conducting fingers?

[aja]

this might sound like a stupid question, but i often use the touch method to determine how well a component is doing.

what i wanna know is hav any of u guys ever damaged a component by touching it - i mean, has the oil and salt and lunch leftovers on your fingers ever caused it to short circuit like when touching the back of a graphics card pcb above the gpu?

ive only once ever shocked myself on a mobo. it was an old intel and the 16mb onboard graphics card was OC'ed from 100mhz to 550mhz with no cooling whatsoever - crazy, i know, but i got it an its 64mb pc100 and celeron 450mhz to run AVP2. it took 45mins to load though. i was just checking to make sure everything's still going strongly, or at least going when WHAM!!! got a huge fright. can u believe it, that pc is still going but having probs picking up the Ram module and only one of the two memory slots work.

(i dunno where to put this thread)

[Wordbiker]

Ummmm yeah :o
I had to run the capacitors for the cold cathode lights in one of my machines without the plastic covers for space restrictions. I was working on it one day (I know, I know....turn the frickin' power off) and got a good zap from the capacitor....and fried it. Good thing they're pretty cheap.

[minibubba]

what i wanna know is hav any of u guys ever damaged a component by touching it

I'm surprised you havn't damaged more components. you should always ware a ESD braclet when working inside a PC ..at the very least, touch the metal housing. You can seriously damage something and not even 'feel' it. And yes, the oil and crap on your hands can forever damage PC parts if you handle them incorrectly.

[b]i often use the touch method to determine how well a component is doing

what touch method :?:

[b](i dunno where to put this thread)

consider it moved :)

[Wordbiker]

I think he meant touching heatsinks to empirically check for temperature differences. Not very accurate and kinda dangerous, but I've done it and had no ill *erk* effects *gzzz*...:wow:

[Juggalo_Dan]

Ummmm yeah :o
I had to run the capacitors for the cold cathode lights in one of my machines without the plastic covers for space restrictions. I was working on it one day (I know, I know....turn the frickin' power off) and got a good zap from the capacitor....and fried it. Good thing they're pretty cheap.

I did that on a disposable camera, i was gonna make a high powered flashlight with the flash lol, and i accidentally touched the capacitor and then BANG!!! and OoOoOoUuUuUcCcHhH!!!

that was the day i started looking our for capacitors.

[Nosferatu]

Well I don't use an ESD bracelet and never had a problem. The only things I am cautious with are the 220v outlet (believe me, it hurts like hell) and capacitors. since I know they can store a lot of juice and I don't like pain:D