[SOLVED] PC Grounding Issues?

May 26, 2020
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Built a PC a few months back. Specs are:
  • Meshify C Case
  • Noctua D15 Cooler
  • Nvidia 2070
  • Ryzen 3900x
  • Asus Gigabyte Aorus Wifi 570
  • Corsair hx 850
Up till today, I would get shocked whenever I touched the wifi ports on the back panel of the motherboard. I have another adapter in the motherboard with the same plug, and that would shock me too. This made it difficult to screw the wifi adapter in. The plugs looked like this: View: https://imgur.com/a/9p1V0FG


Yesterday, I shocked myself on the top piece of my case after I accidentally touched the metal part of a USB cable with my other hand when I plugged it in. So I realized that this wasn't perhaps, a normal thing. After a post on reddit, and a solid day of google searches, I found that the issue was most likely because my outlet was NOT grounded. And sure enough, it was not. I hooked my PC up to a grounded outlet, and the shocks were gone.

So that brings me to now. I had consulted both my dad and brother on the issue beforehand as well. They think that the grounding is only a temporary fix, and that there is a leakage of current in my pc still, that's going to slowly destroy the internals of my PC. Is this true? If so, What can I do to start diagnosing and fixing it?
 
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Solution
There may not be any problem on the PC. When you use ungrounded outlets, it is possible to plug the unit into the outlet the "wrong way". There actually are a Hot and a Neutral line in the wall socket. For lots of items the power supply system isolates you from wall circuits, but some simpler systems do not. It gets tricky when you have several items to plug in - computer, monitor, printer, scanner, etc. EACH of those MIGHT get plugged in "wrong way". And then there is usually a "ground" connection between the chassis of the different units in the connecting cables, so a problem in one device could affect the cases of others.

When you use a Grounded (3-prong) outlet system, you can NOT plug them in "wrong way" - there is only one way...

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
There may not be any problem on the PC. When you use ungrounded outlets, it is possible to plug the unit into the outlet the "wrong way". There actually are a Hot and a Neutral line in the wall socket. For lots of items the power supply system isolates you from wall circuits, but some simpler systems do not. It gets tricky when you have several items to plug in - computer, monitor, printer, scanner, etc. EACH of those MIGHT get plugged in "wrong way". And then there is usually a "ground" connection between the chassis of the different units in the connecting cables, so a problem in one device could affect the cases of others.

When you use a Grounded (3-prong) outlet system, you can NOT plug them in "wrong way" - there is only one way they fit, and the Hot, Neutral and Ground lines all are rigidly defined in the way the wall wires are installed. This eliminates the possibility of unexpected shocks. In this situation, the only way to get a shock is if there REALLY is something wrong! And usually such a problem will result in blowing a fuse to prevent any danger.
 
Solution