Computer Turn Off

cj2048,

in my 40 year experience with repair of electronics I found that leaving devices on all time (in standby, and naturally not your washing mashine or stove .... ;-) makes less repairs necessary - most failures occur at switching on/off or when (even minimal) humidity (leading to contact corrosion and/or isolation problems by leakage currents) enters due to missing (minimal) power dissipation.
So studio instruments are often powered all the time because of the above reasons.

Another aspect only few people thought about years before is power consumption - everybodies todays challenge is to find a personal conviction in a balance of contradictory objectives.

Regards Uwe

uweka,

That's why I included my comments about inrush currents. Plus, please remember that in your 40 years experience, (as in my 30), more than half that time was in a period where there was very little sophisticated circuit protection technology. And the tubes of yesteryear were gloriously indifferent to most overloads! But as we moved to semi-conductors for all the obvious reasons, that's when things became difficult. But I have seen enough of today's circuit protection technology to make me confident that a reasonable turn-on / turn off schedule will not deplete overall equipment lifetime. My computer gets cycled on and off about twice a day, on average, and is 4 years old, with upgrades. "....Takes a lickin', and keeps on tickin' " !

CJ

I can only speak for my own experience... Computers that are shut off for long periods of time, tend eventually, not to come back on again.

My Dell XPS has been running non-stop for over five years (knock-on-wood) without skipping a beat.

Hi everyone:

Please turn-off your computer when not in use.

450 millions PC's by 0.25 kW by 24 hours = 2700 MW*h

You can diminish Climate Change.

Regards,

Serca_2

The advantage of leaving your computer on is that you don't have to wait for it to boot up before you use it. Not really a compelling reason for me to leave mine on all the time. However, sometimes the power settings can interrupt what the computer is doing if you are uploading videos or doing some other task that takes a lot of time. I like to close the lid on my laptop when I am uploading videos so that I am not using my display. I have had to have the display on one of my laptops repaired recently and don't want to have to do that again any time soon. I have the power button set so that when I press it the computer shuts itself off. I can just press the button, close the lid and walk away. Doesn't inconvenience me at all as I don't have wait until the computer shuts down (unless I forget and leave a cd in the drive). I normally try to turn off my power strip though whenever possible as this is the only way I can insure that I am not using any power while my devices are idle. If I was going to use the computer off and on during the day I might leave it on and just close the lid or turn off the monitor in the case of my desktop. You would have to determine what works best for you and how long of an interval is involved. My settings for automatically turning off the computer are fairly long though as I don't usually just leave the computer on unless I know I am going to use it for something soon.

I've been working with (or, sometimes, AGAINST!) computers since 1976. I've found through personal experience and also discussion with hardware experts (EEs and such) that your PC goes through far more MECHANICAL and ELECTRICAL stress when first turned on than it does at any other time. The HD is for the most part the only MECHANICAL part, and the power-on spin up is the most stressful part of it's life - motionless to 7500 RPM in about a second or so.. They've probably gotten better over the years, but PC components like power supplies, motherboards and memory sticks take a relative electrical beating when you first hit them with current, as opposed to normal operation (barring lightning strikes and such). I can only also add that I've never had a PC fail on me WHILE it was running, but I've had numerous PSs and HDs die and not come back alive the next day.

Before the days of LCDs I used to advise my students (taught CS for 17 years) that they should turn off their monitors, make sure they didn't have any open documents, and disconnect their modems and/or cable when not using the PC - but just leave the system unit on. I still turn off my LCD, but the old CRT tubes were the biggest energy consumers of typical PCs, by far.

Hi everyone: I recieved a lot of information about COMPUTER TURN OFF and am very happy. I'm still a little confused as to what to do. Turning the computer off might be the best thing to do only to safeguard against hackers. The surge of electricity when turning on my computer I believe might be worth the cost. Time will tell. THANK YOU VERRY MUCH AND HAVE A GOOD HOLIDAY RICK-RJK

In places where a large number of PCs are used top bosses influenced by ethical considerations as an excuse for saving on electricity bills have asked me to switch off all computers when not in use despite my objections. However when repeatedly a number of the pcs failed to resurrect when switched on due to hardware or software failure, not to mention the failure of the operator to know the passwords, the loss of revenue and disruption of work caused the directive to switch off being reversed.The operators liked it as they could go and have a smoke or coffee while their pc was being replaced.I hated it as every morning I had to face fixing a number of pcs.

As previously stated modern electronics are quite resistant to switch on surges,but if anyone is any doubt that switching on causes failures,just try flicking a PC supply switch on and off for a couple of minutes, if you dare.

Electronics cannot escape the effects of thermal expansion and contraction and this is a prime cause of failure as the number of 'connections' increases with equipment complexity.

If you're worried about hackers,unplug the network connection.

Hard drive bearings have a limited life. Set them to spin down after inactivity to increase their MTBF.

It would have to be to suit your personal use/convenience- obviously if using over most of day, would be best to leave on- I personally turn off after use as only 2-3 hrs use per day- however the display device, I believe, benefits from being turned off after several hours use, rather than being left on(let,s face it- old crt,s were designed for 25k hrs- modern crt,s are about 5k hrs- lcd last about 1k hrs before backlight needs r/p-)- however I know for a fact that a kid, playing with a tv by turning on/off, vol. etc up/dn, WILL BLOW THE SET very quickly(they are not made to withstand this abuse)- as to the longest lived tv,s , I have seen & worked on sets that lasted 25 years before stopping- in every case, the tv,s were only turned on for several hours at night then turned off( & I advise people also to remove the plug from the pwr supply- a 10kv surge down the line will jump any switch)- the shortest lived tv,s I have seen are where the woman turns on at rise to occupy the kids(who sit right in front!) & the tv is on all day & half the night till she retires- & I guarantee that she has hardly watched any of the programs!. Lets put it another way- if you have & drive a motor vehicle, you don't leave it idling while you are not using it- you turn it off- to save fuel & wear on the engine- yet the greatest wear is when the engine is first started, before oil circulates & the eng. temp is raised to properly process fuel- the longest lasting engines are those as in taxis eg- kept warm. Really, the matter depends on personal preference- I believe in turn off- & nothing you say will change me.

If you have an NEC, it will look like crystal when you buy it and it will look like crystal 10 years from now... It's called high-end phosphors!!! But that's what you paid the bucks for.

Having visited this question many times over many years, I am convinced that the answer is, that the question need not be asked. Generally, as machine prices have come down the life expectancies have come down also; except, as mentioned, high priced units which are built to stay or be rendered non-obsolete much longer. A major factor in the longer life expectancy of high-end machines such as the XPS is the additional cooling and self-protection circuitry.

Typically the answer depends on who you ask. If it's a computer vendor (especially a brick and mortar vendor), they will usually nonchalantly recommend continuous operation, but cannot justify why not to turn off except by vague and unsupported references to current inrush shocking of un-expecting components. My rejoinder as to why this should be so for computers but not for televisions always leaves me standing by myself. I feel safe in concluding that hardware sellers have an interest in convincing people (children, youngsters, and women buying for themselves and youngsters) that computers are meant to be replaced every year or two--in which case it's fairly pointless to worry about how much "duty" is imposed on any machine; you are essentially already purchasing the next computer before you've really gotten much mileage on the old, new computer.

I have always powered down computers when not in use and have found no noticeably impact--unless very long life can be taken as an impact. The same holds true in the work place where computers were not left running--despite very hard use computer were never replaced because they wore out, only for upgrade.

My first computer was a 286 AT machine which is still running as it was when new, disc drives, monitor, and impact printer included. The twenty something years since purchase have included shut down durations as much as 3 years or more years, and exposure to subfreezing, with no ill effect on performance. (I do always take precaution to allow the computer to warm to 50F or higher ambient temp before switch-on. And, during numerous cross continent drives with computer in pickup bed I always took precaution to park the heads.)

One thing not mentioned that can play an important role in preserving longevity (for those high-end computers where preservation makes economic sense) is the use of Uninterruptible Power Supply--the SMART kind which provide not only overcurrent and battery backup "protection,." but also provide power conditioning, thereby minimizing/neutralizing the stress which normally take an accumulating toll on machine components. When I obtained a loaded Dell (similar if not the same as mentioned by others: dual core processor, 3gigs memory, 5 drives including two HDD (one high and one ultrahigh speed), external HDD and other peripherals), I also decided to make an investment in high end, industrial grade (metal case with 3 batteries, Built in Self Diagnostics, etc etc--not the cheap consumer type sold at the box store) UPS. After about 8 months now it has proven a very good investment, having "saved" the computer from numerous--some so fast as to go unnoticed but for an alert--power outages and recoveries. Because my machine (and network) is never connected directly to mains current I expect to get a return on investment to the maximum degree.

BTW: I still have a couple of the new UPS's (including software) I can make available at far below retail to interested parties; by retail I mean in excess of 1000$US, not the store prices for plastic, "home consumer" UPSs with seldom more than one or two protected outlets and only enough battery reserve for a few minutes, if that . If interested, send me a PM.

CowAnon,

You stated that one thing not mentioned was UPS's to help preserve longevity. I assumed everyone understood that my comments in post #7 covered this subject.

".....But I have seen enough of today's circuit protection technology to make me confident that a reasonable turn-on / turn-off schedule will not deplete overall equipment lifetime......"

Just wanted to clarify.

CJ

I've been working in the networking industry for a number of years, and each time I'm involved in the product design, I am amazed at the cost of power supplies. I used to think a step-down transformer, a rectifier, and some filtering - so why the $1,000 + price tag?!

It turns out that the circuitry is such that one part of the power supply has to start out with, say, 2 Volts. In the meantime, another part has to start providing 5 Volts that has to ramp up in some exactly perfect way, and before it actually reaches 5V, the -5V or 12V or whatever has to reach a particular voltage before the 5V comes on all the way! Woof!!! It's a frigging nightmare, all these power values are complicated as hell!!!

I'm assuming it's the same for PCs. Not so much worried about the circuitry of the motherboard, as I am with the power supply itself.

Ok, I can buy the idea of a normal consumer grade "box store" computer benefiting from shutdown. However, I built my own computer with an eye towards using it as an always on server ( am currently hosting my own web site, as well as file storage for our home network ), and only shutting down when there are updates that require it.

As an experiment in longevity, I have installed several used HDs after wiping them totally with a utility designed for full overwrite. These HDs are not being used for critical data, just general use. At least one of these has a production date from 1998, and is still going strong after 2 years of constant on.

For the most part, I used premium parts for my build. The only failures I have had have been 1 overloaded PS (power supply) my fault actually, as I had not properly calculated the load requirements, and a cooling fan. All other failures have been software related.

My wifes computer is shut down every night at bedtime every night, and lately has been returning the dreaded "boot disk failure, insert......" error about once or twice a week. Hers was bought several years before I met her from a well known box store. I will probably have to replace the HD within the next 6 months. meanwhile, it's a weekly backup to preserve her data.

I tend to agree with you...

Years ago, I had a friend that was working in a clone factory (hole in the wall) in Silicon Valley. I bought a computer from his employer, and we were putting it together one night.

I grabbed a power supply, my friend said, "No. Grab one of those supplies."

I grabbed a motherboard, and my friend said, "No. Grab one of those motherboards."

You get the drift. Anyway, once completed, my computer was pretty much bullet-proof. The point here is know who is building your system and make sure that they use the good stuff, because they know what is crap.