Electrocution from my Powerbook - anyone ever get this?

[dirtmachine]

I might be crazy, but I would swear that my powerbook is giving me lots of little shocks as I use it. It's an old 667mhz 15" (2002, actually, but old in terms of being decrepit and outdated). I'm using a usb mouse and typing very carefully, but still a bunch of little tingles.

Anyone ever have an experience like this?

I've been thinking about moving on soon anyway, since I'd like to be able to use more than 8 plugins at a time, etc.

[death by chandelier]

I have the same PowerBook. I don't record with it anymore, but when I did I would get shocked if I was recording my guitar through an old ungrounded amp. If I was touching the guitar strings I had to be careful not to touch the Titanium PB at the same time. Sometimes I would forget and have my left hand holding the guitar around the neck/strings and adjusting some stuff on the PB with my right hand -- ZAP!!

[dirtmachine]

Hmmm, lots of things can happen with an ungrounded amp.

The stuff I'm getting now is all the time, not just when recording. It's pretty bizarre, I'm wondering if somehow some part of the chassis has made contact with something it's not supposed to...

[;ivlunsdystf]

Weird. Maybe you should wear rubber gloves while you type/mouse.

[inflatable]

Or maybe you should get your amp fixed so you don't electrocute yourself. Why did it take 4 posts for someone to mention how dangerous ungrounded electronics can be? For me, it's 3 prong or nothing.

[vsr600]

yes i noticed this too with my 12" powerbook and I figured out it's a grounding issue. If you are grounded (touching something big and metal) and you are using the square power adapter without the grounded extension cord you get shocked. If you stick in the grounded extension cord (the 3 prong one) you don't get shocked.

[death by chandelier]

Yeah, I did ground the amp which solved the shock problem (this was years ago).

But I think dirtmachine has a different problem.

I'm assuming dirtmachine that you are only getting shocked with the laptop plugged in.

[death by chandelier]

Hey dirtmachinge.

There are a lot of discussions about this same issue over on the Apple Support site.

http://discussions.apple.com/search.jsp ... Go&q=shock

[vsr600]

yea that's what I'm talking about, use the 3 prong on the powerbook and you won't get shocked...

[inverseroom]

Sometimes, if I am on the phone, and my foot happens to touch the end of the USB cable that leads to my backup hard drive, I hear crackling on the line. Still have not figured this one out.

[dirtmachine]

Hey dirtmachinge.

There are a lot of discussions about this same issue over on the Apple Support site.

http://discussions.apple.com/search.jsp ... Go&q=shock

Wow, that was invaluable. I'm NOT crazy!!!

Appreciate the replies. Incidentally, as I type, I am running on the battery only and still getting it.

An upgrade has been a long time coming and this pretty much makes it an immediate concern. Thinking about building a pc and switching from DP to PT...