[Phantom]

Ok, here is the deal.

But let me first state that at various times I may be very critical in my reference to certain unknown entities, this is not an attack on anyone, simply an attempt to educate, even if overly verbose and sometimes hopelessly multi-directional. The seemingly diffuse cloud of my random thoughts on a subject usually end up making a fairly clear picture by the time I finish, my apologies ahead of time if any end up confused by the fog. Pipe up with any concerns and I'll attempt to resolve any questions.

No one is responsible for training they haven't received, so since this is probably the first "class" you've seen on it, I'm not calling anyone an idiot for failing to comply with something they have no training on.

However, I will call "custom" builders idiots for their failure to properly educate themselves in their business as well as their failure to conduct themselves in an appropriate, responsible manner. If there are any "custom" builders here who aren't following best practices with respect to static and energy dissipation methods, you should be, and you should take certain points which may crop up in my rantings as an opportunity to correct previous mis-instruction you may have received rather than an insult.

I generally reserve insults for those who are damn wrong and know they are damn wrong but refuse to honestly awknowledge the same.

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1. Nearly all "custom" computer shops are staffed by people who are idiots. They know nothing of electronics, only what boards to plug in based on whatever their customer's wants are. Very bad habits abound with respect to the handling of electronic components, and you should never take advice on installation from them OR buy anything that isn't shrinkwrapped. Manufacturers ship modern components in Faraday cage bags and anti-static packaging that costs several dollars each in multi-thousand quantities for a reason, and it isn't to make their products look pretty. Faraday cage bags (black carbon trace pattern on silver anti-static plastic) not only drain static, but protect from 'stray' RADIO frequency energy. Yes, the parts ARE THAT SENSITIVE.

If a seller handles memory with their hands, pulling it out of the 'display' counter packaging to wrap it in a thin pink "anti-stat" bag without first slipping a grounding device on their wrist, ask to see the one they should be wearing one on their ankle and inquire as to whether or not they are on an antistatic mat. If the answer is no to either question, shop elsewhere. You can get it safer and cheaper from the manufacturer directly on-line anyway. The vast majority of those Windows blue-screen errors come from memory that was damaged by idiots such as these. (But they don't mind re-installing Windows for you and calling it 'fixed' charging you big money for not fixing the trouble they cause.)

2. Why? Every human (and every other thing on the planet) has a varying POTENTIAL. The AVERAGE POTENTIAL (of difference) of humans between their hands and ungrounded feet is ~200V. Yup. And you can overcome the insulators you are wearing on your feet (your foot gear) by staticly charging them on the rug on dry days, allowing you to complete a circuit when you touch fairly grounded metal things, or objects with different potentials. You can even demonstrate the ability to generate great differences in potential between different body parts. To demonstrate you could rub a ballon on the wall or your hand on the carpet and watch them attract the hair on your head when they get close.

3. This is why you NEVER work on computers without properly grounding yourself. Holding on to the metal case with one hand is not good enough, and never really was, but now modern motherboards STAY POWERED WHEN OFF, requiring you to UNPLUG THE POWERSUPPLY when you install things such as new Video Cards or memory. If you handle the parts without proper grounding before and during, you'll zap them, they WILL BE DAMAGED, but the damage isn't likely to show up for a while. If you fail to unplug the powersupply, THEY WILL BE DAMAGED, probably showing up immediately. These two things are the reason most self installers blow things up, or end up with strange computer behaviours that they don't know the cause of. (Many intermittant problems can even mimic virus infections.)

4. While the AVERAGE POTENTIAL of a human is 200V, (like body temperature averages 98.6) everyone is different. Some trend way lower, and some trend WAY HIGHER. The statistical variance would be much greater than body temperature however, as everyone's chemical and mineral content and consumption is completely different. I personally tend to range between 200 and 400V, I also knew a guy whose potential was so low he wouldn't read on a continuity checker until the probes were less than a couple inches away on his skin.

5. Modern circuitry is nearly unimaginably small inside those little chips. And they run on ever lower voltages, 5 volts used to be the norm, 2.8v and 3.3v are common now and some run as low as 1.5v. The very low amperage, but high voltage potential we present can cause instant fractures in the structures of the microscopic 'gates' in these chips, the newer and lower the voltage, the more succeptible to damage they become. The newer circuits are beginning to have 'drains' and other technologies built in to protect them from extraneous surges, but improper handling will still overwhelm these protections which are only designed to make them as sturdy as the older 5 volt tech, these things are not designed to make them "invincible" or "indestructible." So get your own grounding strap and mat and make sure you know how to properly ground yourself and your equipment before you work on it. And turn off everything that has the potential to general radio frequency energy in the area as well (EVERYTHING ELECTRONIC). And never trust anyone who doesn't with anything more than staying the hell away from you and your machines.

6. I have known people who cannot wear watches, but I would tend to attribute this to some form of magnetic hysteresis rather than electrical disturbance, although they could be related (high personal mineral retention/content). I have known people who had their mice do strange things, but usually, if a mouse it twitching, it's just dirty, (yes even the 'laser' mice, as they will try and read the lint and fuzzy crud). If you have a rare, true case of electrical hysteresis with your mouse, 99.9 times out of 100 I'd go with electrical damage to the port or the mouse itself, generally due to plugging/unplugging while powered. (Same goes for hysterical laser printers, usually hooked up improperly through a manual (instead of an isolated electrical)printer switch in multiprinter environment.)

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Hope that clears a few things up. NOW you may consider yourself accountable, if only to yourself.