Electric shock from laptop?

[excreationist]

I bought a second hand laptop (Lenovo B50-70) a couple of months ago. Today I was using it when it was connected to the power. It said it was fully charged. Then I unplugged it and after a couple of seconds it turned off. Then I plugged it in again and turned it on and when unplugging it it turned off again after a couple of seconds. I thought that I could live with that problem by just making sure it is always plugged in.

Tonight I plugged the laptop into a motel TV with a HDMI cable. The keyboard appears to be plastic but every time I press the spacebar to pause the movie I get a strong electric shock in my finger. When I unpause the movie by pressing the spacebar again I don't get any shock. Maybe it takes a few minutes for the charge to build up. So far I've got shocked three times - each time I paused the movie after it had been playing for several minutes.

Perhaps both problems are connected....

BTW the floor I was walking on to get to the laptop was fake wood grain and I was bare foot.

edit: it stopped happening (for now at least)

 

[steve_bank]

The odds of electric shock are very low.

Static discharge can be momentarily painful. Touch a metal water faucet or a grounded metal appliance before torching the computer.

You are probably discharging into the computer. You can wear an ESD wrist strap that bleeds off charge from your body,if it is a continuing problem, they are cheap.

Computers evolved to be ESD resistant and are subjected to standard ESD discharge immunity tests.

 

[thebeave]

I've been shocked many times by both ESD and from 120 volt AC. They are quite different in feel. The ESD is short lived, sudden and can be very startling and even a bit painful. It ends nearly instantaneously on its own as the the static is discharged. The 120 VAC shock has a continuous, uncomfortable buzzing feel to it. It ends when you instinctively jerk your hand away from the source. Although some unlucky people have been killed when they are unable to release their hand due to muscle contraction caused by the electricity. You shouldn't be able to get a 120 VAC shock from a dry plastic keyboard, so I suspect you got an ESD shock.

 

[excreationist]

These were the first times I've ever been shocked by a computer. And it has stopped happening (after happening on three occasions that were close to each other). I think the problem with it turning off is related since they are related to electricity...

 

[none]

hit it with a hammer.

 

[steve_bank]

These were the first times I've ever been shocked by a computer. And it has stopped happening (after happening on three occasions that were close to each other). I think the problem with it turning off is related since they are related to electricity...

It is not the computer that is shocking you, it is you who are shocking the computer.

In the early days back in the 80s touching a system in the wrong place could crash the hardware, even when you did not feel the discharge. You could damge chips in a keyboard. here are now testing standards for electronic products.

Unlikely, but a charge on the computer plastics could tranasfer to you. You cod pace a charge on the computer plastic by rubbing with synthetic cloth.

I was involved in this stuff in the 80s.

Modern isolation standards reduce the shock hazard from a PC to next to nothing. To get an electric shock through plastic woud require a very high voltage. Are you touching plastic or metal?

You could get a chep E fild meter and see what it registers next to the computer or you.

 

[excreationist]

These were the first times I've ever been shocked by a computer. And it has stopped happening (after happening on three occasions that were close to each other). I think the problem with it turning off is related since they are related to electricity...

It is not the computer that is shocking you, it is you who are shocking the computer.....

Now that I think of it when I was young I'd touch a big metal trampoline and get a strong electric shock as well.

Modern isolation standards reduce the shock hazard from a PC to next to nothing. To get an electric shock through plastic woud require a very high voltage. Are you touching plastic or metal?

Plastic - the plastic spacebar key. And the shock was either very strong or not at all. Since I posted originally I've received no more shocks at all but the laptop is still in the same place and I've been lying in the same bed that is next to it.

 

[steve_bank]

1. The Russians figured out how to remotely execute you by causing an electric shock over the net.
2. Your computer has become self aware and is trying to communicate with you.
3. Nano bots have invaded your computer.
4. It is all part of the simulation.

Whatever you do never put your index fingers in your both ears at the same time. You can deliver a fatal shock to yoor brain.