SPCR

This won't happen again, as I moved the location of my desktop. I accidentally touched my desktop and discharged a small amount of static electricity. It immediately turned off. I reboot it ( it asked if I wanted to start it up normally, which I did) and everything seems fine.

What are the odds there isn't some issue that will pop up in a few weeks or months? Is there anyway to check now?

Is your case metal? Was it earthed at the time? So long as you didn't touch the internals at the time, no damage should be done.

As you see no problems, it will be OK. Static electiricity will do immediate damage, not something that will come up as a problem later.

Static electricity, from what I've read, can take out tiny fractional bits of electronic circuitry which might not be immediately apparent but can lead to a component's destruction months later.

But all the cautioning about static is directed at those working in open cases. I imagine that closed cases encounter static electricity all the time. The PSU is the component most intimate with the exterior of a case. I offer the following scenario with the warning that I know little about the subject. Perhaps the spark caused the PSU's overvoltage protection to activate, shutting it down, sparing itself and the rest of the computer from damage.

Reachable wrote:Static electricity, from what I've read, can take out tiny fractional bits of electronic circuitry which might not be immediately apparent but can lead to a component's destruction months later.

But all the cautioning about static is directed at those working in open cases. I imagine that closed cases encounter static electricity all the time. The PSU is the component most intimate with the exterior of a case. I offer the following scenario with the warning that I know little about the subject. Perhaps the spark caused the PSU's overvoltage protection to activate, shutting it down, sparing itself and the rest of the computer from damage.

I'm hoping your scenario is on target!

I would only worry about CPU or RAM, both of which can be stress-tested. Depending on how modern your motherboard is, it may have jolt-absorbing components to protect the most fragile bits.

My vote is for the protection kicking in as well, unless your front panel wiring is really dodgy.

Das_Saunamies wrote:I would only worry about CPU or RAM, both of which can be stress-tested. Depending on how modern your motherboard is, it may have jolt-absorbing components to protect the most fragile bits.

My vote is for the protection kicking in as well, unless your front panel wiring is really dodgy.

Brand new motherboard (ASUS) and the case is the Corsair 550D.

I don't know how the quality is in the Corsair case. My Antec Sonatas and P180B had poor front panel assemblies, for example, terrible hiss on audio connectors and one of the Sonatas had a very sensitive power button.

Check here about ESD: http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/297/i ... rview.html.

That's all just marketing of course, but at least they're paying attention to ESD. Old mobos apparently had that stuff already (maybe), but as we've seen it's not been super effective - I've busted a motherboard with ESD and pretty sure I busted the CPU as well that time.

Das_Saunamies wrote:I don't know how the quality is in the Corsair case. My Antec Sonatas and P180B had poor front panel assemblies, for example, terrible hiss on audio connectors and one of the Sonatas had a very sensitive power button.

What's wrong with your Antec power buttons? Does it cause the computer to sometimes shut down while you're using it? I've been considering an Antec P280 or Sonata Solo II lately, so I hope this doesn't become a problem.

Not THAT bad. It was more like the PC started before I had even pressed the button properly (think touch-activated). The audio hiss was the worst part of it and painted a pretty clear picture of how good the insulation was - and that thing connects straight to the mobo/card. It's not just Antec cases that have had/currently have the audio issue, mind you, even expensive cases can end up with shitty front panels.

The old Solo had very fragile button construction AFAIK (example), and I think the Solo II inherited that. No idea how the FP is on the P280.

It doesn't affect the audio quality if you use use the audio connectors in the back of the case does it?

Also, is there any way to swap out the audio connectors in the front? Maybe there's some sort of 5.25" drive bay accessory that could take care of the audio instead.

gdr wrote:It doesn't affect the audio quality if you use use the audio connectors in the back of the case does it?

Also, is there any way to swap out the audio connectors in the front? Maybe there's some sort of 5.25" drive bay accessory that could take care of the audio instead.

The connectors "at the back of the case" are the motherboard's or soundcard's connectors. Whole different set.

You can leave the case FP audio connector(s) completely disconnected. In fact I suggest that you do so regardless - I've solved a few people's audio issues just by telling them to not use the FP connectors. There's some bay panels that can do the job, and even some amps that you can pop in there (SPCR review link).