Can static damage my PC?

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Grasscrest

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Hello, everyone. I have a metal keyboard at home, and I zap it everytime I sit down and touch it. Is it possible to damage your PC this way?
 
If your USB ports are grounded properly, no. If they are not, then the only damage might be to your usb port, as they usually are fused (either individually or in groups), and possibly your keyboard (depending on how the discharge travels to the pc).

You can test the USB port's ground by touching the outer shielding of the port with a dmm probe, and touching a case screw with the other probe, with the DMM on continuity or ohm. Should be near zero ohms and a beep if on continuity mode.
 
Nobu said:
If your USB ports are grounded properly, no. If they are not, then the only damage might be to your usb port, as they usually are fused (either individually or in groups), and possibly your keyboard (depending on how the discharge travels to the pc).

You can test the USB port's ground by touching the outer shielding of the port with a dmm probe, and touching a case screw with the other probe, with the DMM on continuity or ohm. Should be near zero ohms and a beep if on continuity mode.
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If your computer is not properly grounded then touching any metal part will give you a slight tingle of electricity. I had a outlet go bad and touching any part metal from KB to case would cause a tingle.
 
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Grasscrest said:
Hello, everyone. I have a metal keyboard at home, and I zap it everytime I sit down and touch it. Is it possible to damage your PC this way?
Click to expand...
Very unlikely to do any damage. To fry the actual USB you would have to be sticking it into the port. A discharge at the KB won't have enough juice to travel far to do any damage.
 
vegeta535 said:
If your computer is not properly grounded then touching any metal part will give you a slight tingle of electricity. I had a outlet go bad and touching any part metal from KB to case would cause a tingle.
Click to expand...
And you can test that by touching a case screw or the ground plane with one probe, and the metal screw on an outlet, or the ground(!) socket of an unused adjacent outlet with the other probe, and testing the outlet with an outlet tester.
 
Thank you, everyone :) I watched Linus' video and however informative it was, it is, like with everything I've found on the subject, more oriented towards people who work with PCs and touch the parts directly. As he said, he probably wouldnt worry as much if the part he touches costs nothing. My current PC is really old, so I never worried too much about the static issue. But since I'm planning to spend quite a bit of money on a new one, I started to worry. And since I've killed a couple of keyboards with static in the past, I began to wonder how far the damage can go. It seems like most people agree that it is unlikely to damage your PC like that, however it appears to be the kind of issue where you can't guarantee the outcome 100%.
 
Grasscrest said:
Thank you, everyone :) I watched Linus' video and however informative it was, it is, like with everything I've found on the subject, more oriented towards people who work with PCs and touch the parts directly. As he said, he probably wouldnt worry as much if the part he touches costs nothing. My current PC is really old, so I never worried too much about the static issue. But since I'm planning to spend quite a bit of money on a new one, I started to worry. And since I've killed a couple of keyboards with static in the past, I began to wonder how far the damage can go. It seems like most people agree that it is unlikely to damage your PC like that, however it appears to be the kind of issue where you can't guarantee the outcome 100%.
Click to expand...

When static has a direct route to ground, it will spare surrounding electronics damage.
In your case, the USB ground appears to be tied to the keyboard plane and/or surround.
If this wasnt the case there would ordinarily be glitches or malfunctions when static shocked.

If you want to reduce the shocks, touch something large and metal, or something else thats earthed, before touching the k/b when you've been up and about.
Leather soled shoes or bare feet (to help conduct static out of you), and cotton clothing (to prevent clothing causing static build up) will help.
The cause will be the carpet where you are walking and/or the clothes you are wearing.
 
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Yeah I've read about it as well. It makes it worse now during winter with extra woolen clothes I might be wearing. It can be annoying, but it's good to know my PC wont be destroyed at least.
 
During the winter it tends to be quite dry in the house due to the heat running quite a bit. Every time I come back inside from grabbing a smoke and after taking off my jacket and hat I'll touch the lamp on the other side of the room to discharge static buildup before sitting down at my desk. If it's nighttime and the lamp isn't on I get to see a nice bright spark when I do it.
 
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