Tim Wescott said:
Seriously, what kind of shock was it? It's probably not the headphones, and
probably would have happened just from touching a metal part of the computor
case. If it was a dry day and you got a single "spap!!" then it was
probably electrostatic discharge. If it a continuous shock with that ol'
60Hz feel then there's a fault in your power supply or electrical wiring
that on a bad day will be fatal.
The story is that's how Keith Relf, lead singer for the Yardbirds, died. Of
course, it wasn't a computer that his headphones were plugged into.
If you suspect a continuous shock you should start by checking your outlets
(they _are_ three-wire, right?). You can get inexpensive little outlet
testers at the Rat Shack or at home centers -- they have three little lights
that show the status of the outlet. Once you know that's good, take a
multimeter and plug it into the ground hole of the outlet (it's OK, he says,
keeping one hand behind his back...). Now measure the AC voltage between
that ground and your computor case. If it's anything over a few millivolts
then you have a problem with the computor.
Mind you, Tim's talking about measuring to a *bare metal* part of the
computer case - like a screw - not a plastic or painted part. Probably
obvious, but thought I'd mention it.
And depending on your meter, and a few other factors, it wouldn't be
surprising to see as much as half a volt.
By the way, just because an outlet has three holes doesn't mean it's
grounded. It could have been defectively installed (found one of those in
my own house, even after hiring an electrician to bring everything up to
code when I bought the house); or the ground wiring could have become
defective over time. It's not even unusual to find that someone has
installed three-wire outlets into a two-wire electrical system, just for
"convenience" or to fool a buyer. Of course, it's completely illegal and
quite unsafe.