Draining static charge procedure

Question

I remember a Dell support person once walked me through the procedure for draining static charge. I'd like to remember the procedure. It involved something like:  - power down  - remove rechargeable batter module(s)  - hold power-button down for 30 seconds   I can't remember but I THINK the AC adapter must be connected for this to work properly. Can anyone verify this procedure?   I think that this problem might have cause a malfunctioning CPU/fan thermal sensor loop problem referred to in another post today by myself.

tonebalone · Answer

I think you might be trying to drain the residual power. Disconnect the battery and the AC power cord then press the power button. You especially want to do this before reseating memory modules or the CPU.

Get some high quality thermal grease such as Arctic Silver 5, and avoid the $.99 Radio Shack stuff.

tonebalone · Answer

That looks good to me.

JavaSci · Answer

OK I have some of this MG (my initials ;-)  Silicone Heat Transfer Compound:   http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/860.html Question is shouldn't that be used anyway? I didn't see any such compound on the top of chip die.

jonesy889 · Answer

Just thought I'd mention; I had to do this the other day when my touch pad was playing up! The icon for the touch pad in the system tray was always registering pressure on the left side of the pad, Dell phone support said it was probably overcharged capacitors, and after the static discharge all was fine!

And yes, it is with the AC supply UNplugged

Andrew

JavaSci · Answer

Interesting. How does this work?  Where is the drain path for the static buildup? if there is nothing physically connected (like AC adapter or any peripheral cables etc..) to the laptop, where does the accumulated static charge go? or does this merely spread the 'static buildup' around the system more or less equally? where is the 'ground discharge' path?  lol

tonebalone · Answer

We're not exactly dealing with static buildup.  This is to discharge the voltage remaining on the data bus so that one can safely add/remove parts like CPU, memory sticks, etc.  There's not a lot of advice on discharging static buildup, though it's a great idea, esp. in light of the number of USB port failures that can be attributed to static.

JavaSci · Answer

Good news on this. After I reseated the cup fan micro-plugs, the fans did cycle but were on high cycle way too often. I applied some good thermal compound, ran Dell Diagnostics and both fans work properly. The thermal compound made a huge difference. Now the fans come on rarely and I've only heard them on low speed mode. For details see http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=latit_general&message.id=46692

dcreen · Answer

My Dell ultrabook has an integrated battery.   The touchpad has started acting screwy, and I think it's due to static.  How do I discharge static with an integrated battery that can't be removed?

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Draining static charge procedure

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