Just a warning to people living in cold climates at this time of year- I went to plug in a USB cable today and a HUGE spark leapt from my finger to the FireWire port on my TR2. It was such a large discharge my finger still aches a little under the nail and the spark made a little flash. Anyway, my FW port doesn’t recognize anything plugged into it now, so I guess this’ll have to be sent in under my accidental damage insurance policy. Be careful!  :(

that sucks..thanks for the warning.

Damn, thats horrible. Sorry Cellery.

:(

Erik

wow! well my hard drive fried at mt. everest base camp last month…see other post somewhere on hdd crash.  i wonder how cold weather can do this.  it was -5c with a windchill factor of BLOODYCOLD. the TR was packed in a good bag in the landrover, we were on enfields. i powered it up in the tent to transfer photos from smart card. read error then no operating system.  i thought it might have been vibration, but maybe not.  there must be some operating temperature specs somewhere on TRs eh?  damn lies and statistics no doubt,
jigs

Just as an update- the TR was fixed and sent back to me in 10 days. One of my co-workers fried his PowerBook’s FireWire port in a similar fashion, I guess it’s always good to be careful. Now I touch a metal object before working, just in case!  :ph34r:

or just make sure you wear a grounding strap..

I didn’t think anyone owned or used grounding straps anymore.  Thats right up there with wearing your seatbelt and putting a napkin on your lap before you eat.  Does anyone really do this stuff except in the movies or when you are trying to impress somebody?

I use a ground strap while working inside the pc but defintely outside….

That’s good to hear. I’m glad your Firewire port is back to working and that Sony has a very prompt service repairing your TR—it’s good to know the corporation cares. Thanks for the warning. I don’t have any FW devices to use for it ( never had ), but I’ll keep that in mind if I ever do.

-best,
Concura

11 July 2004

...

I also haven’t ever thought about the possibility of arcing when plugging in a cord.  Thanks for the “heads-up”.

yea i dont know what’s up with my setup but i can get zinged by touching the ends of a usb cable coming out of the adaptec X-hub or even unplugging the ipod from the cradle. it’s not like a real shock, just a little zing that let’s u know there is power there.  i’m not sure if its because I am running on variable 220v (i’ve had voltage regulators go up in smoke in my flat) or that’s just the way USB is…

Definitely due to the very dry ad cold climate that you are in…. are any laptop made to work in -5 degree environment?  :?:

[quote author=“jiggy”][quote author=“VAIO Jet”]I also haven’t ever thought about the possibility of arcing when plugging in a cord.  Thanks for the “heads-up”.

yea i dont know what’s up with my setup but i can get zinged by touching the ends of a usb cable coming out of the adaptec X-hub or even unplugging the ipod from the cradle. it’s not like a real shock, just a little zing that let’s u know there is power there.  i’m not sure if its because I am running on variable 220v (i’ve had voltage regulators go up in smoke in my flat) or that’s just the way USB is…

[quote author=“dragius”]Definitely due to the very dry ad cold climate that you are in…. are any laptop made to work in -5 degree environment?  :?:

[quote author=“jiggy”][quote author=“VAIO Jet”]I also haven’t ever thought about the possibility of arcing when plugging in a cord.  Thanks for the “heads-up”.

yea i dont know what’s up with my setup but i can get zinged by touching the ends of a usb cable coming out of the adaptec X-hub or even unplugging the ipod from the cradle. it’s not like a real shock, just a little zing that let’s u know there is power there.  i’m not sure if its because I am running on variable 220v (i’ve had voltage regulators go up in smoke in my flat) or that’s just the way USB is…

cold and dry?  it’s 32c and raining today.  it’s been raining now for a week or so.  monsoon madness!!!! oh yeah….gotta love it.