Grounding Question

What's a good thing to attach my grounding wristband to? I've never worked with a laptop before.

 

I am not sure because I use one of these.

The Anti Static ESD Grounding Plug, Wrist Strap and (12ft) Cable Kit takes care of where to attach it.

Edit: I always see so many say they have successfully completed computer upgrades without grounding themselves and with no problems. Maybe people forget about latent ESD damage which is not as obvious. Symptoms could be seen to be general OS problems and many would think nothing of it.

 

where can i buy one in the US. because that would be great

 

and do i need a mat? or just the wristband

 

@IIAMRFJII

You can buy them in fry's electronics if you have one in or area or at microcenter if you have one of those also.

If you really wanted to you can buy them online easily and have them shipped to you, here's a link bro Newegg.com - anti static wrist strap

Just the wristband, attached to a metallic/other object that's grounded. IE chasis of a desktop computer

You can also use this and dont have to worry about any static electricity discharge from your body with this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...nti_static_wrist_strap-_-99-339-003-_-Product

I've personally seen computer techs using them. I never use any type of static protection when working with computers, I just touch a metallic object beforehand then I start opening stuff

P.S.

Take my help/advice/assistance with a grain of salt, I'm only a beginner IT tech. I'm sure someone here with years and years of experience can give you a better answer. I'm just giving you my two cents

 

You need to be pretty unlucky to really fry something when exchanging the GPU without any protection... nevertheless I would never recommend doing it without. Many in these forums report to have done such jobs perfectly fine without such gear... but that doesn't guarantee that you won't be unlucky.

Only a grounded wristband is almost the same thing as having nothing at all since you can still get electro-static discharges from your working place, e.g. a wooden table.

Best thing you can get for repairing the system yourself is a mat, a wristband connected to the mat and then ground the mat. That's also what Dell technicians do when repairing your system at home. It's not 100% failsafe, but it's the best you can get.


Edit:

Like I said...

But just touching something metal won't really help. You'd need to discharge yourself regularly to at least minimize the risk a little bit.

And always power drain before opening the system.

 

But what if i dont have a desktop nearby

 

Or tie it to a radiator or some plumbing.

 

to a part which is not painted of course... or it wont help at all.

 

alright im gonna go to my friends house to do this, so ill attach it to his desktop

so let me know if i get this right.

1. wrist strap+mat to metal unpainted part of a powered off,plugged in desktop's chassis
2. wrist strap on wrist and m15x on the mat
3. open it up and switch the gpu.
4. use alcohol to clean the heatsink
5. apply some mx-4 paste.
6. put it back together.
and finally turn it on and install the drivers.

 

@IIAMRFJII
You can this and dont have to worry about any static electricity discharge from your body with this Newegg.com - CABLES UNLIMITED ACC-1410 Wireless Anti Static Wrist Strap

The link on top is a wireless anti static strap so yeah you dont have to hook/strap it on anything

 

i just looked up reviews and it seems this is a scam

 

yeah bro, I honestly dont know again I'm just trying to help you out

I'd probably go with a strap then, and just follow what the other people are saying on where to strap it on to. IE metallic object

 

so are my steps good in my reply from before?

 

@IIAMRFJII

Oh my bad bro,

From what I'm reading your attaching the strap to the desktop within the vicinity of the m15x which you are working on to replace the GPU?

I dont know about alcohol to clean the fan, personally I just wipe it down with water with the dust I use can of compressed air (I've been told compressed air is bad though)

 

yes

and not the fan, the heat sink which has the thermal paste on it from the old card

 

Yeah alcohol on the thermal compound is good, my bad.

Attaching the strap on the non-painted chassis of the desktop should be good, just make sure the desktop is turned off, but plugged in. Plugged in why you say?

The third prong on the plug on the desktop acts as a ground

Other then that you should be fine.

*cough there's always a chance I'm wrong, if anyone disagree's with me please speak up I dont want to be the one responsible if his system gets fried - even though the chances are very slim.

 

ive just read in multiple places that it has to be plugged in

 

yeah, bro. I remember my professor telling me that also when I was going to computer classes to get my COMPTIA A+ cert

I always second guess myself.

The only problem when it's plugged in is that the mobo is still powered on, you physically have to either disconnect the AC power cable pins to the mobo/other components or there should be a switch on the power supply to stop ALL power.

Oh yeah make sure you remove the laptop battery, DUH I know just saying bro

 

Wht if i remove the power supply completely from the desktop, plug it in, and attach the strap and mat to it

 

No leave the power supply on bro, just turn the switch off in the back it should completely shut it off. just attach the strap the chasis of the desktop then your fine bro

 

i mean attach everything to the power supply, and plug it in to an outlet

 

Do you mean this step is applicable even during opening the system to remove the dust in the vents and fans?

Normally, the AlienFX light around my touchpad is disabled (no light). If I perform power drain, upon switching on the computer, the AlienFX light around my touchpad lights up. Thus, is it possible to open the system just to clean the fans, without performing the power drain?

Thanks for the advice given.

 

just cleaning the fans is fine.
if all you're removing is the back plate, i seriously doubt you're gonna get static on a component. the ram is shielded and gpu/cpu are inaccessible.

with regards to static, a wrist band connected to some exposed plumbing is enough. generally i don't even bother with that since i usually discharge any static prior to starting and have a perfect working area where the build up of static is almost impossible without wearing a polyester shirt.

about leaving the psu connected, it works on desktops to some extent (you're discharging static with the pc case) however i would not recommend it, especially on a laptop. you're far more likely to break the power plug and that in laptops is ridiculously expensive since it's connected to the motherboard.

about the psu plugged in, it only needs to be connected to earth. switching it off from the wall will still keep the pc grounded.