Broadband Tech > General Questions > Leave it running or turn it off and on! Computers!

Leave it running or turn it off and on! Computers!

I've always turned off my desktops when done using them for the last 20+ years. The server I keep on 24/7. I do it more for ecological reasons than anything. Though my electric bill would probably be a few bucks more every month if I didn't.

The only time a power supply failed was after I was cleaning the inside of the computer and I accidentally blew dust into the PSU which caused it to go up in a puff of smoke when I turned it back on.

I've never had a piece of hardware fail in all that time that was related to power on/off.

Of course that's just my experience. Everyone's different.
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»www.caryontech.com

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edit, double post, posting error popped up
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Sometimes "The Majority" only means all the fools are on the same side.

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Desktop stays on 24/7, have a vnc and file and media server setup, laptops get turned on and off through the day. Havent have any catastrophic hardware failures yet, just a grfx card and a powersupply shortage from a thunder storm, all easy fixs tho...
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Sometimes "The Majority" only means all the fools are on the same side.

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I leave mine running 24/7. I run a media server on it and just like having it ready for whatever without waiting for it to boot up, maybe a quick game or check something online. My wife has a laptop thats only on when in use. We plan to each get a tablet soon as well so the PC will be more of a server than anything.

Only cons to having it on 24/7 would be power use and heat output (not bad in the winter) and it would get dusty more faster than a PC thats turned off regularly. I was always curious how much my PC adds to the monthly power bill but never tried to figure it out.
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"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."
-Jimi Hendrix

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24/7 Both of them. Always.

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I am in the habit of leaving mine on 24/7 since I had an ME...when turned off half the time it didn't like to come back on without big problems. I have an XP now.. planning on a windows 7 soon and probably will STILL leave it on all the time.

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I tend to leave apps open on my laptop for days or weeks if I'm working on a big project, so it stays on 24/7 except in standby mode when being transported. The server stays on 24/7, and it's been up without a reboot since Hurricane Sandy.

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For wear/tear its better to leave it on if you are going to use it again in a short amount of time. Electronics usually fail from a sudden change in temp. This is why a light usually fails right when it on. It goes from cold to hot in an instant as electricity shoots through it. Same thing with chips in the computer.

However, when a computer goes into sleep mode, I'm guessing things like the monitor and HD's turn off.

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Oh, Jesus. Not again.

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My computer adds $15/month to my bill roughly. Never ran the heat in college in the winter when I had 10 computers cranking out SETI or the other projects. I got my money's worth in terms of the electric bill since it was included in the rent. I'm guessing those PSU's and computers in general back then weren't as efficient as today, so that could have easily been $200 a month, just for the computers.

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I always hate when clients ask this question. I don't hate them for asking, it's a valid question. I just hate the question because it has no correct answer. I provide both schools of thought and ultimately leave it up to them.

My tower system is only turned on when needed. I am typically on one of the laptops and the cost of running it 24/7 outweighs the cost of a new PSU. I typically have a PSU on hand so if it does fail no big deal.

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I leave the 3 main machines on 24/7 (mine,wifes, and HTPC). Most of the time they're doing something (even if nobody is at them and it's a PITA to go upstairs to boot the HTPC go back down and send something to it.) Laptop is on/off as needed.

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Let's not forget that power supplies are often cheaply made with lowest bidder components.

After sitting unmoving and on for a long time, you moved it. It's not inconceivable that vibration or shocks from the move (or even the simple process of it getting cold after being hot for a long time) caused a problem to manifest itself (cracked solder joints, defective capacitor or W/E) so that on power up the next time, you had a failure.
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini

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My NAS box is left on 24/7, on a UPS.

My "work" desktop is brought up in the morning and on for the day as long as I have need for it.

My "surf and game" computer in the TV room is brought up after dinner and is on about 4 hours each evening.

reply to KrK
Whatever the cause I should have added a lesson learned that I did by chance that saved my bacon.

To wit: I took the power cord unconnected at either end and first plugged it into the computer. I then crawled under the table and plugged the other end into the power strip. There would have been more to my story had I reversed the order of operation.

If the power strip is turned off, the order wouldn't matter. The action would occur when you hit the switch on the surge protector.

Either way, it does seem better to connect the cable to the equipment first before plugging in the power cord to the wall (or strip.)
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini

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24/7 for me.
Laptop with windows 7.

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Amazing, not one comment about the affect on the environment wasting electricity. CO2 and emissions. It's a big deal. I used to live less than 1/4 mile from a coal fired utility plant. Watching the smoke flow 24 hours really put in perspective what wasting electricity means.

Thankfully, I no longer live near that carcinogen plant.

Processors are made of Silicon, I never heard Silicon called a ceramic. It is a mineral, a crystal made by lowering a seed crystal in a vat of molten, spinning sand, and lifting it back out creating a boule, which is then sliced up and polished, doped, and lithography and etch done to it. I used to make the litho machines.

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boule_%28crystal%29

Is silicon a ceramic?

If you're not folding, crunching, or trading, turn it off!
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