The Magic Touch.

[zburns]

I at first did not believe this; many of you will not believe it either. But here goes! This morning, I touched my computer cabinet "ON" button, just touched it, did not push it, and the sucker started up, except that I got the black and white "windows" instruction screen and had to choose (press Enter) to "start windows normally".

I have the Antec Sonata III or 500 cabinet; there was an issue reported in this forum some months back about lack of grounding on the small plastic chrome front insert panel with the front cabinet connector ports on it, etc.. I ordered the "Antec mod" to correct a "front panel ground problem"; however, I never installed the "mod" because I never had experienced the problem; just read about it and the availability of a "mod", etc. I do not believe there was ever anything said that was "clear" as to what was going on.

Going forward, I chased down what was happening this morning. I either supplied static to the button surface or "static" on the button surface discharged thru me; this triggered a start signal in the electronics. Certainly, more than likely, I supplied the static rather than a discharge path or connection path. It is repeatable and I have done it multiple times.

I will try to isolate exactly what is happening but it will take several days even I am successful. Wanted to post this while it was fresh with me.

[The Wise Monkey]

Wow... Magic computer turning on skills...

I have the strange ability in that whenever I go and see a user after they have reported a problem with their PC, it works fine as long as I am standing there. I obviously exude a "work you ?!*$" field, just as you project a "turn PC on" field. :D

[zburns]

A front panel problem on the Antec sonata III case was reported about late June to mid July on this forum. Ricky Tick provided a Tom's Hardware link that I just read some of the posts, most or all about this problem.

Here is one comment from the Tom's Hardware forum that speaks for itself:
"michiganteddybear 01-31-2008 at 03:56:46 PM Show message
here where I work (repairing pc's), its quite common to cause a reboot or blank screen when a static shock when touching a case. Assuming the ground situation in the home is good, and the power supply is properly grounded to the case and plug, the 0nly solution is to eliminate the static before you touch the case. "

The Tom's Hardware Link is as follows:http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/248527-31-grounding-problem-antec-sonata-confirmed-cust-supporthttp:/

In my case I clearly had a "spark bite" between the tip of my index finger and the "on" button of the case, and, it started. Did it about five times after walking around to generate the static on myself.

[zburns]

More observations to add to the above post. Last night and this morning, generated static by walking around on carpet wearing Nike ACG (All Conditions Gear shoes -- really a work boot). This started out more accidentially than intentional, but I noticed that my computer started via spark from finger to "plastic chrome front" (holds USB, IEEE 1394, and audio ports). The frequency of this occurence when I tried it was 100%. Everytime I would walk around even just a small amount of time and then touch the plastic panel, it would start. Antec Sonata III or 500 case. Still a work in progress. Does not occur on "cabinet" "ON" button like it did about a week ago when morning air was really cold.

Have not installed the Antec Mod kit they supplied when the problem was first written about (June or July 2008). Mod kit contains a ground wire supposely hooked to the plastic.

I do not think this is a very noticeable problem among the Antec Sonata Case users mainly because when you go for the "start" button, you just do not "hit" the plastic chrome strip easily by mistake.