23
Had a chat with an old Dell repair guy that made me rethink my whole toolkit
Ran into a guy who used to repair Dells back in the 90s at a shop in Portland. He said he never used compressed air or fancy anti-static gear, just a wooden desk and his bare hands. Made me wonder if I have been overcomplicating things for 10 years. Any of you old timers skip basic stuff and get away with it?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
drew5513d ago
Yeah back when I was fixing up old Optiplexes for a local school I did the same thing, just worked on a wooden table with no wrist strap. Never fried a single board. I think as long as you touch the metal case first you're pretty safe.
6
logan_young2912d ago
@drew55 that old optiplex stuff is basically bulletproof, built to handle way more abuse than modern hardware. the older through-hole components could take a static zap that would instantly kill a modern SSD or laptop board. still doesn't mean i'd risk it with a $500 GPU just because my old Dell survived being worked on in a carpeted room.
1
roberts9512d ago
Contact points on old boards are way more forgiving than modern stuff with tiny surface mount components. One slip with a dry winter day and wool sweater and you might not get so lucky. Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean the risk isn't real.
0