Not Grounded?

[HaGGardSmurf]

I am using an nzxt phantom case, and there has been 3 or 4 times where I go to plug in my cell phone usb cable and when the metal touches the metal of the usb port my computer seems to crash.

Both monitors go black, and if I hit power it turns off instantly (no waiting for windows to save and log off etc). When I power it back on windows asks how to start, normal safe mode etc...

Anyhow, I think I may not have grounded my motherboard or something? If thats the issue, how do I ground it? It'd be nice if there was a ground that came off my psu I could just plug into my board.

When I built the comp, I didnt mess with any aligator clips or any ground wires or anything, I simply plugged everything in, mounted my cpu cooler installed drives etc and set my ram speed to 1600.

 

[RetiredChief]

To start off, There is no "speacial" grounding for computers.
For US
(1) The 3rd wire at the outlet (round hole) is earth ground. This then goes to the case of the PSU. The screws that hold the PSU the carry this earth ground to the Computer case. The stand offs on the MB tie the MB to earth ground. The only problem would be (a) faulty house wiring or (2) you have an open between the outlet ground and the pSU.

(2) More probable - You are charged and when you go to plug the cell phone in to0 the uSB connector you are transfering your charge to the USB. There have been a couple of posters indicating that there case did not proerly shield the USB ports and this was causing a problem in that they where discharging body charge into the usb port. Try this befor pluging the phone in, Touch a screw on the case, then plug phone in, No problem, then this is the problem.

 

[HaGGardSmurf]

Ok, I do have the third prong on my power cable, and it is plugged into a power bar.

The second thing, sounds more likely, but the issue is it only happens once in a while.

 

[RetiredChief]

Static Build-up depends on several factors such as Relative humidity (The lower the humidity, the easier it is to build up a charge). The type of cloth worn, the surface your walking on.
So for these reasons it is quite possible to appear to be random.

 

[HaGGardSmurf]

Best answer selected by haggardsmurf.