It is not ILLEGAL to open a PSU, at least not in the USA. But it is UNWISE.
Yeah, that's what I guessed, but I glanced over this, which was why I
asked:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt/msg/cb4d109b7145ddcc?dmode=source
" Working on high voltage equipment is always dangerous due to the
possibility
of fire and or electrocution. That's why its sealed with a warning and
that's why only those with the proper training should work on such
devices.
************* There's also a criminal and financial responsibility
involved. *************
If you represent yourself as qualified to fix something, and you
do it improperly for pay for someone else, and it catches fire or
electrocutes someone because of the incompetent job you did, there
may be financial or criminal responsibilities. If you screw yourself
in this manner, fewer people will be complaining. You may still
be in trouble if you burn down the apartment building you live in.
On the other hand, if you try to send it back to the manufacturer
for repair, package it up, and set it down on a range where you're
cooking lunch, then go look for some stamps, you have a bigger
chance of causing a fire.
The manufacturer's notice should put YOU on notice that if you kill
yourself trying to fix it, your heirs have no business suing them
for it.
So even if it doesn't seem like much the consequences can be
*tremendous*."
How much does an apartment building and all of its contents cost?
How about a few dozen dead former residents of said building?
(emphases mine. Do the "tremendous" consequences include this alleged
"criminal" responsibility,
(not very tremendous compared to, well...) or are they referring to
the possibility of death (...that.)?)
Should've mentioned that in the post. Also, I heard that PSUs are
simply not meant to be
repaired, period, not even by a computer repair professional:
If I buy a power supply, I can reintend it to whatever purpose I
want to, including smashing cockroaches with it, and the manufacturer
has no business trying to reintend it back to what *he* intended.
This does not mean, however, that when it does a poor job of smashing
cockroaches, that I can claim it was defective under the warranty.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/safetyconsiderations/qt/safety_tips.htm
"Never Service the Non-Serviceable
When you come across labels that say "No serviceable components
inside" don't take it as a challenge.
Some parts of a computer are just not meant to be repaired,
********* even by most professional computer repair persons
********* .
I have had a power brick for a laptop end up making arcing noises
when you plugged it in, and it quit working. Turned out to be a
couple of bad solder joints. I opened it up, fixed this, sealed
it up again with duct tape, and it's been working fine. It's now
safer than it was, because the arcing generated a lot of heat but
didn't suck enough power to blow a fuse, so it might possibly have
caused a fire.
On the other hand, I probably wouldn't have tried to identify the
main power transistors in the PSU and replace them, because it's
too much trouble, not guaranteed to fix the problem, costs a lot
in shipping of tiny parts, and without a schematic which is never
included these days, I don't know the specs needed for the replacement.
Manufacturers, of course, want me to buy a new one. Manufacturers
also want you to buy a new CD and CD player after you've listened
to a CD once, as that gets them more sales.
You will usually see this warning on power supply units but you may
also see them on monitors, hard
drives, optical drives and other dangerous or highly sensitive
components."
(emphasis mine also.)
Power supplies for CRT monitors have *very* high voltages in them
(and the monitor circuitry and CRT also do). (I'm not sure about
LCD or plasma displays.) Power supplies or anything else that you
plug directly into the wall have high voltages in them. These can
injure or kill people, or start fires. If you don't know what you
are doing, don't try to repair them.
And remember, crossing the street is dangerous, and can kill you
(I am sure there are plenty of documented cases), but there are
plenty of people who are going to claim they've survived crossing
the street. Don't let these people convince you that you CAN'T get
killed crossing the street. But being forced to cross the street
isn't a death sentence.
Hard drives and optical drives do not have dangerous voltages in
them. (unless it's an external drive that includes a power supply
that plugs into the wall. External drives that plug only into USB
ports don't have high voltages). YOU may have dangerous voltages
in YOU (static electricity) that are sufficient to zap the electronics
(but will only give you a mild shock from touching a doorknob), but
if they are already broken, and you're about to void the warranty
anyway, who cares? Also, dust and dirt contaminating a hard or
optical drive can cause a head crash or otherwise kill the drive
and your data. If you don't have a clean room and open up the hard
drive platter enclosure, don't expect it to work reliably again.
You might possibly get lucky. Data-recovery specialists may have
setups to do this properly, if you're desparate to get your data
back.
I don't know of any reason why it's unsafe to open up a dead (and
unplugged) hard drive, take out the platters, have something printed
on them, and hand them out to employees as awards for a job well
done. A former employer did exactly that. The employees then spent
some time joking around trying to identify the bad tracks with a
magnifying glass or the naked eye.
