground, and wrist straps are not needed. If the power supply lacks a rear panel switch, use the UPS or surge strip switch, and anyone who is not using one or the other of those is an idiot anyway.
