Long hours bad for PC?

[pyrate83]

I had a friend ask me recently if leaving your computer on for 5 or 6 days straight is bad for it? I didn't know if it was and I always turn mine off before going to sleep. Is it really bad for Windows or the computer to be one for such a long period?

[Faustus]

This is a point of very long debate, some say its bad for the computer, but others say its not. I can say that I used to leave my PC on all the time with just a reboot once per day, but that was before my XP2000+ started heating up my Bedroom.

The only real harm I can see if you are properly cooled is the hard drive spinning basicly all the time, fans and hard drive have a Expected lifespan based on how many hours of life. It usually quite high however. If you use sleepmode with hard drive spin down it shouldn't be a problem ever.

Also it helps if your powersupply supports real sleep mode, cause then even it goes into a hibernation mode, but its by no means required.

Hope that helps.

[pacmania_2001]

Mine stays on for as long as 4-5 days at a time (running Win98SE). The only reason I do turn it off is usually because it crashes or just crawls to a stop.

On the newer OS's though such as WinXP/2000 a system can stay on for weeks or months at a time without a problem.

So in conclusion, leaving your computer on won't do any damage.

[pyrate83]

Well I'm glad that I am getting some answers re: this however for some reason I can't for the life of me get my computer to go into sleep or hibernation mode. It always comes back out of it on its own and it pissed me off enough that I just deselected the option to do so. Any suggestions why it doesn't want to do this?

[zodiac]

i've had my computer for a year and a half.if i add the total time its been off,it would be less two weeks.
you should turn off the monitor when your not there though.
as for windows,it depends on the os.win9x doesn't handle ram as good as win2000 or xp,so it may need a restart after a few days.

[pacmania_2001]

Yes, just turn off the monitor when you leave it on overnight otherwise (in extreme cases) you may get monitor burn (is that the correct term?).

[pyrate83]

Well I have my monitor turn off under my power settings but I still can't figure out why my system doesn't want to stay in standby mode or hibernation mode. Any suggestions?

[zodiac]

i dont use those features,but try setting it up in the bios.

[Conquest10]

i regularly leave my computer on for days. i've only been doing it since i got xp though. i used to have win me and it wouldn't even last 4 hours without needing a reboot.

[The village idiot]

I used to do that with NT4. The things would be on for weeks without reboot.

[Craig Tucker]

I never switch mine off unless I have to. Reboot on installation of software or a crash.

[freak_in_cage_10k]

i never turn mine off unless i have to, i am in University Halls of residence accomadation and so i dont even pay the electricity though!!

i dont pay the heating bill either but my room is always really hot with this 2200+ churning out the heat all day!

i always herd that frequently restarting the pc was bad for the HD. spinning the HD discs constantly requires a lot less effort & energy (and therefore less strain on the HD motors) than spinning the hd discs from standstill (like you would have to do if you shut your pc down). Obviosuly this only makes a small difference but over a few years, if you turned your pc off twice a day (lunch break & at night) then it may make a difference??


i agree that you should turn off your monitor when you are not using it and having sum power saving settings which lower the rpm of the Hard drives sounds a good idea

[i_am_dave]

I never turn mine off. Of course, most of the time, it is busy encoding something.
I am running XP. There is no way I would have attempted this with my last computer (running 98)

[RabidDog]

"long hours bad for pc " ... well, if he caught more crims in the first place.....

[jacknjt]

i think it doesnt matter cause today technology fly so fast that u gonna want a new faster computer a few months after ur new computer.

[WeedVender]

Acutally It is very good to have a PC on for all the time.

restarting it frequently kills the HDD because of the strain. Just so as long as you have quality components, ur PC wont die.

But....... If you have it on for like a year.. thats suicide..

[Xtasy2002]

I had a friend ask me recently if leaving your computer on for 5 or 6 days straight is bad for it? I didn't know if it was and I always turn mine off before going to sleep. Is it really bad for Windows or the computer to be one for such a long period?

The opposite is true. Turning your computer off any time is bad for it.

Leaving your computer on 24/7 = Good..

Turning your computer off/on = Very bad..

When you turn off a computer the once hot metal chips begin to cool off and get cold. Then got hot again when you turn it back on. This process of getting cold/hot/cold/hot damages the parts over time. Also when you turn the computer off you cut the electric current to the parts and then turning it back on sends another electrical surge into the chips. This process of constantly turning on and off electrical currents into the parts damages the parts over time.

I had my first PC since 1995 and ever since I've left all of my machines on 24/7. The only time the boxes are powered down is during a nasty storm with lightning, moving them to a new location, etc. In this time I've not had a single component in my system fail except for fans and power supplies. The fans will go out every few years when running 24/7 and the power supplies go out maybe once every 2-3 years. On a whole though I still have all the original MB, cpu, add on boards. Im certain if I were cycling my power on/off all the time many of these boards would already be bad.

Turn off your monitor as already stated, leave everything else on. The monitor doesn't have to stay on unless your using the computer. The only downside to leaving your box on 24/7 is the electric bill. So if you're paying for electric make sure you put your comp to use when you're not using it like seti @ home or some other video tasks to make it worthwhile.

[mysticgohan17]

...

But....... If you have it on for like a year.. thats suicide..

for your wallet. :P , no more than 24 hours for me. monitor goes off when im sleeping.

[zodiac]

But....... If you have it on for like a year.. thats suicide..

the only thing that died on mine was the power supply,but i think the reason was the power went out.(the sudden loss of power)after that i had start up the compter like an old car,keep turning it on untill it starts.it lasted for a couple weeks,then just died.

[luvvbuzz]

surely there is a fire risk if you leave electrical equipment on all the time, imagine it overheats when you are in bed, you could die of smoke inhalation if it caused a fire. i think it must cause just the same amount of wear on internal parts to keep them on 24 hours a day as it would if you just used your computer a few hours a day then switched it off, after all, when it is off the parts are not being used. nobody says leave there car engine running all night in the garage so it doesnt cool down do they? if you did that with a car then it wouldnt last as long as it should cos the constant engine running would wear the parts. as far as i am concerned the same principle applies to computers, they wear out with use!

[i_am_dave]

It's OK to leave it on, just be sure that you are running a good surge protector, especially if you plan to be away from home.
Case in point:

Last Saturday, I took the family on a day trip. When I got home, the lights were acting funny, and I could smell fried electronics all over the house.
Called the guy from the local power company and he said that a squirrel had chewed through the neutral line. This allowed the AC to float as high at 180 volts on one leg.
I lost about $300 worth of electronics, since this happened around 1 in the afternoon and I didn't get home until 8 that night.
Luckily, most, but not all of my stuff was on protectors.
I fried 3 surge protectors but feel good about it, because I would have toasted about $4000 of electronics if they hadn't been doing their job.

[indolikaa]

Both PCs stay powered up and 'awake' 24-7 here at the Ranch. Line conditioning and UPC are a must if you're going to let 'em run like this.

[pyrate83]

It's always nice to see one of my old threads open again.

Thanks. :P

[zodiac]

i lost another power supply since my last post in this thread

it was a two month old 400w antec

[pyrate83]

Well that sucks zodiak! Real bummer...maybe it was just poorly made??? Doesn't seem right for it to go out after only two months.

[gmatov]

Luvbuzz,

You seem to be missing a point or two.

First, if you should buy a high mileage car, they will probably try to convince you that it belonged to a salesman, as highway miles are considered to be less detrimental than stop and go miles. You are moving, the engine is running and pumping oil at a decent rate, not at idle rate, nor do you have to accelerate from a stop to highway speed, wiping oil nearly as quickly as the pump can supply it. ( Well, in CA you might.)

The second is what is called " thermal shock ", which is what you get when you turn on and off an electrical device. A watt is equivalent to 3.412 BTUs, and everytime you turn on your machine, it draws X watts, produces Y BTUs. Cpus draw about 70 watts today, aqd produce nearly 250 BTUs to be carried away. You also get thermal expansion, yhe hotter parts of your machine will " grow " faster than the board, and, possibly wear contacts, ets, as well as simply stressing the ekectronic components. Light bulbs usually burn out from being turned on and off, thermal shock, rather than simply wearing out.
Everyone has read of bulbs out of reach burning for 25 years or so, because they could not be turned on and off.

When you are not using your computer, overnight, for instance, it is just idling, drawing the least it can, the drives go to sleep, the monitor goes to sleep, you are basically in STR, Suspend to RAM. Click a key, it may wake up, and draw whatever you require of it.

BTW, if it " overheats ", generally, a computer dies. It does not sit there smoking, as you fridge might.

[Reaper88]

I have a pc that is almost 10 years old now. A P2 233mghz that I now use for a decicated firlewall \ Proxy Server and i have gone as long as 4 months between reboots. Still works just as good as the day i got it.

[pyrate83]

That's cool reaper. I do leave my computer on for 14 or 15 hrs. at a time but I do turn it off at night. Nightime is the only time my system is powered down.

[thayne]

I have an old AMD K-6 400MHz thats been running 24/7 for 3 years and no problems. The last time I rebooted it was 158 days ago

Uptime: 20:50:00 up 158 days, 1:44, 0 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

[ChrisX]

I can't sleep well with computers running 24/7. Long hours good or bad for the PC is a debate that I can't prove if good on all the time or turn off everyday would shorten its life.

I don't think this really matters to me and everyone here upgrades the computer or and get a new computer very now and then. Every two or three years something new is always here.

Turning off and on everyday overnight doesn't worry me and a computer's life is five years anyway. My computer room acts as a shield insulating from the extreme heat or cold from outside.

I'd rather think the heat is more of the enemy to the PC than the cold and especially so during summertime with extreme temperatures such as 90-100 degrees.

A room can get very hot with the computers left on for hours and days and this is no good during a hot day. This affects the computers performance and this can shorten its life as well as being cold and to start up.

It is recommended to get an air-conditioner to protect the computer and this means more power and beware of NYC's power outage.

I do find there are times the computer still needs to re-boot after being left on for a long time to improve performance or after being frozen.

You have to remember that the computer ages from day one and wear and tear is there all the time even though the computer is left on all the time.

Power through the machine on all the time does age the thing and wears out in time just like any machine such as your TV, the refrigerator and so on. The chips do wear out in time and get out of date anyway. Then, get a new part or a new computer.