Sony SZ 110 - 120 (brushed metal finish) Electric shock / tingle on palmrest ?

I just purchased a sony SZ160P last week. The keyboard on it works correctly and im not experiencing this tingling feeling on the palm rest area.
I dont know much about ellectricity , but i always get a nasty shock from my main pc sometimes when i touch it , not sure whats causing it lol , but on my laptop i cant feel any kind of tingling and im extremely sensible to electricity.

Just found this link not sure how much truth to it there is http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=1356279

 

I was to quick to post i did some testing and yes there is defenetly something going on. Its not really a shock its a weird vibration and i notice it if i slide my finger up and down on the wrist pad and it seems to get stronger the closer i get to the keyboard and the wird thing ( not sure if im goign crazy lol) but it seems like it make a sound similiar to the light saber(if spelled correctly) the sword from star wars.
I guess this is gona be my 3rd laptop i return , first on was an HP and the thing got so hot that was unusable , the second one was the dell xps m170 , great laptop and super fast , but way to corny lookign and dell costumer support pissed me off to the point i returned it and now this im sad=( I really liked this laptop but i cant leave with imperfections of any kind. BAH this suck someone tell me there is nothign wrong with my laptop , im gona go cry.
This computer companys are a joke all of them and the only reason im using them is cause i want a laptop and there is no effective way of building one on my own , other wise i would.With all the money they make how can the treat theyr costumers this way , after we pay them so much money. I just went on sonystyle.ca and noticed that they dont have the SZ160 listed anymore but they have the SZ120 , i guess they had some of those left over lol.
This is a lot of money that i invested in this machine (err my bad its a finance , i would of payed it eventually )funny thing is just 5 months ago i asked them for a finance on an HDTV and they sayd no , but when i asked for the SZ160 they gave it to me 2 weeks later ?????hmmmmmmthey had nothing to loose i guess
Well this suck im mad, this companys are like drug dealers , they have no heart they are cold blooded killers=. After this i dont think im ever gona buy a laptop again ,way to much money for an object that i might use and not use and on top of it i got to deal with this mafioso company giving me deffective merchandise.Plus im payng so much money for this laptops and on the sony i have no control on what software i want or not installed on my machine wtf. im off or im gona go off with my bad spelling and give u all a headeche .

 

I purchased a targus brick adapter with the third prong on the plug. Using this adapter with the ground, the electrical sensation on my sz160 palmrest is gone.

 

My question really is why should i go out of my way to purchase a third party adapter , after i spent over 3000$ canadian dollars? Doesnt make any sense.
The vibration it produces is really strange , i never felt something like that on any laptop i had. I owned 5 of them in my lifetime but this was a first.I also noticed that if u close the lid it will still do it from on top of the LCD.
This is a PREMIUM notebook (has advertised by sony) , how can they justify all this problems on it? They have been int he notebook business for a long time now,they have the money to make quality products , so wtf is going on?
They lazy? they careless?

 

Almost every company in the world today is in business to find a way to part you from your money. Many of them are no different than Sony. Every notebook is a compromise. Some companies are better than others at balancing those compromises. You should return your Sony SZ, and find the cheapest notebook you can find.

It is the consumer's responsibility to educate themselves about the products they spend money on. Had you done even a very simple google search on this machine, you would have found these forums that discuss what you are complaining about. Consider it a learning experience.

 

I just got off the phone with theyr thecnical support and the guy just told me to return it , he had no idea wtf i was toking about and he also didnt care much about it, i cant really blame him.He doesnt care , sony doesnt care why should i care? To bad cause it really looked nice. O well next laptop, any suggestions? maybe i shoudl go acer or asus this time hmmmm

 

Definitely not Acer...

Though, I would strongly recommend exchanging it for a new one.

Btw the two SZ's I have had and the replacement one have no such problem...

 

I meantioned that my SZ160 had the electric palm rest only at home, but not in the office. I went home and started plugging it into differnet sockets in the flat, and on all of them I had the electric palmrest, except one! One socket was OK and the electric palmrest became a calmpalmrest. I prolly wasn't grounded particually well...

 

I can try and exchange it but i have a feeling most of them have this problem.
I would like to have an answear from sony , but all i was told was that they know about the problem and they will be willing to take the laptop back, but they gave me no explanation to why this was happening.To me this is more serious then the keyboard issue and the carbon fiber cover , but then again 3 strikes and ur out.Cant spend that much money on a machine that leaves you wondering how long it will last and why are my wrists getting shocked.

 

Note that this is not just the SZ. The Macs had the same. Perhaps swapping the 2 pong for a three prong plug without a floating ground might help?

 

Actually, I just read this on the Mac forum:

Re: Electrified Cases on Macbook Pro!! More common problem?
Posted: Apr 13, 2006 12:39 PM in response to: H F Cohen
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Howard,

I bought my first Mac last July. It was / is a PowerBook G4 1.5GHz 12" notebook. I was one of the first to order the MacBook Pro within an hour of the Keynote address last January. As far as I know, all PowerBooks, and definately all MBP's (and most likely iBooks as well) use the same type of brick power block with the computers. They ship you a "brick" and the "default" connector on it is the two prong, direct to jack type. You, optionally, can remove that plug, and connect the three prong (grounded) cord, which is what I do. This three pronged approach stops the "fuzzy" feeling that is associated with the device not being grounded. My chief engineer in my company was shocked (pardon the pun) to see that this was the case! I've been running it with the three prong cord literally since the day I bought it, and don't have any intentions of switching.

I am not familiar with the NEMA standards for plugs and grounding. (I have my hands full with thier DICOM standard, believe me!). I do know that Oregon is one state where if I showed up with a computer that wasn't grounded correctly, and if the Bio-Engineer is up to the job, he would toss me right out the door! Canada - same thing! I go to Vancouver and Toronto alot and run into the same thing. In any case, I cannot for the life of me understand how this gets UL approval in the States, but, on the other hand, the brick probably does, and not the notebook (when connected to DC all bets are off on regulatory affairs!).

Here is a direct link to the MacBook Pro support site where you will find a link to the manual:
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro/

Bob

 

Well new unit has the same battery issue too. From 100% charged I turned on the unit. By the time I got into windows, I was down to 94% within 3 mins of not really doing anything(just internet) I was down to 89-90%. And staying with this thread, same electrical issue.

 

So there's no real solution to this problem? It's really starting to annoy me more and more!

 

Only solution that people found was to buy a 3 prong(sp) power adapter.

 

You mean a third party power adapter with a ground? That's disturbing...

 

same electrocution feeling on my SZ palm rest when it's on AC adaptor. I would say bad grounding problems. I also heard the high pitch noise too when I'm using my headphone. Spacebar, palm rest, and high pitch noise on headphone! Not a biggy though, but the electrocution one kinda worry me!

 

Its pretty weird...the SZ's I have had and am currently using have no such tingle?

 

Haha maybe you never realized that! I've had my 5Z for abit more than a month and I just figured out beginning of this week. Then this post came out. So, what a coincident But, my recommendation is not to find the problem because that'll just make you worry unecessarily

 

I've had mine since the day it was out (about 4-5 month) and don't feel any tingle

 

i do feel it sometimes but i can tolerate some electricity

 

Where did you purchase this targus adapter, or do you have a model number that I can search on? Any bad side effects, like malfunctioning fingerprint reader (ala the kensington somebody mentioned)?

Does anybody else here who has been discussing the phenomenon have success to report using different adapters? Or explicit lack of success?

I don't know if it's severe hypochondria, but ever since I discovered this thread I have been feeling ... something ... when resting my palm on the left side of my SZ160P. It actually makes my left hand/wrist hurt a little bit and fingers feel a little numb.

If a new power adapter is all that's necessary to dispell this feeling (real or imagined , then I am quite willing to spring for it heh.

 

Anyone called Sony about this issue lately? Obviously it's affecting most users and it should not be doing this. It's getting more and more annoying to the point where I keep unplugging it while I use it. My hand hurts too. This issue is ridiculous.

 

I had thought myself as one of the lucky ones, because I had not experienced the "tingle" problem. But reading all these posts made me wonder why. So I did some experiments.

Normally, with the power cord plugged in, I don't have any problem. But when I tried touching the metal part of a florescent lamp -- bingo! I feel a strange sensation when I move my other hand across the metal palmrest. Same effect if I touch the metal case of my Mac Mini or the tile floor. Once I stop touching any of these items, the tingle sensation disappears.

So perhaps it depends on how the laptop user is grounded. Is that a reasonable explanation? My solution is to continue to wear wool socks and not touch anything besides the laptop.

 

Well to make sure there is a real current and not just my imagination, I got into a bath tub full of water and touched the edge of my plugged in SZ as it sat on the toilet stool. When I came to, I noticed my fingers looked like swollen cooked frankfurters. I guess the burn marks will go away from my ears where the flames shot out. Otherwise the SZ is a great piece of hardware and I have no regrets.

 

I get this problem too - it was actually the only out of 6 or so from the store that did not exhibit the problem. However, after a day or two this is now happening. I think maybe it also matters on the actual plug you use? Maybe other plugs are using more electricity or are better grounded - at home it plugs into a surge protector which is plugged into a bunch of other products. Maybe this also has an effect.

I really want to return right away, but i no longer want the XPS 1210, nor do I want to fork over another $600 for the SZ 260. We'll see in a week whether I get used to it or not.

 

I have four laptops using a metallic case:
-Sony Vaio SZ
-Apple Powerbook G4 Titanium
-Apple Powerbook G4 aluminium
-Asus W6J.
The *all* give me this weird feeling when you move your finger across the cover when the power adapter is plugged in.
And *all* laptops I've used (not just the 4 I listed here) give you this weird sensation when you pass your finger over the screen.

This is just because a laptop isn't grounded.
To prove it, if I plug my Dell 24" LCD using the VGA port, the tingling feeling on the case stops. That's because the 24" Dell is grounded and so is the VGA connector plugged into the laptop.

So guys, you're making an issue about the Sony SZ, when there's nothing abnormal about it

 

Just because others do it too, doesn't make it right. If grounding is all that's needed, then why don't they do that??

 

They dont do it because adding a third prong makes it much more difficult to use when you are traveling. I suspect that this tingle is intentional as it uses the person using it as the ground instead of a 3rd prong. This is actually pretty smart since 2 prongs are pretty much universal while 3 prongs are not. For example a 2 prong from the US without polarity can be used in a Chinese outlet with no modification. If you have to delicately run your finger over it to feel it I would think it isnt a major issue.

 

OK guys, sorry to dig this up from its ashes again, but I am showing you this.
I always use a voltage presence tester when i feel something weird going on:



It doesn't just tingle. It gets unpleasant when it's hot and I don't wear to cover my wrists, so they touch the grills bare.

Tester shows 55V. The next unit on the scale of this little thing is 110V and you can see it barely showing up. The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite P10, AC adapter is an AcBel API3AD01, 19V, 6.3A. It has a 2 prong power plug, and where the power cable connects to the brick, the plug doesn't seem 'capable' of taking a ground wire. For reference, when plugged into a power outlet (type europe, live hole), the same tester shows 220V. My finger is on the "direct test" pad.

EDIT: It goes away if i force-ground the machine, say, connecting it to a LAN device, or connecting an audio cable from the headphone jack to a grounded piece of audio equipment.

Your take, please?

 

3 prong outlets are becomming more universal as all knew homes and public outlets are being built with 3 prongs. However, for places that still only have 2 prong plugs, such as old hotels in Taiwan, many of them have 3-2 prong adapters that you can borrow. Even if they don't you can simply buy one for a couple of dollars and use it when you travel. Inconvenience is no reason to have to suffer a mild electric shock every time you touch a laptop.

I really don't think that Sony would intentionally design a laptop that uses ITSＵＳＥＲ　as a ground. This could definitely increase the risk of electric shock if there were some short of power surge or something. If the user is the only way of grounding the machine, it is certainly possible that a large charge could accumulate on the laptop over time and when the user unknowingly grounds this charge through his body he would get shocked.

 

Perhaps people could give an insight on where they are using the notebook: in a hardwood or a carpeted floor?

 

OW- I had the SZ0240 until last week. It shocked/prickled/tingled my hands and wrists when unplugged but especially when plugged in. I think something important to note in the people saying this issue is not real is that maybe their notebooks are fine. It's pretty simple, if you feel a shock you are having this problem. Sony was very good about taking it back and said that it's an isolated issue. They said they would hope I would give them another chance. One thing important to not is even if 100 people on this forum have the shock issue, what percentage of the total SZ population is this, maybe 0.05%! When we search engine the issue it seems HUGE, but in comparison with the total number of units out there, no wonder they think we are crazy

 

I just purchased a new sz370p(carbon frame) and as soon as i got it home i noticed somthing tingly. My girlfriend thought i was crazy, but it does tingle very much as long as it is plugged in. After using is for a while, I also feel some pain in my fingers and wrists. I love the thing though, not sure what to do.

 

I still cannot get any tingle off mine, on either AC or DC, though I live in the UK where almost all plugs are earthed.

 

That's horrible. Sony would has fixed it for the SZ3xx. If we keep working with this electric shock/tingle for long time is it probably impact to the health?

 

I think as long as Sony keeps selling them like hotcakes and the incidence is low among users they will consider a redisign at a low priority regarding electric shock and space bar issue. I wouldn't hesitate on getting a new one replaced though.

 

What about the other new owners of the SZ3xx series? Does any others get such tingles? Wondering because I'm thinking of purchasing a SZ360P/C myself.

 

I don't have a tingle.

 

I've had my SZ160P/C since 3/1/2006 and never had a problem with the tingling sensation previously. I spent the last 5 days at a hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where I could feel the sensation quite clearly. It felt more like a vibration and tingling combination to me. The floors in the hotel room were hardwood, not carpeted, but my floors at home are hardwood as well, and I don't have the tingling issue at home.

I was using my Kensington 120W AC/DC adapter on this trip but I have not had the tingling problem using the Kensington adapter in the States. One difference from the U.S. is that Brazil uses 220V current although most of the world does too and this issue does not seem to be restricted to 220V countries. I wonder if it has something to do with grounding (or earthing as the British would say).

 

Just rec'd a 360P/C with the magnesium case and sure enough, the last couple of days, I've been getting an electric current through the palm rest. I'm in Cancun, MX and never noticed it back in the USA, so I'm going to wait until I get back and see what happens there.

I also notice it stops when I unplug the AC adapter; however, I have it plugged in right now, but no current? I'm guessing because the other day I was barefoot and right now I've got rubber soled tennis shoes on. I've also go it on my lap so there may not be a good ground.

It was definitely uncomfortable to use when the current was flowing.

Someone mentioned getting a 3rd party "grounded" AC adapter. Would that fix it?

 

I am curious: do anybody have similar experience with other laptop computers?

 

Once you use your notebook long enough and the oil from your hands naturally builds up on the palm rest from daily use, the electroshock won't become an issue anymore.

 

Here is a follow up to my earlier post.

If I have my shoes on (they are rubber Asics running shoes), no shock. If I take the shoes off, I can feel the current on both palm rests. Put the shoes back on, and no electric shock.

It definitely looks like this is directly related to whether you are grounded or not. Since the rubber shoes insulates me from being grounded, I get no shock. If I take off the shoes, I'm pretty well grounded and the shock comes back.

Granted, the shock is not significant to keep the laptop from being used, but definitely not comfortable for constant use.

I'm going to see if I get the same results when I return to the USA on Wednesday. If so, I will be contacting Sony.

 

guys, i had same problems with my SZ as yours. So what i did is just Cover the metal area with the plastic then i will not have any problems with it anymore

 

Sony is the only company in the world that makes computers that require you to put on condoms before you touch them.

 

A friend of mine has a PowerBook Pro that does this same thing under various circumstances... Sony is far from cutting edge when it comes to shocking its customers.

 

Same problem with my just released SZ360P. How could Sony have ignored this problem?

 

Just bought a SZ340P and found my wrists got sore from a tingling sensation after a few hours use. Unplugging battery charger solved problem but then computer battery dies:-( My brother had a european model SZ28GP and no tingle. I tried his power supply and wow also no tingle. His power supply is VGP-AC19V12 with three prong cord whereas the US model is AC19V10 and two prong. I plugged my charger into his computer and sure enough his carbon fiber unit (mine is magnesium)started tingling the same way. Then I tried an plug converter from 3 prong to 2 prong and the tingling came back even with the 19V12 model. A chat with Sony support only got an answer that they were unaware of any problem and I should send my unit in for repair.
I guess the trick is to get a 3 prong adapter and be sure to find a 3 prong outlet. Nice for a computer that costs almost $3,000!

 

Either I'm use to feeling electricity as a EE, or there's something wrong with my computer. Because my SZ-340 doesn't shock me at all under any circumstances.

 

My SZ370 does not shock me too & I have a two prong plug as well. Oh, I do plug in to a surge protector... Wonder whether that may have contributed to the non-tingling....