Case has some serious electricity running through it.

C

Cbl12886

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Messages
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I first noticed this when the top corner shocked me when I had my hand on it. The corner has some paint scraped off exposing the metal. If I touch anywhere near the back i/o plate it has even more electricity running through it. What could this be. I tried changing the power strip but that did nothing.
 
No, the power cable is plugged into the p/s and does not come in contact with anything else.
 
Power supply, this could be quite dangerous. A slight shock could be anything, but a serious shock as you make it sound, sounds to me like your mains are grounding out to your chassis (which would mean via the PSU).

Oh yeah, Power supply = the big gray box that has the plug for the outlet and on the other end inside of the computer has all of the wires coming out.
 
Is this a new build? If not, any new components added recently?

If the shock you're getting is enough to feel through bare skin and more than just a static-type zap it's most likely something in the PSU grounding to the chassis. Dangerous... If you're sure the outlet is wired properly, get a new PSU in the case.
 
Ah, he meant any of the cables touching the metal inside the case not outside! I will check that out.
 
jctazzy said:
Is this a new build? If not, any new components added recently?

If the shock you're getting is enough to feel through bare skin and more than just a static-type zap it's most likely something in the PSU grounding to the chassis. Dangerous... If you're sure the outlet is wired properly, get a new PSU in the case.
Click to expand...

This. Also, make sure the cable used from the wall outlet to the PSU is good. I had similar problem while back and it turns out the cable is faulty.
 
Verify the mains ground is 0V from the mains socket.
There are a number of ways to do this, the easiest is to measure the voltage between gnd and live, it should be 120V US, ~240V UK.
If you get less voltage measured, its likely the gnd is running a higher voltage than 0V / gnd isnt grounded very well.
Do the same test on the PC power lead if the mains socket is ok.
If the above is all good, the PSU is the problem.

ps any of the above isses are dangerous so take extreme care or get someone who is good with mains power issues to look at it!
 
could also be that the socket your power brick is plugged into it not grounded properly. We had our bricks ran into the basement from an upstairs outlet via a couple of extension cords. Our cases would shock us wherever there was bare metal or a fanscrew etc. After examining the box, it was found that the aux. ground (3rd pin on the plug) was never hooked up to that outlet. The ground wire was there, just was never hooked up to the socket. A flip of the circuit breaker, a quick screw, and another flip and no more shocky shocky.
 
As pointed out, it's either:
- an exposed wire inside the case touching a ground plane (metal surface inside the case), or more probable
- a faulty ground, either due to an issue with the PSU's grounding, a bad power cable (severed ground conductor), or an incorrectly wired outlet or other issue with the grounding of the outlet (elsewhere in the house).

At any rate it is something you should fix ASAP, as it's not only a potential threat to your components but to your life as well.
 
Lack of grounded outlet would fit to description. In that situation casing of PSU and anything connected to it floats halfway between live and neutral.


Cbl12886 said:
The corner has some paint scraped off exposing the metal. If I touch anywhere near the back i/o plate it has even more electricity running through it.
Click to expand...
There's the probable explanation for difference.
Back I/O plate is commonly metal giving lower resistance than touching place with metal exposed by scratches in paint.
 
Another thing to check is remove all unneccessary cables running into the PC (TV antenna, external powered devices). I've had some real dodgy plug packs that would leak a lot of charge via any common line to the PC.
 
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