[Big Giant Head]

and make sure you ground yourself and all power cords are disconnected before you touch the motherboard. static discharge will cause you headaches for a long time.

I unplug all power, and take off my shoes. Good advice on this thread.

[stuartcr]

...and try to touch your tongue to the chassis if possible, when installing.

[TSgt]

I bought a wrist strap, they are cheap. My Air Force ESD training scared the hell out of me when it comes to electronics. You should see what static electricity can do to ICs! And it causes the worst kind of problems like random system instability.