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my mbp has turned into a lightning bolt, help!

G

gagaliya

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 24, 2010
466
394
Man this thing zaps me like crazy everytime i touch it, not the mild pinch, but a shock and sometime there are sparks. And my room's humidity is kept at 45ish which is ideal. I hate to think what will happen during the winters when the room humidity drops to the low 20s (shock therapy?)

Anyone else have this problem? is there an app for that? Or some kind of grounding hardware for the mbp (iGround?)

crap...
 
Contact Apple and ask for help there?

Maybe some component is on the fritz and needs to be adjusted.

Every once in a while it happens, that the aluminium enclosure delivers electric shocks more often than it really should.

Btw, what kind of floor do you have? Carpet or something else? Do you shuffle your feet or move some other way?

Because when I'm using a carpet (at work) and walk a lot I also get a lot of electric shocks from many devices, even my white MB shocked me more than twice.

Lightning - electrical information
 
Happens to me too.. Especially in winter… Maybe all you need is a humidifier. I know it fixed it for me…
My room is just too dry..
 
i have wood floor, and all my outlets are grounded (3 pin plug) but the apple magnetic plug only has 2 pins so it's not grounded?

I noticed it seem to happen much more severely after i installed one of those plastic hard case covers.

Man this is going to be a problem....i dont want to get zapped!
 
for a consistent zap get two unibody macbooks and touch both while they are plugged in :eek:

whenever i am typing on my pro, if my elbow touches my g/fs 13" it shocks me, last night i was using mine and she was using hers, her knee touched thigh and ZAP ... wasnt nice, had the same problem with the macbook air too.
 
Just get humidifier, it really helps. I have wooden floors too and one day one bad zap (from touching mac mini) almost threw me 1/2 a feet away :p
 
"i have wood floor, and all my outlets are grounded (3 pin plug) but the apple magnetic plug only has 2 pins so it's not grounded?"

I have one of the new (April 2010) MB Pros, and it came with a "2-piece" power supply:
- The power block itself (with MagSafe connector attached), and...
- A power "extension" cord.

The power block has only a 2-prong plug. As such, I assume it's not grounded to the "house ground".

However, by pulling out the 2-prong plug from the power block, you can insert the extension cord which does have a 3-prong grounded plug at the other end.

Not sure if this will make a difference, but probably worth a try....
 
I measured 50 volts between my MBP and ground while using the 2-prong adapter. I only use the 3-prong grounded cord now!

If you are feeling a static discharge, the 3-prong cord might only make it worse by providing a better path to ground. It's better for the computer, though, since static can easily damage it if not safely shunted away.

Some time I'll probably make a ground point with a large (~1M ohm) resistor to put on my desk so I don't get shocked every time I touch my MBP. Static in my house is very bad in the winter (it's very dry in Nevada), and even touching the screw on the light switch gives me a shock. If I touch my fluorescent light when it's warm just after turning it off, the voltage will make it glow briefly.
 
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