First one to solve it wins...

lol I actuallty HAD started this post as a fun way to use your powers of deduction, or past experience to solve a PC riddle of sorts. BUT, now that I'm tired..
BUT, first one wirth the right diagnosis/remedy wins all the bragging rights!
On with it.
So someone drops off a Dell(ugh)Dimension 4400 in your lap. Says its dead. Not sure what happened but thought the GPU went out or whatever. Just keepit for parts if you want.Ok, cool.
When you crack it open, there are NO dust bunnies....anywhere. Hmmm. Odd. You also find a silly plastic vent shroud hiding a P4 processor as well as:
Documentation
with the exception of only 1Gb (2x512) Crucial PC 2700 non eec SDRAM
(Tiny lil guys) and only a 20Gb barracuda ata. You think well, parts are parts and start pulling sound blaster card ethernet card, and a TINY VGA card named (or made by) 'InsideTNC' sitting in the only AGP lane. FFW:
You return later, and think " this thing looks like it should fire up", so you reinstall everything EXCEPT the cute VGA card, and memory. In the AGP slot, you put an XGI card of recent topic, and trade the mem for what you THINK is better(you need glasses, because you install 512 x2 PC 2100 that woud have run ata whopping 100Mhz. :)
You remedy that,shut her up and when its trying to fire up, the case zaps you! VERY low volt. Just gets your attn. BTW it never posted....lights bells wistles, but no post. Lets replace CMOSbattery, and check PSU. OK.
try again, and ZAP. This is where we stop, pull the plug and wonder:"Now what would cause a case to hold a static charge...?"

The motherboard is not grounded. It needs to be lifted away from the inside of the case by the use of screws, I just forgot what specific type.

Power connections, positive & negative reversed, on MB somehow

That would be a first thought.....

But, was this on battery or A/C Adapter? Or Both?

Try a different A/C Adapter. If it does the same with both A/C and Battery then yes,, possibly Motherboard is not grounded or wires crimped, stripped, etc. in the case.

But if the A/C adapter is bad and pushing too much juice,, could do the same,, but you might think it would fry the mobo or other stuff first, But not always.

Electricity does some crazy shtuff.

Tepid said:

That would be a first thought.....

But, was this on battery or A/C Adapter? Or Both?

Try a different A/C Adapter. If it does the same with both A/C and Battery then yes,, possibly Motherboard is not grounded or wires crimped, stripped, etc. in the case.

But if the A/C adapter is bad and pushing too much juice,, could do the same,, but you might think it would fry the mobo or other stuff first, But not always.

Electricity does some crazy shtuff.

my apologies, this is a desktop.

I'm going with Fred on this one i'll just add something is obviously not grounded. I'd frist check the PSU cable and make sure it has all 3 prongs on it and is plugged into a 3 prong wall outlet or better yet a surge protector.Would make sure the MB stand offs are of the right size and nothing on the back of the MB is touching the case.Also make sure their are no bare wires coming from the PSU touching the case. Just a couple of places to start looking. Fabe

AHHH HAaaa,,, well that just changes everything....

It won't necessarily be that the mobo is not grounded,, because i had a desktop do this very thing.
It would boot and you could use it, but if you moved it just a little, it would zap you then reboot.

I spent a little time on it to try and figure it out, but never did, cause it was old, I didn't want to waste my time on it.

But I was guessing, that a lead from the underside of the board was getting touched by the case when you moved it, causing a short.

In your case,, it is probably a frayed wire from the front panel, or off the PSU, a screw or something else under the motherboard causing a short, or the mobo ain't grounded properly (well, obviously), or a lead from under the board is touching the case.

I would remove the board, blow and shake out the case, check all the wires, everywhere, including all ribbon cables, for nicks or frays.

Then determine if there are any dents or low stand offs causing the board to touch. I might just replace the PSU also, just to eliminate it completely.

Hmm. It's souinding more and more like a grounding issue via the mobo....
BUT, the real culprit here...are you ready..?
Its..

Its...


Its a DELL MOMMY!

But seriously, I was thinking something HAD to be pinched or frayed as suggested due to the shoddycable management at Dell HQ. But, hey a free new rig to do something with. Probably resell being as nice a condition its in.
Cheers all!:)