[ltp] Re: static discharge

[James Knott]

green wrote:
> On Wed, 2009-02-18, 049, James Knott wrote:
>> Christoph Bier wrote:
>>> Daniel Castro schrieb:
>>>> well i wouldn't say it is normal for laptops to take ESDs, it has  
>>>> never happened to me anyway... and it's the first time i hear it from 
>>>> someone else.
>>> I observed it a few times on my 3 month old ThinkPad and it always  
>>> happens at the finger print reader.
>> If you're worried about it, just touch a metal part of the case first.
> 
> Where?  On my T61 there are several places that often I feel a discharge to 
> that do not look like metal.  Then there is the VGA port which would probably 
> "grounded to the case".  But why would one be better than another anyway?  
> Where is the charge discharged to?  The battery (see my original post)?  Note 
> that it has happened when the system is not connected to AC (not that it would 
> be grounded when connected anyway).

The metal case components, including connector shells are the best place 
to touch.  This prevents discharging into some electronic device that 
may be damaged by it.  Touching something on the outside, is probably 
safe, but you certainly don't want to be poking around the circuit 
board, without grounding yourself to the case first.  Connector signal 
pins generally have some protection against shocks, but a big enough 
discharge can still cause damage.


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