evaperez•21d agoProlific Poster

Overheard a guy say he never uses an ESD strap. That scared me.

I was at a parts counter yesterday and heard a customer bragging about never using an ESD strap on motherboard repairs. He said he's never had a problem in 10 years. Has anyone else seen a board fail weeks after a repair from a static hit they didn't notice?

2 comments

2 Comments

paul_lane8021d ago

Seen it happen more times than I can count lol. Static damage is weird because it can show up days or even weeks later as random glitches or a dead component on the board. That guy bragging about 10 years with no strap is just getting lucky so far, but one bad zap and he'll be eating his words. A $10 strap is way cheaper than replacing a motherboard or a CPU, no contest there. Always worth the peace of mind, especially in dry weather when static builds up like crazy. Don't risk it, just strap in and save yourself the headache.

lindagreen21d ago

Isn't it just as likely that people who swear by straps are a little paranoid and the real world failure rate from static is way overblown, @paul_lane80? For every horror story there's probably a hundred builds done on carpet with no issues.