fail, The computer isn't generating static, he or she is, every time they touch the case they suddenly get earthed and feel the shock. My theory as lots of people have posted similar threads. Its winter and every bodies favourite gran has knitted them a jumper, which has the capability to produce enough static electricity to make a whole dogs fur to stand on end, then the unwise puck sticks his finger in his machine and wonders why they received a nice shock, and hear a small crack.
If it was a person generating the static they would discharge everytime they touched a conductive object not just the computer. Plus your solution of earthing the computer would make no difference as there would be a static discharge regardless of wether the case was earthed or not earthed. Static discharges are all about differences in potential not about earthing. Incidentally to feel a static discharge it needs to be in the region of 3500V.
I've never really cared about ESD all that much.... Not until I got a cat anyway! Damn that thing counts as a tesla coil.
its not static... really its definately not static. I live in the netherlands so the sockets are of the 2 pin variety. the house is well over 100 years old and the connections are also very old (the wires pass through tubes on the outside of the wall and the fusebox is like something from the 40's...) and have no ground (usually a small electrical nubbin on the side of the socket rather than the rather nice uk style) re-wireing the house is not an option (nothing has a ground) yep it is just an irritation I suppose, however as for instance the outer casing of a usb cable is ground - if plugging in cables its quite possible to get a shock off the case of my phone for instance if I dont get it right first time. nice thought about electrifying the watersupply... any other ideas?
I would suggest talking to a local electrician about the problem. From an electrical safety viewpoint a Residual Current Device (RCD) might be a good idea however if you have an old electrical system with lots of leakage current getting one to work may be a nightmare.
Get your hand really wet then try touching it... If it still does it, well never mind your probably dead.
