amiga92570 wrote:
You know with a few simple precautions static is not a big problem. I have to say in my 30+ years of working with and repairing electronics and computer equipment I have never had a failure due to static discharge.
It is exactly
THAT attitude which is causing unnecessary damage to Amiga equipment. ESD damage is not an all-or-nothing event where either you get an immediate failure (i.e. Catastrophic Failure) or you get off scot-free with no damage. ESD damage can show up as a reduced lifespan leading to early failure (i.e. Latent Defect). It can show up as intermittent problems or problems that only occur after the equipment has warmed up.
Even worse, ESD damage is cumulative. The more you mishandle the equipment, the more severe or varied the symptoms become.
That's not to say that catastrophic failure doesn't occur -- it does alright but it probably isn't the most common failure mode.
You claim you've never had a failure from ESD. I strongly suspect you have no way of knowing that. ESD damage causes
microscopic pits on the surface of IC chips. When people in the industry look for ESD damage they have to chemically dissolve the IC package and carefully examine the chip under a microscope, usually a scanning electron microscope. Have you ever done that?
