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Grounding

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Superman4

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Jan 20, 2003
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I'm attempting to take my computer and hang it from the ceiling of my room with strong thread/fishing line and need help on how to ground the motherboard.
 
cool idea .... although the realisation might be a little hard .... Anyways, do you wanna hang the whole computer (the case holding every component, like a normal computer, just hanging from the ceiling ?) or that every component be hanging by itself (no case) ?

welcome to the forums btw :):D
 
What I would do is to find where the mobo normaly grounds to the case, and then use some braided copper (or even normal copper wire) and attach it to that point, and the outside of the power supply.

For attaching, you could probably use some defogger repair stuff (which is a plus if you allready have some from unlocking an AMD). If not, I'm sure that you could find some pretty easy.

JigPu
 
Your... going... to... hang... your... computer... from... the... ceiling...? :eek:

Well, Er.. I would go with high grade steel wire.. Fishing line, er.. I don't think that'd be to good :eek:
 
FlypSyde said:
Isn't the motherboard grounded through the power supply? I've never had to connect any additional ground to a motherboard.

Yeah I always figured the grounds were made through the PSU, not directly to the case...it should work fine, just like running a computer on a desk without a case.

Actually, you don't want to ground the mobo anywhere else anyway.

Cool idea though! And if I can find it, I had a pic from an office where there was a computer hanging in a cubicle like that...
 
OK, thanxs so much for your help, now if only I get around to actually putting my computer back together somewhat :)
 
Some run well ungrounded, and some just won't.
While it's true that the power supply plugin will ground it somewhat, remember that's not the greatest path.
Hoot's 5 volt mod article proves that...you have alot of power loss from the atx plug to the components, imagine what it's like once it returns all the way back.
Take a look once at the difference between bios voltages and what's read with a multimeter at the molex plugs...that's not imaginary (no I don't think it's terribly accurate, but it beats poking probes into a running board).

When I made my case, I made sure to include a copper sheet as a groundplane for all the motherboard standoffs to ground every single grounding lug on the motherboard (why do you think they are there, anyway?).

I'd suggest getting a piece of aluminum, copper, or steel sheeting to use as a ground plane, and hanging it by that. I'd also suggest using some fine cable called steel leaders from the fishing section to hang the mobo from. A loaded motherboard has some considerable weight to it, and the steel is also good protection against accidental snapping from bumping it with your noggin.
It's a skinny, multistranded cable with swivelling clasps to secure it well, and each will hold the full weight in case of an accident.;)

Oh, and where are my manners...Welcome to the Forums!
 
OK, another question about the whole hanging the computer from the ceiling thing. How should I go about cooling it? Hanging fans? It's in the basement so it's pritty cool but I'm guessing I'm gonna need something more.
 
Just use the normal fans... CPU, maybe video card and even less of a maybe a northbridge fan.

All else is ok. I doubt the inertia of the fan blades would spin the MB around much.

When ur done take pics.

Also for the first question u had. I have run most of my motherboards sitting on some paper or plastic without any grounding other than the PSU. Never had a problem.
 
well, I belive that the case itself is grounded back through the PSU into the ground on the plug... because if its not obvious a case with plastic feet just doesnt ground very well ... hehe so if you had something metal backing your mobo "touching the standoffs" then have that grounded to your PSU you SHOULD be fine. and I dont know about cooling you dont have to worry much about airflow seeing as it's not in a case , and if you have wires on each of the corners and somehow attach fans it would be pretty hard to spin it around with the wires that far apart...
 
I'm planning on hanging it from a tower. Thanks for everyones help, I'll probably start hanging it soon and then I'll get a pic of it.
 
Make a watercooled tablet for your laptop to sit on...at least that's where my thinkpad gets hot.

And stompah, yes it'll run fine without it grounded...seemingly so.
Like I said some run great, some don't run at all, some just give you annoying errors at all the wrong times. It would depend on how good the power handling of your mobo is...everyone is different.
 
/me looks at two computers that have been running ungrounded for months at a time out of cases

Seem fine to me
 
Ya know what? This is rattling my chain a little bit too much to ignore anymore. I've held this same stance about grounding your computer since I first gave my opinion on this same question over a year ago, when I first joined this forum, and years before, when many of you were still messing your pants.

Fine.
*Forget the fact that every motherboard on the planet has tinned ground lugs built around the fastening screw holes.
*Forget the fact that every damned case that's worth a **** comes with BRASS standoffs.
*Forget the fact that every single corporation made computer on the planet is built with brass standoffs (Dell, Packard Hell, HP...).
*Forget the fact that 2 whole computers is not a scientific sampling.
*Forget the fact that every power supply on the market grounds it's power cord to the psu's case to in turn ground the computer case.
*Forget the fact that every single PCI and even ISA cards have metal backplane brackets that the card's circuit grounds to.
*Forget the fact that a metal backplane is part of the ATX standard for a reason.

What to hell do the engineers that design our parts for us know anyway. When your overclocked graphics card shorts out and takes the motherboard with it, I will be here to laugh at you (and my computer will still be running).

Peace.

*edit* And now that I've calmed down some...I said before that some systems will apear to run just fine without the proper grounding, but really, why chance it? Do you really know more than all the people it took to build your hardware? If so, I'd like you build me a capture card with Surround sound and 64M of ram, and drivers that will run in Win2K pro....please?
 
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Besides the fact I agree with "Diggrr", there is also the issue of shielding. The shield behind the motherboard and case around any computer act as a shield to prevent RF radiation. The power supply switching at any where from 20 kHz to 100kHz radiates RF hash up to and beyond the 10th harmonic. In addition you get radiation from every data and address line on the motherboard and every card on the PSA or other bus. It radiates at all kinds of frequencys and very odd harmonics all the way up the spectrum. Why do you think that every device manufactured in the civilized world has to have FCC approval to be sold in the US and the approval of a similar agency in any other civilized nation. Even so it has become so one can barely listen to shortwave transmissions because of computer hash. If you don't believe this take the sides off your computer and tune your TV through the channels and watch the hash on the screen and the noise in the speaker at intervals, also try an AM radio and tune the scale as well as an FM radio. Ok so you don't care about your neighbors for two miles. So what about when the FCC comes to your door with a search warrent. Yep, it's possible. The fine $1000 per day per violation.

Add to that the fact that the shielding allows the computer to be more reliable by shielding and address and data lines from each other and from control lines by absorbing radiation from the from them through the power supply ground. Address and data lines are determined to be or not to be reliable by their capacitance and inductance induced by length and relation to ground and 5 Volt planes. Manufacturers run elaborate computer programs to design such lines to be reliable. Samples are built and tolerances measured then redesigned and measured again. Radiation from the board has to be under standard of 100 milliwatts at 10 feet. I believe that is the FCC standard. I work in a facility where these tests are done. They are done in a shielded room so no other radiation affects the test.

Hang a motherboard from the ceiling with or without a backplane, without a case is nuts. Cool looking or not some things are just not good by the fact they affect other people adversely. I wouldn't want to be your neighbor.
 
*Forget the fact that every power supply on the market grounds it's power cord to the psu's case to in turn ground the computer case.

But the ground for the outputs may not be connected to the PSU case of some PSUs. With those, I don't know if it's better to ground the mobo to the computer case in order to ground it to the PSU case.
 
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