importance of a grounded plug?

Hello,
There is a kind of weird vibration on the back of the screen of my m17 r2 when the psu is plugged.
I think it is coming from the poor grounding of my place...
I tried in another house and no problem at all. I never mentionned that before with my m17x r3, but the cover was made of plastic and not carbon fiber.
Do you think it might be harmful for the electronic? I don't have any sound distortion or static discharge.
if someone have some knowledge on the subject it would be great.
thanks

 

You should test the ground contact in the mains socket without your computer connected using a mains testing screwdriver (something like this). If the light glows then you know that the grounding isn't working and power leakage from other equipment on the circuit is affecting your computer via the ground circuit.

Alternatively, it may be some voltage leakage in the PSU your computer is resulting in the computer's voltage "floating" above zero because the grounding isn't working properly. This can create the sensation you describe and I have encountered it on several computers where the mains power grounding isn't effective or is not connected.

I usually use an ungrounded plug when I somewhere with uncertain quality of grounding.

John

 

Thank you very much John.
I'll test that, I just need a testing screwdriver.
In fact all the grounding of my living room is a bit problematic, I know that because I cannot plug a guitar amp,it hums like crazy. When I plug the new Alienware on a properly grounded socket everything is perfect, but playing in the bathroom, you know...
I am just wondering if a poor grounding can affect the electronics, my previous laptops never did such things plugged in these sockets.

 

If you've got poor grounding then it will exacerbate any hum loop issues.

If equipment is wired together then it may be better to just have one unit grounded through the mains socket with the other items being grounded via the interconnecting cables.

John

 

Yes it can cause odd issues, it depends on how the electronics are designed.

 

I had a problem like that some time ago, it ended up being poor grounding on the electrical circuit. Let us know your findings!

 

Hello,
Yes it is definitely a poor grounding of the electrical circuit in my living room since plugging the laptop in the other rooms resolve the problem.
So now I am using a cable extension which is not an ideal situation. I am just wondering why I never had such issues with my Asus ultrabook which is made with a kind of metal alloy and my previous m17x r3. Only had issues with my bass guitar amp but this kind of stuff is notorious to be sensitive to the quality of the grounding.

Do you know if the new alienware series is suppose to be plugged in well grounded sockets or if my unit could be a defective?

thank you

 

Ok, So I investigated socket by socket and found an unplugged ground wire
Everything is repaired.
Thank you Alienware for allowing me to troubleshoot my electrical circuit