[ltp] static discharge

[green]

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(I sent this message to the thinkpad@stderr.org list, but it seems to have=
=20
gotten lost amony the many Windows BSOD complaints there, so I will try her=
e.)


Recently I was using my ThinkPad T61 when I felt static discharge between m=
y=20
finger and the system.  It happens frequently and I have not been too conce=
rned=20
about it, but I have wondered how safe it is when this happens (like someti=
mes=20
when the system is not connected to AC, although I guess it isn't grounded =
then=20
either).

Well, this particular time (as others), it happened on the right side of th=
e=20
system in the area of the Ultrabay slot (which contains the standard DVD=C2=
=B1RW). =20
I had the small finger of my right hand along the edge of the system, where=
 it=20
often seems to go between spats of furious (I wish) typing.  Suddenly wham =
the=20
discharge went somewhere into the system.  It was enough to make the end of=
 my=20
finger ache for several minutes.  The system has always run fine before whe=
n=20
this happens but this time it powered off immediately.  I am not sure what=
=20
happened with the LEDs, but when the imagined puff of smoke dispersed, only=
 the=20
battery and AC lights were on (which is correct).  I think the battery ligh=
t=20
may have been yellow rather than green, which is weird because the battery =
was=20
not empty.

Soon I tried turning the system on again (I think the battery light went ba=
ck=20
to green then) and it seems to work.  I did not think to remove the battery=
=20
before powering on.  The system is still running from that boot and has=20
successfully suspended/resumed at least once.

I looked through dmesg (Debian Linux - Lenny) and didn't find any complaint=
s. =20
Hopefully the hardware is all okay.

Any thoughts?

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