Yes, touching a PSU with your body while it's charging can cause damage if you get a shock from static electricity.
Yes, touching a PSU with your body while it's charging can cause damage if you get a shock from static electricity.
I touched my power supply yesterday while sitting on the floor. I never actually turned it on, but I did handle the wires because they looked like a semi-modular box instead of a regular block. Now that this is my very first time putting together these things, I'm getting really nervous and wondering if I broke something or just being too scared to let go.
Most probably you are being a bit paranoid if the computer is still running well, which means you likely didn't break anything. It's true that touching static electricity can hurt sensitive parts, but just touching the wires isn't very dangerous. You'd have to actually shock the board directly to cause real harm, and there isn't even 100% chance of that happening. You probably touched the case while opening it, or maybe you reached inside without realizing it; in either case, you grounded yourself safely before going inside. So, most likely, you did nothing wrong by grounding yourself first. As long as the PC is still working fine, you've only done one thing: opened it up.
It doesn't work anymore? Yes, I haven't tried it yet because I still have to wait for the RAM. Even though I sent it out for two days, when I finally got home, I opened it up. I looked at the semi-modular wires and put the box back together without trying anything else first.
You're doing good. The power supply units in your computer are very safe when it comes to static electricity. You won't hurt them by touching insulated wires. I used to plug my power supply into a wall outlet just to ground myself before turning on the machine, and that way the PC case would also get grounded. Don't worry too much about this; keep going and enjoy your setup.
more than likely, you didn't hurt anything if the computer is still working fine, so you probably caused no damage. yes, touching electronics can sometimes break things, but just holding onto cables hurts nothing. it takes a lot more than static electricity to actually ruin a circuit board, and getting close isn't 100% dangerous. since you touched the case while taking it apart, or even reached in there, your body likely grounded yourself before anything could happen. so without checking if things are broken, you probably just did the right thing by staying safe. as long as the computer is working fine, you didn't change its state other than opening it. edit: oh wait, I think you meant you touched the power supply at the back of the box? honestly, that's not a risk at all. those parts are built to handle way more static and touching them won't do anything harm.
The topic has been around for about five years now. It's better to start a brand new discussion instead if you still have questions or ideas.