Accidentally touched one of the connectors on motherboard?

[TheMickeyMoose]

I was working on my computer when I accidentally ran my finger across the top of the 3 pin connectors on my motherboard. Would I have messed anything up or caused any damage where I need to replace the motherboard? It’s was the connector for the w flow or EXT fan.

[Jamebonds1]

Brockenstein님이 먼저 게시:

I don't think it's a matter of understanding. I think it's a matter of you being contrary for not very beneficial reasons.

The reality is you can go to any hardware forum and bring up ESDs and get the same response: Generally not worth fussing over.

So arguing about the maybes, mights and technicallys is all well and good if your goal is to look like pedant.

Call us up when there's evidence that even 1% of motherboard damage or RMAs are due to ESD.

I'm not one that fusses over, im just say to caution handing motherboard. I know about ESD a lot because I work with ESD guns a lot. Google it and there will be a lot where their motherboard gets damaged by ESD. As I said, I know a few friends had their motherboard immediately failed. Some have failed later.

I hate to say, but I'm not the one that started it since they are the one that said it is fine to touch a pin anytime. I don't think it is not true as I know ESD is nonpreventable.

So if it is said ESD is not a concern, then why it is in an ESD protection bag if it is not needed?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

ESD isnt even a real issue anymore unless you actually feel a discharge zap then you'd be fine.

If you that worried, handle all main PCB components with rubber gloves.

[nullable]

Jamebonds1님이 먼저 게시:

So if it is said ESD is not a concern, then why it is in an ESD protection bag if it is not needed?

Why is anything in protective packaging while it's being shipped or stored?

We get it, ESD can damage components if it's strong enough.

Do you get that sort of circumstance is an extremely low risk when someone is just assembling a pc on their table and that's what the scope of the conversation was about until you decided to complicate it endlesdly?

And do you think you have a monopoly on experience or something? Good luck with that.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

When doing a build, have any PC psu out on the table and plugged in and switched on, this will allow tiny amount of stand by power into it, to which you can just touch the psu enclosure to release any ESD from yourself onto in between moments of touching bare PCB hardware.

[Jamebonds1]

Bad 💀 Motha님이 먼저 게시:

ESD isn't even a real issue anymore unless you actually feel a discharge zap then you'd be fine.

If you that worried, handle all main PCB components with rubber gloves.

But it doesn't mean ESD is not presentable. It can only be a minimized occurrence. Immediately fail and later fail is different when ESD hit. I have seen the damage made to the internal IC picture in my work.

There is no public report that there have been ESD incidents occur all the time because they want to keep it inside, but it happened all the time when they failed to follow ESD safe. (A few engineers in my work complain about their previous jobs.)

Therefore, I discharged myself to earth ground before I fix my PC all the time. My PC is expensive that I do not want to break it, nor people.

Brockenstein님이 먼저 게시:

Jamebonds1님이 먼저 게시:

So if it is said ESD is not a concern, then why it is in an ESD protection bag if it is not needed?

Why is anything in protective packaging while it's being shipped or stored?

We get it, ESD can damage components if it's strong enough.

Do you get that sort of circumstance is an extremely low risk when someone is just assembling a pc on their table and that's what the scope of the conversation was about until you decided to complicate it endlesdly?

And do you think you have a monopoly on experience or something? Good luck with that.

Not a low risk for the sensitive chip, no. As I said, I have experience with the ESD test. It is not a monopoly. So finding evidence shouldn't be hard.

[_I_]

grounding yourself to the case or component ground
(no need for a ground strap, just touch the case and touch component grounds before handling them)

you dont need to be earth grounded, just common to the parts you are dealing with

its not like the static sensitive components from the 1970s

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Ridiculous. Working on PCs for 30 years, never once killed anything by esd. Straps and earth ground is pointless non sense. All one needs is common sense. Touching a plugged in psu grounds you. If you want to use a strap, you can plug in a psu, turn it on, and connect the end of the strap to a screw hole on the psu enclosure and attach screw. This is exactly how the psu grounds your motherboard through the stand-offs

[nullable]

Jamebonds1님이 먼저 게시:

Not a low risk for the sensitive chip, no. As I said, I have experience with the ESD test. It is not a monopoly. So finding evidence shouldn't be hard.

And most of us have experience living in reality and building pc's. And our cumulative experience exceeds yours by quite a bit, whether you realize it or not.

It is an insignificant concern. Period.

[Jamebonds1]

_I_님이 먼저 게시:

grounding yourself to the case or component ground
(no need for a ground strap, just touch the case and touch component grounds before handling them)

you dont need to be earth grounded, just common to the parts you are dealing with

its not like the static sensitive components from the 1970s

The newer motherboard does have some sensitive chip too. I never said I need ground strap.

Brockenstein님이 먼저 게시:

Jamebonds1님이 먼저 게시:

Not a low risk for the sensitive chip, no. As I said, I have experience with the ESD test. It is not a monopoly. So finding evidence shouldn't be hard.

And most of us have experience living in reality and building pc's. And our cumulative experience exceeds yours by quite a bit, whether you realize it or not.

It is an insignificant concern. Period.

So how does my friend's PC get damaged by ESD?

[_I_]

intentionally shocking components, not touching component grounds first

are you sure that esd killed them?
damage may have been from another source
flexing a board with bga components can seem like it was esd damaged, but can be fixed by reflowing/reballing the bga chips

[Washell]

Autumn님이 먼저 게시:

Yeah, okay, every regular on this forum should suffice, I'm pretty sure the people on this forum that work in PC hardware shops, or repair computers have enough experience with it.
Or my own personal experience with a couple dozen PCs, finger ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ICs on RAM, the pads on S775 CPUs, chipset and other ICs on old S775 boards, vaccuming my main PC for years, doing repairs for other people, never once have I seen or caused ESD damage.

What does ESD damage look like? How do you know you never caused it if the damage you did isn't glaringly obvious but rather a once in a blue moon cause of a crash? Or if you blew up something that happened to have redundancy built in?

You're making some pretty strong claims here, likely on the assumption that each ESD is noticeable and instant death for the part.

[Jamebonds1]

_I_님이 먼저 게시:

intentionally shocking components, not touching component grounds first

are you sure that esd killed them?
damage may have been from another source
flexing a board with bga components can seem like it was esd damaged, but can be fixed by reflowing/reballing the bga chips

100%. He told me that as soon as he was about to touch a metal part, then there is spark ESD. After that, the screen gets black and unable to start up a PC. It is not fact or evidence, but my suspense Dell has a bad ESD protection.

In my experience, some motherboards can take zapped ESD more often, but it can damage IC. They have a good ESD protection chip, but not the best. I would never say "ESD will damage IC on the motherboard" because that is not true.

Being a good customer service for an engineer is a hard job if their project doesn't pass an ESD test.

Washell님이 먼저 게시:

What does ESD damage look like? How do you know you never caused it if the damage you did isn't glaringly obvious but rather a once in a blue moon cause of a crash? Or if you blew up something that happened to have redundancy built in?

You're making some pretty strong claims here, likely on the assumption that each ESD is noticeable and instant death for the part.

This picture is what ESD damage looks like.

https://images.app.goo.gl/EJDkeYkzVrYxZ1UG9

That doesn't mean ESD damage will destroy everything on the motherboard, but it can cause it to fail now or fail later. It is really hard and expensive to figure out if ESD does that or not.

[nullable]

Jamebonds1님이 먼저 게시:

So how does my friend's PC get damaged by ESD?

Your friend's extraordinary misfortune does not project into serious risk for millions of consumers building pc's.

You seem to be stuck equating that it's not impossible with somewhat probable.

Or how come I, most everyone here, and all my friends for the past twenty years just don't have many stories about ESD damage?

Maybe you and your friends should try getting on team Charmed Life...

[Jamebonds1]

Brockenstein님이 먼저 게시:

Jamebonds1님이 먼저 게시:

So how does my friend's PC get damaged by ESD?

Your friend's extraordinary misfortune does not project into serious risk for millions of consumers building pc's.

You seem to be stuck equating that it's not impossible with somewhat probable.

Or how come I, most everyone here, and all my friends for the past twenty years just don't have many stories about ESD damage?

Maybe you and your friends should try getting on team Charmed Life...

I never say "serious" or "will".

It is hard to define because of my English skill but here goes.

Power Supply will shock you: I meant Power Supply will really shock you.

Power Supply can shock you: I meant Power Supply may or may not shock you.

Make sense?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You might feel or see a ESD zap when touching a psu or pc case, but the parts are all grounded to the psu so that alone wouldn't do anything as far as ESD damages.

What users also need to understand is just because your wall plates have that 3rd prong open, doesn't mean it's actually attached to a working ground. In many homes usually only the outlets in kitchen amd bathroom have a working ground. The rest "can" simply be a wall plate and nothing beyond that, thus not grounded.