John Kelly wrote:
On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 01:16:24 +0000, Sid Boyce <sboyce@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
the typical "I've never damaged memory" guy will pick it up between 2 fingers and walk across a carpet with it
At one shop, a PC "technician" told me he always handled components safely because his rubber soled shoes kept him grounded. Well, I thought, if he doesn't know the difference between an insulator vs. a conductor, I suppose he won't know much else either. So I said goodbye ...
If enough of us tackle such people, perhaps they'll take notice. I've damaged parts inadvertently for sure, with wrist straps getting dislodged, but I've since learned to be extra cautious when handling stuff, checking and double checking everything is OK before handling a part. When myself and a guy buying memory tackled the sales guy, he said he'd never blown any chips and hurriedly disappeared into the back of the shop. Our manufacturing plant tried blaming our Field Engineers for a part that arrived DOA after analysis showed it was ESD caused, I begged to differ as I was on site when the part was unpacked and installed. A colleague went wandering around the plant and saw ESD procedures being breeched, so we went walking, pretending I was showing this colleague the different sections and what they did, then we wrote a report to management on their transgressions, BOOM!, sorry boys, you caused the damage. The clean room guys were always without fault we also pointed out. I'm surprised the manufacturers do not provide ESD posters that are displayed prominently for the benefit of staff and customers, it would educate both and keep staff honest at least when in view. Perhaps that would impact sales. The motherboard manufacturers pre-package their boards as it would prove very expensive if they saw the sort of failure rates memory experiences, but the memory people could easily pre-package their stuff so it isn't directly handled until it's to be inserted in a motherboard. Perhaps the one good thing I have to say about Sun, they provide a wrist strap with every ESD sensitive part they ship. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce .... Large Computer Systems Specialist - Retired Hamradio Callsign G3VBV and Keen Private Pilot Aeroplanes, Linux, Computers and Cricket my major passions ===== LINUX USED HERE, A Microsoft-free Computing Environment ====