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Tips for Preventing Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) Damage
Components inside a PC are extremely sensitive to electrostatic discharge (ESD - also known as static electricity). Electrostatic discharge can quickly and invisibly damage damage such components without warnings and more than likely you won't know it has happened - until, that is, your system won't work!
However, if you take proper care to ground yourself properly and handle components correctly, you can easily avoid the such damage occurring.
Preventing ESD
- Wear a grounding wrist strap if you have one. These are available at most electronic stores and are very cheap and last years.
- Turn off the computer.
- Remove external device cables, except for the power cable.
- Remove the case cover, taking care to use the appropriate screwdriver for all screws.
- Ground yourself by touching the metal case of the power supply while it is plugged in.
- Unplug the power cable.
Safe Handling of Components
- If installing new components, leave it in the anti-static bag until you are ready to use it.
- Don't lay components on top of anti-static bags as this provides no protection.
- Never slide PC cards or other components over any surface.
- Avoid static-inducing materials such as plastic and polystyrene (styrofoam) in the work area.
- Always hold PC cards by the edges and the metal mounting bracket.
- Avoid touching the components on the cards and the edge connectors that connect to expansion slots.
Read more in chapter 6 of the book
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
Last updated: May 4th 2004
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