Grounding your motherboard

[bullion416]

I have recently put together a new computer. Unfortunately, I got a bad motherboard, so I am still waiting for some parts. My question is, how do you know or make sure a motherboard is grounded properly? I had the MSI board (MS-6380) K7T266 PRO-RAID and I was using 512mb of DDR pc21000 memory with the new 1.4ghz athlon (266fsb). It originally worked, and I was able to load windows and all, but when I tried to change the defalt settings from the 200mhz FSB, it froze up and the processor got fried. IT was also only running at 1050Mhz (processor). I have an ANTEC ATX case and I have 6 copper mounting brackets/spaces that I screwed the board on to. Should this all I need to do to ground the board? Any other suggestions? Thanks

 

[kgraeme]

Basic rule of thumb: If it boots, it's grounded.

The only time I have seen a grounding problem, the PC simply does nothing when you hit the power button. No lights, no fans, nothing.

 

[BlackWob]

The motherboard will ground if you use the copper screw they give you as one of the screws that you use to mount it on your case with.

 

[lenjack]

The mounting srews do not ground the motherboard.

 

[JRock]

i put electric tape on the copper screws then polk holes in them and put the board on. I found this more reliable than those plastic discs that come w/ some cases

 

[Scooter]

The motherboard, DOES NOT need to be grounded. Ever seen nylon (plastic) standoffs?

Also, there are some really cool plexiglass cases out there,...non-conductive

I haven't a clue how you fried your processor, but I assure you it was NOT because the motherboard wasn't grounded to your case.

 

[jugornot]

If you lay the mb on a nonconducting surface and plug in the ps and necessary cards it would boot with no grounding at all. Some of the mbs (well most that I have seen) use the mounting screws as part of the grounding system called a ground plane to help in signal integrity. Its like the new 80 conductor ide cables. The extra 40 wires are grounds that seperate the signal wires for better signal integrity. But even just the ps plugged in should be enough for any modern quality mb. HTH