Time for a new computer, and a word of warning

[freetimecrawler]

I don't know about any of you, but I usually leave my computer on 24/7, and let it sleep when not in use. I read somewhere that if you use it daily, it's probably easier on the computer to leave it on then boot it up every day. So this morning I head off to work, I was going to go crawling today, but, probably lucky for me, I didn't get done with work in time, and wasn't able to go. When I got home the house smelled a little bit like the all too familiar electronics burnt smell. I couldn't figure out right away where it was coming from, and went on-line to RCC, after a couple of minutes sitting at my desk, I could smell the smell stronger, and saw smoke pouring out of my computer, and then it went off. Of course I unplugged everything, and removed the smoldering computer from the bottom of the desk. I'm thinking it's probably a good thing I didn't make it out crawling, I might not of had a place to come back to. Lesson learned.
I will never leave my computer on while away from home again.
Good thing I have a laptop for backup, it was probably time to replace that 4 year old relic anyway, just glad it didn't burn my house down

[highhpcummins]

emachines?

[freetimecrawler]

Originally Posted by highhpcummins

emachines?

Dell.

[team3six]

Lucky! The average life of a computer before it is out of date is 3 years, this is according to many computer techs and salesman. Sad that something that costs so much has a life span that is 4 times less than a car. Little tips for all those who have home computers, those cooling fans are great to cool your gear down and awsome fo storing fuzz, kat and dog hair, dust, whatever can get in there. also try not to keep your computer in an enclosed space! No air means no cooling down. Ohh and always shut down your computer and update while your online or around to monitor it. Gald you were able to catch it, Even better that nobody was hurt.

[Duuuuuuuude]

I never leave mine on overnite. The longer its on, the more the components are being used, the shorter thier life. That, and I don't want some jackhole hacking in.

I also take the tower out to the garage once a month for a good blowout. Its amazing how much crap gathers in there...

[4x4mtb]

i caught one on fire by overclocking it. but i also froze one to see how far we could overclock it. i try to turn off my computers at night and when i'm gone. i did leave them on till i found out my elec. bill went done $20 a computer a month. i turn them off to save money and some of my computers are pushing 10 years.

[crcoppens]

Sounds familiar, I have gone through a few CPUs in my day. But, with that said, I still leave my computer on all the time, mainly for automatic software and overight backup programs to run. I do turn it off on vacations.

A while ago I spent the time to learn how the internals of a computer work and as things get completely out of date I swap them out for newer things.

[ThinkTank]

I'm glad your house is still in one piece, yet....





Sorry, some one had to. :-P

[2JSC]

freetime - do you ever crack it open and clean it out? Regularly cleaning the dust out can prolong the life of any PC. Being stuck inside a cabinet with little air flow also kills many PC's.

The last time I had a computer let the ghost out was my sisters. THe power supply gave up and thankfully didn't take any of the components with it. And I never leave my computer on if I leave the house.

[MTHead]

True, good thing you did catch it in time..

Funny though, the wife wants to save electricity and turns our desktop off yesterday, go to turn it on today and nothing. Got lights on the board but no main power, start digging into it, quick jumper test on the PSU and POP!! damn that stinks... I guess as long as it was still running everything was fine, but the minute it tried to restart...

550watt antec up in smoke... Grrrrr..

Must be that time of year...

[Rat1]

I got my first Dell back in 2001. The only time it has been turned off is when the power went out. Still running strong for what it is.

[blackfoot]

Only time I turn mine off is when I leave the house. It costs more to turn them back on then it does to leave them running, same with TVs, expecially the older tube TVs. My old POS Compaq that I gave $498 at Walmart 6 years ago is still running strong and thats saying alot for a Compaq, they are a junk as Dells are.

[BUBBA069]

I have a folding machine and a NAS box that I leave on 24/7 (both pull ~120w total) but my main rig I turn off when I'm not using it (it pulls almost 191w idling). My main rig was running my electric bill up its not bad in the winter it off sets the heater, but in the summer it makes the A/c work more.

If you clean them out from time to time there is no issue with leaving them on all the time. Main cause for the burnt smell is the power supply crapping out. Pull the main power plug and you might find its fried.

Here is one that died on me a while back, was a 5 year old Antec PSU. Took the system with it.

[binaryterror]

Dust + Fans = Fans stopping and components getting to hot.

I do sidejobs and the number 1 problem I see when fixing PC's is lack of cleaning. All the dust goes in and never out...smokers you are making it far worse. That dust messes up the fans...then their component fails like a CPU or a bridge chip and those guys like to make tiny fires...they usually shut off the system and it doesn't catch on fire.

At work I open and clean all our PC's ever 6 weeks (the CEO smokes in his office). Server gets done less frequently but still gets done.

[bob1961]

there's your problem right there ....

Originally Posted by freetimecrawler

Dell.

i've had my cpu on for the past 10 years and just reboot it when i need to use it for something big and need it refreshed or i'm gonna be gone for a day or longer....but then again i only buy cpu componets and build my own cpu....none of those dell, gateway or compac crap cpu's....this way i can work on my own cpu when stuff ever happens....only had to replace one motherboard and two power supplies in 10 years this way ........bob

....

[Cloak]

cloak@stormy:~$ uptime
 10:13:46 up 414 days, 20:35,  2 users,  load average: 0.56, 0.65, 0.67

What is this "power down" you speak of?

The only times my computers don't have power is when my UPS craps out during an outage. As for cleaning them out I just open the side case, blow them out and keep going.

[constantmotion]

[quote=Cloak;1694094]

cloak@stormy:~$ uptime
 10:13:46 up 414 days, 20:35,  2 users,  load average: 0.56, 0.65, 0.67

What is this "power down" you speak of?

That's a difference b/w Mac and PC
I just recently made the switch to Mac and am loving it.

I once worked on a PC that wouldn't boot up at all. I opened the case and gave it a good blowing out and it booted up. You wouldn't think that just dust would prevent a PC from booting up, but it did.

[BUBBA069]

Heat is the enemy of all computers (even the beloved Mac's). Even Linux needs to be rebooted from time to time for updates.

It boils down to quality of parts and how you take car of them. Can't expect a $400 Dell to preform and last like a $2000 Mac, and is also why you wont ever see a $400 Mac.. well out side the iPone.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by team3six

Lucky! The average life of a computer before it is out of date is 3 years, this is according to many computer techs and salesman. Sad that something that costs so much has a life span that is 4 times less than a car. Little tips for all those who have home computers, those cooling fans are great to cool your gear down and awsome fo storing fuzz, kat and dog hair, dust, whatever can get in there. also try not to keep your computer in an enclosed space! No air means no cooling down. Ohh and always shut down your computer and update while your online or around to monitor it. Gald you were able to catch it, Even better that nobody was hurt.

That lifespan is what the sales people like to tell you, so that they can sell you a new pos for more money! My last computer that I built lasted 8 years....and worked well (of course it was well maintained.) Was too outdated to rebuild, so I built a new one couple years ago. Refreshed this one last summer with a few hardware bits and all new software.


BTW, IBM/Lenovo are some of the worst computers that I've worked on especialy thier laptops! They are built to same 'specs' without any regard for the chipsets and actual architecture remaining the same even though it is the same model number!!!