Sparked the motherboard!

[Avenger212]

Hello
I was installing new blue lights on my system when my sleeve got caught at on one of the end pins. So in an attempt to undo it I pulled my sleeve and the light pins went into one of the PCI express slots and sparked the motherboard. Turn it on and my system still works. Just asking is their still a possibility that my motherboard or any other hardware will fail ?

Forgot to mention the PC was on while I was installing the lights, cause one of my fans wasn't working.

[SKYMTL]

1) Never EVER install components with the computer on or the PSU plugged in.

2) If it still works, you are pretty much out of the woods. Count yourself lucky.

[supaflyx3]

.. Why was your PC on while installing parts? That's just asking for trouble (as you've found out the hard way). You might have killed the PCI-E slot that sparked, so you might want to test that.

[Avenger212]

I have unorthodox ways of doing things. I just checked it still works.

[Beastylemon]

i'm the same, i install parts while computer is on while wearing socks on carpet and flying kites with keys on it lol
i joke :)

[Bond007]

As said above. If it works then it should be good to go. Next time kill the power first unless you want to replace the MOB.

[ilya]

I have encountered situations like this quite a few times and have yet to get burned for it. Dropped many a screwdriver on many a running motherboard, resulting in a nice sparking. Fortunately there hasn't been a time where the short circuit/over current protections have not worked. Pretty much all decent modern motherboards/PSU's will have adequate protections as long as you aren't deliberately trying to kill your system. I wouldn't recommend continuing to install things with the power on though.

[Avenger212]

Thanks for the reply I was just worried that my pc might not work within the next day or two.

Yes, I will never install another component while the pc is on ever again..

[Skippman]

Originally Posted by ilya

I have encountered situations like this quite a few times and have yet to get burned for it. Dropped many a screwdriver on many a running motherboard, resulting in a nice sparking. Fortunately there hasn't been a time where the short circuit/over current protections have not worked. Pretty much all decent modern motherboards/PSU's will have adequate protections as long as you aren't deliberately trying to kill your system. I wouldn't recommend continuing to install things with the power on though.

Reminds me of the time a friend and I decided to open up a MFM hard drive while it was running to see what I looks like. I have to say, those platters were pretty fault tolerant as it took some serious damage before sector loss occurred.

[Shadowmeph]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

1) Never EVER install components with the computer on or the PSU plugged in.

2) If it still works, you are pretty much out of the woods. Count yourself lucky.

Yes I totally agree with this also remember to either have a static strap or be touching the case ( grounding yourself to the case) when working on the motherboard ,so that you don't discharge any staic electricity and fry something.