ssingh@watserv1.waterloo.edu ($anjay [+] $ingh - Indy Studz) (03/28/90)
Just a couple of questions relating to this:
WHY is the most stressful act of owning a computer powering it up?
I have a surge suppressor like most people.
By how much is the life of the components being shortened if you turn
it on, on average, twice a day?
I am stuck in the university residences which contain dust from previous
generations of students. When I took my machine back for upgrading during
Christmas, the technician commented on all the dust inside. And I did not
leave it running continuously.
What potential problems are there if I leave the machine on all day and
let dust migrate into the motherboard and components?
Finally, how do I minimize it, if possible?
More than a couple of questions, I know, but thanks for your patience.
--
"No one had the guts... Until NOW!"
|-$anjay "lock [+] on" $ingh ssingh@watserv1.waterloo.edu N.A.R.C. ]I[-|
"No his mind is not for rent, to any God or government."-Rush, Moving Pictures
!being!mind!self!cogsci!AI!think!nerve!parallel!cybernetix!chaos!fractal!info!kmont@hpindda.HP.COM (Kevin Montgomery) (03/29/90)
> What potential problems are there if I leave the machine on all day and > let dust migrate into the motherboard and components? actually, someone had done a study on the effects of dust on computer boards and found that in some cases, the dust actually IMPROVES cooling by increasing the effective surface area of the chip. This depends alot on the cooling system, amount of dust, etc, and the results come second- hand. The way they determined it was to take infrared images of the boards while they were operating, as I recall... > Finally, how do I minimize it, if possible? you could mount the thing off the floor. at least you wont get tumbleweeds...
ESV@psuvm.psu.edu (ANDREW COLL esv@psuvm.psu.edu) (03/30/90)
In article <40970056@hpindda.HP.COM>, kmont@hpindda.HP.COM (Kevin Montgomery) says: > >you could mount the thing off the floor. at least you wont get tumbleweeds... I don't know about that...some areas are just plain dusty. Here at Penn State, we have one microcomputer lab with ps2/30's on desktops. Open any of them up and they look like they are either trying to grow a beard or emulate a peach :-). The room isn't obnoxiously dusty to people but the computers seem to make the most of whats there. Andrew Coll ESV@PSUVM.BITNET ESV@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
mefarimani@lion.waterloo.edu (Mehran E. Farimani) (04/10/90)
In article <1649@watserv1.waterloo.edu> ssingh@watserv1.waterloo.edu ($anjay [+] $ingh - Indy Studz) writes: > >By how much is the life of the components being shortened if you turn >it on, on average, twice a day? > It is hard to comment on "how much" the life is shortened. Electronic components have a life-time with exponential distribution, which means that aging has no deterministic effect on their future performance (supposedly, it has no effect at all). However, frequent power-ups result in aging of the connections and also the electronic components themselves. So, as far as the electrical parts of a machine are concerned, frequent power-ups are not a good idea. Nevertheless, leaving the machine running continuously does have effects on the mechanical parts of your computer, specifically your hard drive. Hard drives have an expected life-time which is usually measured by the number of disk spins. This is, generally, quite a large number. However, leaving your machine running continuously reduces this as the disk is spinning constantly. A general rule of thumb is that if you are going to power-up your computer more than once in a day, then don't bother turning it off. One power-on per day keeps a reasonable balance between the two sides of the story. However, make sure you have a reliable surge protector since, by leaving your computer on for a longer period, you are increasing your chances of being hit by a power surge. Hope this helps. Mehran