kronflux writes:

okay, the subject is a little off, I -know- I should be worried.
here's the scoop.
basically I have an old pc, celeron or something here, which I was
using as a media PC, to watch my downloaded movies on my tv, with s-
video out and such.
anyway.
since around when I put it together, I was getting little shocks
occasionally from it. I don't know what it could be. every time it
happened, I got the shock from the case itself. and each time I
quickly unplugged the computer. once plugged back in, it didn't have
any problems.
recently I haven't been getting shocks at all, but just yesterday I
turned it on, and it was running for a while just idle, and I smelled
burning, and then it froze. I quickly rushed over and unplugged it,
and looked inside, and to my surprise there was a component on the
motherboard that was glowing red hot. I don't know what the component
is called, but here's a link to a picture of it, then a picture of the
motherboard to show reference as to where it is.
first I'd like to point out, part of my problem is likely dust and
dirt. but we'll get to that.
http://bayimg.com/image/bagagaaco.jpg
http://bayimg.com/image/fagakaaco.jpg

as I said, this component was glowing red hot. but! the computer turns
on just fine even now. it boots and everything.
aside from dust, what might have caused this, and should I be
concerned, once I clean it?

Unsolder and remove that part - it's a bypass capacitor - and see if the PC
runs. It's possible it just went bad. If the PC runs OK, it will be fine
without it. If not, probably time to get a new PC as someone else suggested.

The shocks are a totally different problem.

Is the PC plugged into a PROPERLY grounded outlet? If not, then the case
can have some voltage on it from the power supply RFI/line filters. PCs
should always be plugged into grounded outlets for your safety and also
reliability. It's also possible there is a fault in the power supply which
would blow the line fuse if the case were properly grounded. And that can
be very dangerous (but also relatively unlikely).

The other possibility is that it is simply very dry there and you're getting
static shocks like walking across a carpet and touching a doorknob.

A third possibility is that some other piece of equipment is faulty and
you're getting shocked when you touch that and the PC at the same time.

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