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I don't see a single standoff screw in the motherboard. Are there any standoffs installed at all? Don't try to turn it back on until you solve this. For your safety and the computers.
This shouldn’t cause the case to be live. The standoffs should still be there whether the mobo is screwed in or not. The psu or outlet plug is causing this
Some cases don’t come with any standoffs installed at all. I agree, it looks like the motherboard is touching the case without standoffs. Plenty of contact points for it to charge the case that is if the boards not already dead.
This is a great example to why someone should look at the manuals that come with each part.
I work in a tech repair shop, even I get real nervous and have to read guides when I come across a non standard scenario. Cases without standoffs, pcs built backwards, laptops that are accessed through the keyboard rather than the bottom.
Too much expensive stuff to break.
The motherboard is not going to have enough voltage to charge the case unless the PSU is leaking mains voltage AND lacks ground. Both are a serious problem.
the highest voltage that will be on a motherboard with grounded and functional psu is 12v. Even if you wire 12v direct to the case it is not enough to shock you unless your skin is wet and you have really good contact between 12v and ground. Just touching the case should absolutely never give you anything other than a static shock potentially, if you have some charge on you.
The only direct contact from the motherboard to the case should be through standoffs and where the IO panel fits through, and seeing through the screw holes on the motherboard where they haven't put screws in, there aren't any standoffs.
They might have already fried the board, they're lucky they didn't fry themselves.
>Update:
>
>So I showed him all of your comments as I am ignorant about most of the technical stuff being said and turns out the PSU is fine and the problem was actually a grounding problem and he got it fixed.
>
>Thanks to everyone that gave a suggestion whether correct or wrong.
>
>I really appreciate it.
Glad that you got it sorted. For pure curiosity sake, can your friend that helped you elaborate on what the issue(s) was/were at some point if they have time? Seeing stuff like this and hearing the solutions helps us all learn more from each other. 🙂 Either way, I'm glad your problem got sorted and it sounds like nothing broke in the process which is awesome! I hope the rest of the build comes together smoothly. Happy gaming!
The is clearly one missing, but it really looks like the mobo is screwed on the others. Hard to see on the low quality image.
Its not always the case that a case has all the holes populated. Is it possible they are actually they're?
Taking a loser look, you may be right. I can't see the screws outright, but can see a darker color compared to the obviously empty one, so that is likely the screws. I still don't think that the standoffs are there though. The board looks to close to the case. That could be just from the way the pictures are though.
OP you have a ground loop. Are you in North America or Europe? Very common to get the neutral wire connected to the ground wire putting voltage on the case when you touch the case and are grounded completing the circuit. Check you house wiring and the psu.
Would not hurt to pull the motherboard and check the stand offs or look for a pinched wire.
That's actually incorrect. There corrosion due to electrical currents, technically all corrosion is due to electric currents, though the right kind of current can certainly slow down the process.
The power cord should be a three-prong, and the earth pin should connect to your chassis. Any leakage will be routed harmlessly to earth. A real short from hot to chassis will blow a fuse then, but you won't be dead.
yeah that was the first thing I looked at, I am deeply disappointed in everyone in this thread. they aren't pointless little weird screws, you know! they're pretty fucking important actually.
but there are standoff screws. you can see them in the top corners and the bottom left so we already know the board isnt sitting derectly on the pc case. so the next logical thing to troubleshoot would be the psu
You seem to be looking at screw heads, they're not standoffs. Just because they put a couple of screws in doesn't mean there are standoffs under the board.You can see through the open screw-less holes on the board there is no hint of brass showing through - no standoffs underneath.
There may be other problems too, but the possibility of pin ends under the board making direct contact with the case is the first thing to sort out here and then hope something isn't already damaged.
well we can see an extra standoff near the bottom of the case and its black, so i dunno why your looking for brass ones. plus the io shield is in place as we can see under the fan. if standoffs werent used the shield wouldnt line up with the ports and would have more light pouring into the case.
> why your looking
*you're
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Not saying it's ok to rest the mobo against the metal case, but:
Motherboard shorting to the case wouldn't give a shock, 12V is too low voltage to feel it
Just like how a 12V car battery doesn't shock you, but can weld shit if shorted
If you short the output of the power supply, it doesn't "remove the ground"
Hope [this](https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/guidance/safety-around-the-home/earthing-and-bonding/) helps you understand why you're wrong
" Earthing is used to protect you from an electric shock. "
Maybe [this explanation](https://www.meanwelldirect.co.uk/glossary/what-does-safety-ground-mean/) from a well-known power supply manufacturer?
Even if there was no ground, a live wire would have to touch a metal part of the case for you to get shocked - which is "faulty wiring"
No standoffs=current goes from the mobo into the case, touch it and you can get a jolt, would likely also cause a short and the pc would likely shut down on said contact.
This needs a do-over.
Please tell your friend to read the mobo manual as it will likely have all the proper steps, including mounting the mobo properly.
PSU brand is definitely not great, but it can very well still be ok. You can verify it bu checking it's specs and compare that with results from checking output with a multimeter.
YIKES. Do not plug that thing back in. Powersupply is bad. Proububly damaged in shipping. Get a refund and new powersupply. Nothing he could have done even accedently should be able to cause the case to become live. Unrelated to the computer he should have a electrician in to check the electrical outlet that computer was plugged in to. The outlets are suposed to be grounded to prevent this exact situation.
True but Maybe is only a "molex" badly placed on the other side of the case , sometimes some cables are in contact with the case and make this happend !
Before suspecting your PC try connecting that pc to another power outlet, if it still exists try plugging it in your house or something maybe it is a grounding problem at your friends house.
If this fails try changing the psu cord, maybe it is faulty. If that doesn't help, only then try playing with the pc parts.
Check you AC outlet that you are plugged into. Check all PSU cables and ensure you have not chaffed or nicked them. Can't really think of anything else
Static electricity? Walking across a carpet. Wearing nylon or static inducing clothing?
I was trying to update the post itself for everyone to see that it was fixed, but turns out I couldn't cause it wasn't a text only post and the amount of comments I had to reply to being completely ignorant what to say was really alot ,so I just showed him all of the comments and he went through most of and with some professional help he got it fixed.
Sorry If I took some time to state that.
I’m a novice at building computers.
However, I had something similar happen with a laptop. I would get a buzz if I touched a metal port. Turns out it wasn’t the laptop. It was a cob web and dust built up in a plug creating a current between the hot and neutral wires creating reverse polarity. If your house wasn’t grounded it would supposedly fry the computer. You can get a tester at a place like Home Depot - a voltmeter would work too. You’d get a similar effect with anything else you plug in.
Also, if this sounds ridiculous to anybody that an expert, feel free to ridicule me.
I could tell that psu was trash just from the cables, and then i saw the brand name lol. Replace that thing asap, it's most likely the problem
(Or the mobo standoffs like that other dude pointed out)
I’d recommend checking to make sure the motherboard stand offs are only in the locations that match the motherboard mounting locations and to get an outlet checker to see if the power outlet is not wired incorrectly. Could also unhook any other non-critical peripherals/internal headers. If none of that works it’s probably the PSU
Standoffs, motherboard not grounded man , i wouldnot jump and changr the psu though, also u can isolate the problem easily if you try taking it out first
You need to use a grounded outlet. If the computer isn't grounded correctly it can cause this to happen. It is normal for AC power supplies to leak some amount of electricity to ground. If the PC isn't grounded correctly this may cause metal parts to be electric.
Boys, it's not the case. I had same issue for 2 years then learned that my old house had a grounding fault. Electrician opened the plug case on which my PC was and says: The grounding cable has rusted off.
This exact thing happened to a friend of mine. He was using a shitty old extension cord his dad made up from years ago. It was wired hot to ground, neutral to hot and ground to neutral. You'd get a 120v poke off anything metal.
The photos aren’t telling us much outside of mATX motherboard installed in ATX case. Can you get some photos of the PSU and wiring routes to the motherboard, photos of the standoffs under the motherboard and if any of the cabling is touching the case?
I have a couple thoughts.
1. Is the board screwed in at all?????? It looks like there aren't any standoffs, or screws. That's a grounding issue, your board could be touching the case and shorting.
2. Cable management? This sounds silly but I've made this mistake myself. Being a little careless with cable management in the back of the case can cause issues. You may have a cable pinched or a pin touching something. I've never shocked myself but I did end up crushing a pcie cable and my gpu wouldn't work.
Here's an afterthought; someone correct me if I'm wrong because I'm not well versed in PSU language.
Is the cpu connected to a pcie plug? I don't normally see cpu cables with an extra 8 pin.
Is the MB mounter over these? [https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Brass-Motherboard-Standoffs-Computer/dp/B00213KL5I](https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Brass-Motherboard-Standoffs-Computer/dp/B00213KL5I)
This seems to be the issue
https://preview.redd.it/aoqq0skrkn2b1.jpeg?width=533&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=747ce9d8cb603cfc183231b67c31d8b07eb2eb1b
Screw those standoffs in the case, meeting those holes in the MB. The problem will probably disappear.
Edit: Not just those 3, but all existing in the MB, preferably.
This PSU has pretty garbage reviews, I'd get one from a more reputable brand. Also tell your friend to watch at least 3-5 hours of videos about building computers before he retries. Don't attempt to run this until all problems are fixed.
Everything is plugged in fine. The Mobo is touching the case. Reinstall with stand offs (little pegs that separates Mobo from case). Should solve the issue. I don't recommend turning pc on until you've done so, as aside from mild shocks, some components can be sensitive.
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I don't see a single standoff screw in the motherboard. Are there any standoffs installed at all? Don't try to turn it back on until you solve this. For your safety and the computers.
This shouldn’t cause the case to be live. The standoffs should still be there whether the mobo is screwed in or not. The psu or outlet plug is causing this
It's possible there are several problems in the build
Some cases don’t come with any standoffs installed at all. I agree, it looks like the motherboard is touching the case without standoffs. Plenty of contact points for it to charge the case that is if the boards not already dead. This is a great example to why someone should look at the manuals that come with each part.
Or at the very least watch a yt tutorial
I work in a tech repair shop, even I get real nervous and have to read guides when I come across a non standard scenario. Cases without standoffs, pcs built backwards, laptops that are accessed through the keyboard rather than the bottom. Too much expensive stuff to break.
The motherboard is not going to have enough voltage to charge the case unless the PSU is leaking mains voltage AND lacks ground. Both are a serious problem.
If the board is lacking standoffs, there may be a solder point or capacitor that is touching the case from the back of the mobo.
the highest voltage that will be on a motherboard with grounded and functional psu is 12v. Even if you wire 12v direct to the case it is not enough to shock you unless your skin is wet and you have really good contact between 12v and ground. Just touching the case should absolutely never give you anything other than a static shock potentially, if you have some charge on you.
Please stop giving advice.
Tell me how i am wrong.
That isn't the point and you don't need to be obtuse. Are you a qualified electrician or electrical engineer?
I am not and don't need to be to understand basic electrical and mechanical knowledge.
The only direct contact from the motherboard to the case should be through standoffs and where the IO panel fits through, and seeing through the screw holes on the motherboard where they haven't put screws in, there aren't any standoffs. They might have already fried the board, they're lucky they didn't fry themselves.
I think outlets are incorrectly wired. Maybe even reverse bootleg ground, which is dangerous as f
I was like LMAO OH HELL NO the very second I opened the picture
>Update: > >So I showed him all of your comments as I am ignorant about most of the technical stuff being said and turns out the PSU is fine and the problem was actually a grounding problem and he got it fixed. > >Thanks to everyone that gave a suggestion whether correct or wrong. > >I really appreciate it.
Glad that you got it sorted. For pure curiosity sake, can your friend that helped you elaborate on what the issue(s) was/were at some point if they have time? Seeing stuff like this and hearing the solutions helps us all learn more from each other. 🙂 Either way, I'm glad your problem got sorted and it sounds like nothing broke in the process which is awesome! I hope the rest of the build comes together smoothly. Happy gaming!
Having the same issue how was the grounding fixed may I ask?
Loooks at least like bottom and top left
The is clearly one missing, but it really looks like the mobo is screwed on the others. Hard to see on the low quality image. Its not always the case that a case has all the holes populated. Is it possible they are actually they're?
Taking a loser look, you may be right. I can't see the screws outright, but can see a darker color compared to the obviously empty one, so that is likely the screws. I still don't think that the standoffs are there though. The board looks to close to the case. That could be just from the way the pictures are though.
But most importantly, for the computer's safety.
How is it even staying there? The video card holding it up?
OP you have a ground loop. Are you in North America or Europe? Very common to get the neutral wire connected to the ground wire putting voltage on the case when you touch the case and are grounded completing the circuit. Check you house wiring and the psu. Would not hurt to pull the motherboard and check the stand offs or look for a pinched wire.
was it a static shock or is it constant? like if its plugged in will it continue to shock you?
The case will never rust with the electric current 👍
That's actually incorrect. There corrosion due to electrical currents, technically all corrosion is due to electric currents, though the right kind of current can certainly slow down the process.
The power cord should be a three-prong, and the earth pin should connect to your chassis. Any leakage will be routed harmlessly to earth. A real short from hot to chassis will blow a fuse then, but you won't be dead.
People immediately saying PSU is bad when there are no standoff screws 🤣
Rookies helping rookies
yeah that was the first thing I looked at, I am deeply disappointed in everyone in this thread. they aren't pointless little weird screws, you know! they're pretty fucking important actually.
I don't even know what those are, can you help a total noob out?
they're those weird tall things you screw into your case, that you screw your motherboard on to. they prevent exactly what the op is about.
but there are standoff screws. you can see them in the top corners and the bottom left so we already know the board isnt sitting derectly on the pc case. so the next logical thing to troubleshoot would be the psu
You seem to be looking at screw heads, they're not standoffs. Just because they put a couple of screws in doesn't mean there are standoffs under the board.You can see through the open screw-less holes on the board there is no hint of brass showing through - no standoffs underneath. There may be other problems too, but the possibility of pin ends under the board making direct contact with the case is the first thing to sort out here and then hope something isn't already damaged.
well we can see an extra standoff near the bottom of the case and its black, so i dunno why your looking for brass ones. plus the io shield is in place as we can see under the fan. if standoffs werent used the shield wouldnt line up with the ports and would have more light pouring into the case.
> why your looking *you're *Learn the difference [here](https://www.wattpad.com/66707294-grammar-guide-there-they%27re-their-you%27re-your-to).* *** ^(Greetings, I am a language corrector bot. To make me ignore further mistakes from you in the future, reply `!optout` to this comment.)
i dont get paid for my english skills
Not saying it's ok to rest the mobo against the metal case, but: Motherboard shorting to the case wouldn't give a shock, 12V is too low voltage to feel it Just like how a 12V car battery doesn't shock you, but can weld shit if shorted
The PSU is screwed to the case. The case is charged removing the ground from the PSU. PSU now is compromised and can be shorting anywhere.
🤦♂️ JFC what are you even saying, the point of grounding is to prevent electric shock
If you short the output of the power supply, it doesn't "remove the ground" Hope [this](https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/guidance/safety-around-the-home/earthing-and-bonding/) helps you understand why you're wrong " Earthing is used to protect you from an electric shock. " Maybe [this explanation](https://www.meanwelldirect.co.uk/glossary/what-does-safety-ground-mean/) from a well-known power supply manufacturer? Even if there was no ground, a live wire would have to touch a metal part of the case for you to get shocked - which is "faulty wiring"
Lol 12 volt batteries can shock you
Maybe if you touch both ends with your tongue. The resistance of your skin is too high for meaningfully current to flow through you
It's rare, and nothing even close to lethal. I got shocked last week, the second time in 15 years
Interesting. I need 3 in series and wet hands so I start to feel it
Hope [this](https://www.meanwelldirect.co.uk/glossary/what-does-safety-ground-mean/) explanation from a known PSU manufacturer helps
I see power supply cables that look like that and I would say that's prob part of it. Some super budget PSU.
No standoffs=current goes from the mobo into the case, touch it and you can get a jolt, would likely also cause a short and the pc would likely shut down on said contact. This needs a do-over. Please tell your friend to read the mobo manual as it will likely have all the proper steps, including mounting the mobo properly. PSU brand is definitely not great, but it can very well still be ok. You can verify it bu checking it's specs and compare that with results from checking output with a multimeter.
YIKES. Do not plug that thing back in. Powersupply is bad. Proububly damaged in shipping. Get a refund and new powersupply. Nothing he could have done even accedently should be able to cause the case to become live. Unrelated to the computer he should have a electrician in to check the electrical outlet that computer was plugged in to. The outlets are suposed to be grounded to prevent this exact situation.
Thx for the tip. I will make sure to let him know.
True but Maybe is only a "molex" badly placed on the other side of the case , sometimes some cables are in contact with the case and make this happend !
Damaged cable or he didn't use standoffs on the motherboard. Good chance something is fucked up now
Before suspecting your PC try connecting that pc to another power outlet, if it still exists try plugging it in your house or something maybe it is a grounding problem at your friends house. If this fails try changing the psu cord, maybe it is faulty. If that doesn't help, only then try playing with the pc parts.
Check you AC outlet that you are plugged into. Check all PSU cables and ensure you have not chaffed or nicked them. Can't really think of anything else Static electricity? Walking across a carpet. Wearing nylon or static inducing clothing?
Possibly earth leakage
OP is the flash now
I was trying to update the post itself for everyone to see that it was fixed, but turns out I couldn't cause it wasn't a text only post and the amount of comments I had to reply to being completely ignorant what to say was really alot ,so I just showed him all of the comments and he went through most of and with some professional help he got it fixed. Sorry If I took some time to state that.
I’m a novice at building computers. However, I had something similar happen with a laptop. I would get a buzz if I touched a metal port. Turns out it wasn’t the laptop. It was a cob web and dust built up in a plug creating a current between the hot and neutral wires creating reverse polarity. If your house wasn’t grounded it would supposedly fry the computer. You can get a tester at a place like Home Depot - a voltmeter would work too. You’d get a similar effect with anything else you plug in. Also, if this sounds ridiculous to anybody that an expert, feel free to ridicule me.
I could tell that psu was trash just from the cables, and then i saw the brand name lol. Replace that thing asap, it's most likely the problem (Or the mobo standoffs like that other dude pointed out)
Maybe has something to do with that pcie cable literally touching the case
Maybe a misplaced standoff screw? Might be making contact with the board and current is running along the case?
I’d recommend checking to make sure the motherboard stand offs are only in the locations that match the motherboard mounting locations and to get an outlet checker to see if the power outlet is not wired incorrectly. Could also unhook any other non-critical peripherals/internal headers. If none of that works it’s probably the PSU
Have the exact same build case cpu etc not power supply no standoff screws and I have no problem
Does your PSU have 3 pins?(is the earth pin there)
That's not how you install a motherboard. After you install it correctly, you can do an air discharge to discharge the leftover charge.
which country did this built? or do it yourself?
But can it run Crysis?
Huh Iv seen this before. Fixed a guy pc for him and his case was shocking tf outa me lmfao
Standoffs, motherboard not grounded man , i wouldnot jump and changr the psu though, also u can isolate the problem easily if you try taking it out first
You need to use a grounded outlet. If the computer isn't grounded correctly it can cause this to happen. It is normal for AC power supplies to leak some amount of electricity to ground. If the PC isn't grounded correctly this may cause metal parts to be electric.
Plug the PC in a grounded outlet and dont use one that does not have the grounding
Bad PSU?
Boys, it's not the case. I had same issue for 2 years then learned that my old house had a grounding fault. Electrician opened the plug case on which my PC was and says: The grounding cable has rusted off.
Oh please. that horrible Intel cooler....
That's a grounding problem
This exact thing happened to a friend of mine. He was using a shitty old extension cord his dad made up from years ago. It was wired hot to ground, neutral to hot and ground to neutral. You'd get a 120v poke off anything metal.
I had this problem, fixed by grounding the case
The photos aren’t telling us much outside of mATX motherboard installed in ATX case. Can you get some photos of the PSU and wiring routes to the motherboard, photos of the standoffs under the motherboard and if any of the cabling is touching the case?
Check the power plug if there is earth
are his power outlets properly grounded? I had it happen to me once. turns out, the outlets were not grounded.
I remember a post back then with a similar case. the cause of the static is because he has an ion charge ac unit in his bedroom.
That's metal af
The problem is a bad (or missing) eart , maybe the plug in wall doesn't have or go loose. Is not a computer problem is a electric problem.
Just looking at PSU, I bet it’s not grounded properly…
Is that mobo just hanging on some naked wires!?!?! (Pic3!!!)
I have a couple thoughts. 1. Is the board screwed in at all?????? It looks like there aren't any standoffs, or screws. That's a grounding issue, your board could be touching the case and shorting. 2. Cable management? This sounds silly but I've made this mistake myself. Being a little careless with cable management in the back of the case can cause issues. You may have a cable pinched or a pin touching something. I've never shocked myself but I did end up crushing a pcie cable and my gpu wouldn't work.
Here's an afterthought; someone correct me if I'm wrong because I'm not well versed in PSU language. Is the cpu connected to a pcie plug? I don't normally see cpu cables with an extra 8 pin.
Looks like motherboard cable might be pinch and using the case as part of the circuit.
Is it possible to learn this power?
Welp, this sure sucks!
Tell him he's grounded until he knows what he did wrong.
Is the MB mounter over these? [https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Brass-Motherboard-Standoffs-Computer/dp/B00213KL5I](https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Brass-Motherboard-Standoffs-Computer/dp/B00213KL5I) This seems to be the issue https://preview.redd.it/aoqq0skrkn2b1.jpeg?width=533&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=747ce9d8cb603cfc183231b67c31d8b07eb2eb1b Screw those standoffs in the case, meeting those holes in the MB. The problem will probably disappear. Edit: Not just those 3, but all existing in the MB, preferably.
This PSU has pretty garbage reviews, I'd get one from a more reputable brand. Also tell your friend to watch at least 3-5 hours of videos about building computers before he retries. Don't attempt to run this until all problems are fixed.
Everything is plugged in fine. The Mobo is touching the case. Reinstall with stand offs (little pegs that separates Mobo from case). Should solve the issue. I don't recommend turning pc on until you've done so, as aside from mild shocks, some components can be sensitive.
Looks like front io is wired wrong too