Anyone Good With 120V/Computer Electrical Stuff?, So damn pissed! Options

[Coomer]

Since I've moved in to my new apartment, I've received minor to moderate shocks when I touch my laptop and my external CD-RW drive frequently, which are plugged into a power strip and then into the wall. This never happened at my house in Yakima or anywhere else.

I didn't think it was a big deal, but today I brought up my brand new computer that I just built today, because my laptop began crashing often and performing like crap(Now that I think about it, maybe the problems are due to my apartment's electrical.)

So I brought up my new computer, plugged it into the wall, hooked everything up and turned it on. For some reason, nothing showed up on my 19" Viewsonic monitor, even though the green light(meaning there's a signal getting to it) was on. So I unplugged the VGA cord from the tower to my laptop, turned on the second display, and then when I applied the settings, the desktop and open dialog boxes showed up on the monitor but looked as if they were moving towards me, then the monitor went back to its stage of blackness.

Great! My year-old Viewsonic monitor that worked perfectly at my house is probably dead.

So since the tower was still on, I went to hit the power button and turn it off. As soon as I touched the button(didn't even push it in,) I received a very painful shock and the computer just shut off. The computer worked perfectly at my house earlier today.

To me, it seems as if my electronics are grounding through me, rather than the grounded outlets on the walls. I called the apartment maintenance and they're pretty much no help, stating that I'll probably have to wait until next week before they can help me, even though I told them it's dangerous and shocks people. They also didn't seem to care that I'm a computer science major and HAVE TO HAVE a computer so that I can learn Java before classes start in a month. I'm so damn pissed! First my internet access didn't work, then my cable, now my electrical outlets don't even seem to be working!

Anyone have any ideas?

[Cutrara]

US power is 110v 120v is max for most electronics. It sounds to me like you're having a major problem with your outlets not grounding. Go to your local hardware store and buy this thing that plugs into the wall and has three lights on it, it's sort of like a test light for 110v electrical systems. Mine was like $5. You plug it in and it tells you if the outlet is wired correctly.

If it's not I'd shut off the power to that outlet, buy a new outlet just to be sure thats not the problem, they're only like $.45, and make sure the new outlet is grounded to the ground wire in the romex cable. If there is no un-insulated copper wire in your romex cable, your apartment building is probably older and you should have a metal outlet box in the wall instead of the newer plastic ones. Ground it to the terminal inside the metal box.

If you're handy with 110v electrical, you can do it yourself but REMEMBER TO HAVE THE POWER SHUT OFF AT THE CIRCUIT BREAKER. If you can't do it, have your landlord or an electrician do it.

Hope this helps... good luck!

[Newbie]

Meanwhile, complain to the land lords. And buy surge protectors.. Good luck.

[drnovascotia]

Meanwhile, complain to the land lords. And buy surge protectors.. Good luck.
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Surge protectors are garbage and a false sense of security

They just have a fuse that if your voltage goes over a certain level it breaks the fuse and then shuts it all off, breaking the circuit. So a small sag or spike is rarely caught, and it can't handle brownouts or more than a second or so.

Battery backup with AVR takes in your power that comes in all screwy and up and down and regulates it so you get only perfect power at all times. And if there is a sag, spike or brownout or anything takes care of it all. Saves your ****.

Dr.

[Newbie]

I don't think he really wants to buy a UPS, but whatever works for you.

[drnovascotia]

I don't think he really wants to buy a UPS, but whatever works for you.
[right][snapback]328131[/snapback][/right]

I didn't say he had to, I only told the kid that posted to buy one thats a waste of $$
but UPS's do have a good grounding system, and if your grounds aren't good it'll blink and let you know

Dr.

[mr_dude]

So the shocks came from metal or plastic? If it's plastic, then you're just discharging static electricity from walking across the carpet. Try doing it and touching a balloon. Plastic doesn't conduct very well so it shouldn't be from the wall.

Granted, you probably know the difference between a bad static shock, and sticking your finger in the wall.

Best way would be to grab an oscilloscope or AC coupled multimeter. Excessive power can make electronics go wiggy, but it should melt them down before it arcs across to your hardware and makes it a giant capacitor.

Viewsonic's a good company and there's no physical damage. Return it!

It'd suck to have to use a school computer lab, though intro Java programs pretty much write themselves.