[PLUG] Hardware problem

Derek Loree derek at infotects.com
Wed May 15 17:31:36 UTC 2002


On Tue, 2002-05-14 at 18:16, Richard Steffens wrote:
> Derek Loree wrote:
> 
> > > Interesting. Do you know of a way to test the ground that doesn't
> > > involve AC?
> <snip of the rather hazardous sounding part>
> > If physical inspection
> > doesn't convince you (a proper ground is made by driving a 12 foot
> > copper rod into the ground, water pipes should never be used as the
> > ground for a house -- water is a terrible conductor, the supply line
> > from the street is not deep enough and is probably made of plastic), you
> > could try making a test fixture with a 60 watt light bulb.
> 
> I just wrote, and then deleted an overly long explanation of my house's
> ground system. Since this subject is already fairly OT, I decided it
> would be better if I just said that I'm confident that my ground is
> good.

I'm not so sure that the pursuit of stability is all that far OT.  

Maybe Shannon has a point about the lack of quality of parts these
days.  I have been working with computers for a few years, and have yet
to have a system reset because of a static hit, but the costumers
usually would bring in the systems without mice, keyboard and monitor. 
I personally think (given that your grounding is good) that you should
pursue this as a hardware problem (try changing the mouse or get an
anti-static pad for the mouse), not an environmental condition that
needs to be dealt with on a daily basis.

I hope that you will keep us updated on this issue.

Derek






More information about the PLUG mailing list