On 11/21/2013 8:39 PM, Stig Arne Bye wrote:
"Mr. Luddite" wrote:

It's funny you mention crashes. I can't remember the last time either
of my Windows based computers crashed. I also rarely shut them
completely off either. I put them in "sleep" mode when they are not
being used. The only time a reboot is required is after an update of
the OS and occasionally after a major update by AVG (anti-virus). I
have them set so I can pick and choose when I want the updates to be
installed.

XP was (is) a very stable program. The last time I recall routine
crashes was back before it came along.

I recently read that XP, Vista, Win7 and Win8 were all derived from
Windows NT. I remember it because NT was an "industrialized" version
of Windows or something. All the CAD PC stations in my company ran on
Windows NT.


The computer running XP SP3 is practically never shut down.
In short, the only power/sleep configuration I have done in Windows is
to turn off the monitor after 10 minutes, leaving everything else (CPU,
hard drives, etc.) powered up and running 24/7...

The only time that computer is actually off is when I'm doing some
hardware installations and similar, and of course in case of a power
outage (that occasionally happen).
The only time that computer is rebooted is after certain operations that
require a system reboot, for example after certain software updates and
similar.

There has of course been some instances where I had to perform a forced
reboot or shutdown by either pressing the "Reset"-button or the power
switch, but that has mainly been due to some third party applications
causing problems, for example hardware delivered with incompatible or
out-of-date drivers (until the drivers has been updated from the
Internet).

Some time ago, I also had a strange problem where the computer suddenly
stopped with the well known blue screen in Windows.
When rebooted, Windows started normally and there were no other
indications of any problems, and the computer could run for days until
the problem suddenly occurred again.
After scratching my head, and after running several test and diagnose
programs (that of course didn't find any problems), I finally managed to
find the problem after some extensive troubleshooting. It turned out to
be a very rare power problem, and not what one usually expect to find.
In the 4-wire power cable from the power supply to one of the three hard
drives I have installed, the yellow wire (+ 12V) was broken inside and
in a such way that the wire ends just touched each other and that was
not visible on the outer cable insulation.
Due to this, the hard drive occasionally lost 12V drive power for some
moments, which Windows detected as a major hardware or system failure
and thus triggered an error state.
After splicing the wire properly, that problem has never since been
present...

And while mentioning the hard drives:
One of the three hard drives I currently have installed in that computer
is an oldie (mfg.date 01/17/04) which has been constantly powered up
almost it's entire life time.
According to a SMART-monitor, that drive do now have a total "Power On
Hours Count" of 83,140 hours, which equals 3,464 days or approx. 9 years
and 6 months, and there has never been any problems with that hard
drive, not even a single bad sector and similar, and where all
SMART-parameters are well inside the factory threshold limits...



Stig Arne Bye

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Electronics and hard drive life are more affected by thermal cycles
generated by routinely turning them on and off, on and off. It's not
unlike an incandescent light bulb that will last a long time if it's
left on.

Of course, the world has become power usage conscience, so we are
encouraged to always turn off what you are not using. It benefits in
that way but overall will end up shortening the life of the device.

Power usage aside, it's better to leave them on 24/7.