Static electricity - Our computers were covered with black trash bags for about six months, is that bad?

Question

A laptop and two desktops have been covered with big trash bags to protect them from dust for quite some time. Is there any danger of anything getting damaged from static electricity?

Is there anything I should know? Could static electricity have built up inside them? If so, is there a safe way to remove it before I turn them on?

I've read a lot of info online but nothing really tells me if there's something I need to do or what that thing is.

They were all turned off and unplugged the whole time but the switches on the back of the power supplies have never been turned off.

I've read about touching metal on the case of the computer but some say they have to be plugged in first, is this true? And will plugging them in the way they are damage them?

And what about a laptop when the outside of the case is all plastic?

Answer 1

If you put individual components, like sticks of RAM, CPUs, graphics cards, etc. into a trash bag then I would suggest ESD would have degraded those components (perhaps not to total failure, but certainly some degree of damage would have been done).

HOWEVER, once components are mounted inside a case (PC or laptop), the risk of ESD damage is significantly reduced. Why?

Because the components are protected by the case. The only means by which ESD can now affect the components is via the I/O ports, like USB, Video, Audio ports. And those ports are very well protected against ESD. That's by design.

So really you have nothing to worry about.

Answer 2

Having something inside a plastic bag is insufficient to build static. For polarization to occur, actual movement has to occur. So if you put a notebook inside a bag and then rotate the bag around the notebook, then you'll have some static electricity. Otherwise, no. To discharge the surface, it is sufficient to touch it while being grounded. Articles about static damage are overrated. Due to the way components are made today, they are quite resistant to static, even if they are very small in scale.

So unless you're related to Emperor Palpatine and skate on plastic ground, as a person you will not be able to damage components by static charge.

About touching metal on the case, it does provide discharge, but only if the power supply system of your station is connected to (has) grounding, otherwise the metal case may even have high voltage and electrocute you.