lotto@wjh12.HARVARD.EDU (Jerry Lotto) (10/24/86)
I ran a BBS system for about two years and rarely shut off the hard disk or machine. The PC held up well, never had a problem (this is through two revisions of motherboard). The hard disk developed an annoying whine, which I eventually tracked down to the grounding strap and fixed with a dab of "liquid rubber" on the exposed side to dampen vibration. I tried the same trick with a new AT overnight, and come in the next AM to find that the machine was much quieter. The fan had stopped.... After cooking up some scrambled eggs on the hard disk, I shut everything down and cooled off the machine for a day. I replaced the power supply with a new one (it was under warranty still) and (amazing but true) was able to backup the whole disk, reformat and continue using it as if nothing happened. In fact, it ran a lot quieter (maybe this is what they mean by burn in :-)). Since then, the AT has been run for 3 weeks at a time without any surprises. I have regained enough confidence in the box to let it go unattended. The moral of this story is "never try to switch your habits after you are out of warranty". PC's should hold up well to continuous use, but if you have never tried it with your box before, it will be like breaking it in again from scratch.