IKEA Chair Has Been Strangely Shutting Down Computer Monitors

Most IKEA products are rather barebones, and if you want to make them more sophisticated, you’ll have to “hack” them. Not this chair, though. As it seems, it has a hidden feature that inadvertently puts it on the ranks of smart furniture… albeit to the chagrin of users.

In a viral thread on Mastodon, German developer Felix Häcker recounted a persistent scenario in which his computer screen went off each time he stood up from his MARKUS office chair. He thought, “HUH?! My chair has a feature that automatically turns screens on/off?”

Separately, Häcker told Vice’s Motherboard that the issue started when he upgraded his monitor to a 4K display. Then, whenever he got up or sat down, the screen went black.

Annoyed, the developer replaced his cables and connected his monitor to a different socket, but to no avail. “The only correlation I could find was that the screen only goes off when my IKEA office chair is somehow involved,” he lamented on Mastodon.

Everything went back to normal when the user switched out his chair. “So folks, don’t forget to check if your IKEA chair is compatible with your screen,” he cautioned others.

Interestingly, Häcker isn’t the only one who has been plagued by the unwanted secret power of his MARKUS chair, which has a webbed backrest for ventilation. Members of ComputerBase, a German forum, have also complained about the same chair switching off their screens.

Some speculate that the friction from moving about on their seat may have produced enough static electricity to meddle with their computers. One user reports having solved the issue after stapling a copper wire to the seat to “ground” it.

For context, gadget DIYers are often encouraged to “ground” themselves when disassembling computers so as to prevent shocks.

As the report points out, the frustration isn’t exclusive to this IKEA model, and that electrostatic discharge (ESD) is pretty common, especially with monitors.

In the 1990s, an AT&T Bell Labs employee called Douglas C. Smith wrote a paper detailing how chairs can emit ESDs and should be taken away from “mission-critical equipment such as medical equipment, airport control towers, and communication equipment.”

As for Häcker, he believes “leaning forward” on his IKEA chair “triggers an ESD by the gas suspension.” He also told Motherboard that he could reliably replicate the problem by rubbing his back against the meshed backrest and leaning forward, without his feet touching the floor.

When something like this happens when you want it to, it’s a feature. Against your will, it’s an inconvenience.

If you also struggle with this annoyance, Häcker recommends insulating your chair with copper foil and connecting it to a socket. Alternatively, you can just get an anti-static chair mat.

[via Motherboard and Hacker News, cover image via IKEA]