Okay, so a couple of weeks ago I had a huge scare. Basically it went like this: I was playing a game and I decided to exit and just browse for a while. So on my case it is possible to change the fan speed (I didn't want loud fans while just surfing), but the thing is that the fan controllers are on the inside of the case. So I popped open the side of the case while the computer was on (Stupid, I know, but I have done it loads of times with no trouble). The switches sort of dangle around the middle of the case, so I had them taped to the side of the case with masking tape. So when I was reaching for the switch I suddenly heard this noise, like a spark and suddenly my whole PC shuts down. It would not reboot, no matter what I did. I thought my PC was completely gone. However, I left it unplugged for a while and to my complete shock, worked again with no apparent problems. I said to myself "I must have touched my graphics card and static travelled through the system and blew everything". But I am almost 100% I didnt touch the card because my hand wasn't that near the card! Then I noticed one of the loose cables (that was taped to the side of the case along with the fan controller) resting on the graphics card. I then thought, "maybe I hit the wire which then fell onto the graphics card and caused it to short circuit or something". I don't know if that's possible though, so you tell me! So could anyone explain what happened. Why did it suddenly shut off? If I did touch the card and sent static electricity through the PC, why does it still work? If it wasn't static, could it have been the loose wire? And the most important question, could I have caused damage to my hardware that I don't know about? Possibly reduced performance. I have no idea on these matters. Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post!
Sounds like you managed to ground one of the switches on your PC chassis. It also sounds like your PSU blew a resettable fuse, which is why it wouldn't start up, then worked fine.
I strongly doubt the loose cables would have shorted anything. So long as there was no exposed copper wire on the cables, you should be fine. Your computer is a closed circuit, so the only way you could have shorted something is by introducing an external current, namely, static from your hand reaching inside. Just because you didn't touch anything doesn't mean there was no static either. If you absolutely must play around inside your box (no pun intended) with the power on (we all do it) you should earth yourself to the PSU. But hey, if your PC is still working, it doesn't sound like you've 'blown' anything.
Sounds like the PSU got shorted to ground, which generally doesn't do any harm but still isn't a very nice thing to do to the PC. Check for exposed metal on the switches and wiring of the fan controller, particularly on the legs of the switches. If there is any, put some tape over it to stop the same thing happening again.
i agree with hitman, just a PSU short. i've done it a few times on PCs with hacked up PSUs, they're still running fine even years later. nothing to worry about, but maybe check for exposed live wires.
on this im sure i heard somewhere that a chienese student was playing wow and sweated into his case which caused a short and electricuted and killed him i would be a little more careful if you exposing shorts
I had one of the metal pins come out of a spare molex connector and it shorted against the side of the case. A tiny blue spark occurred and the computer powered off. Good to know it only needs a relatively small amount for it to figure out something's wrong, I guess. The polymorphic fuse in the psu eventually reset on it's own accord and after pushing the offending connector back together again, it was back up and running.
