[nfbcs] Computer Shutting off During the Night

Mon Feb 22 23:08:37 UTC 2016

I had a power supply failure and first noticed the power supply making 
noise that wasn't usual for it.  I was told this could be a power supply 
about to fail so I extracted the power supply and smelled it all over. 
The power supply smelled like electrical smoke so I had it replaced 
after using it a little while longer.

On Mon, 22 Feb 2016, Steve Jacobson via nfbcs wrote:

> Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2016 16:31:26
> From: Steve Jacobson via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Steve Jacobson <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Computer Shutting off During the Night
> 
> Peter,
>
> I am wondering if you should try running the computer plugged into the wall
> directly.  It is possible that there is a problem with his surge protector.
> Even if nothing else seems to be affected, it is possible that the computer
> is the most sensitive device to voltage connected to the surge protector.
> Even using a different outlet on the surge protector would be worth a try,
> but avoiding it altogether would be a better test.  Of course, this is not a
> long term solution, and the computer should be unplugged if there is a
> thunder storm as could happen where you live.  Some of us only dream of
> thunder storms in February.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John G Heim via
> nfbcs
> Sent: Monday, February 22, 2016 8:04 AM
> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: John G Heim <jheim at math.wisc.edu>
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Computer Shutting off During the Night
>
> Is this thing still under warranty? Personally, I'd just replace it. If
> you want to try to salvage the hard drive and stuff, maybe you could do
> that. But what is probably going to happen is that you are going to pay
> to have it checked out and then you are going to have to replace it anyway.
>
> I am responsible for over 100 Dell workstations and it's amazing to me
> how quickly and easily a Dell tech can replace a power supply or even a
> mother board. But it's not cost effective unless the machine is under
> warranty. I've never tried to buy parts from Dell. If you could buy a
> power supply or a mother board from Dell, you probably could replace
> even those parts yourself. Replacing a hard drive or memory sticks is
> trivial and you don't need Dell parts for that.
>
>
>
>
>
> On 02/21/2016 10:36 PM, Peter Donahue via nfbcs wrote:
>> Good evening everyone,
>>
>> 	This is a Dell computer running Windows 7 Home Premium. If a setting
>> was changed to cause this behavior it may have occurred the last time
>> Windows was updated. My wife tried turning it back on this morning without
>> success. It was after I unplugged it from the surge protector and plugged
> it
>> back in again that the machine came back on and booted up without trouble.
>> All other devices plugged in to this same  surge protector are uneffected
> by
>> whatever is causing this issue. It has been running flawlessly all day
> long.
>> Let's see what tomorrow brings. Here's hoping it will run alright until a
>> technician comes on Friday to help us figure this out in addition to
> helping
>> us troubleshoot our laptop and assist us with networking our iDevices to
> our
>> NAS drives. Let this teach us to take full advantage of all our iDevices
>> have to offer so when crises like this arise we won't be without access to
>> our data and life can go on as usual. All the best.
>>
>> Peter Donahue who is writing this note on the computer that likes to shut
>> itself off at or around 6:00 a.m.
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Christopher
>> Chaltain via nfbcs
>> Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2016 9:55 PM
>> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
>> Cc: Christopher Chaltain
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Computer Shutting off During the Night
>>
>> Of course, this depends on factors such as how long you have your system
>> powered off and what other power settings you have set.
>>
>> Another option maybe to suspend or hibernate the system when you're done
>> using it for the day or after it's been left idle for a while. I didn't
>> catch what kind of a computer this is or what operating system it's
> running,
>> but you should find these in your power settings. This means you won't be
>> able to do backups or downloads while it's idle, but it'll snap right back
>> to where you left it with just a touch of the keyboard.
>> This is what I do, and I find it to be a reasonable compromise.
>>
>> On 21/02/16 19:05, Mike and Jenna via nfbcs wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>>   From everything I learned in school you are using less power buy
>>> living your computer on. It takes more power to start a computer from a
>> cold boot.
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jude
>>> DaShiell via nfbcs
>>> Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2016 12:23 PM
>>> To: Nicole Torcolini via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: Jude DaShiell <jdashiel at panix.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Computer Shutting off During the Night
>>>
>>> Some people use nighttime hours to download podcasts and download then
>>> seed bittorrents and do updates.
>>>
>>> On Sun, 21 Feb 2016, Nicole Torcolini via nfbcs wrote:
>>>
>>>> Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 12:11:42
>>>> From: Nicole Torcolini via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>>>> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Cc: Nicole Torcolini <ntorcolini at wavecable.com>
>>>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Computer Shutting off During the Night
>>>>
>>>> Okay, this is not the answer, so you may stop reading if you do not
>>>> want to hear what I have to say. Why do you need the computer running
>>>> 24-7? Unless you produce your own electricity, you are probably
>>>> driving your energy bill up. Also, unless either you have your own
>>>> source of renewable energy or your energy program uses renewable
>>>> energy, you are adding to greenhouse gas emissions.
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John G.
>>>> Heim via nfbcs
>>>> Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2016 8:04 AM
>>>> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
>>>> Cc: John G. Heim
>>>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Computer Shutting off During the Night
>>>>
>>>> I nominate over heating as a prime candidate. Points against it are
>>>> that it is occuring in the middle of the night when the computer is
>>>> not being used and when the environment is probably at it's coolest.
>>>> Is the machine doing anything in the middle of the night? Heavy backups?
>>>> Downloading updates?
>>>>
>>>> I would open it up and clean it out.  Especially make sure the fans
>>>> aren't blocked by dust anddog hair.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 02/21/2016 09:38 AM, Peter Donahue via nfbcs wrote:
>>>>> Good morning everyone,
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>                    We're some of those folks that like to keep at
>>>>> least one computer running 24/7. Until last week this hasn't been a
>>>>> problem. Several mornings last week including this morning we came
>>>>> down stairs to find that Mary's computer had shut itself off during
>>>>> the night. It was necessary to unplug the power adapter and plug it
>>>>> back in again to restart her PC. Once the machine was back on and
>>>>> successfully rebooted everything was fine. It runs flawlessly.
>>>>> Someone suggested that the surge protector to which this machine is
>>> connected was doing its job protecting it from being fried.
>>>> These
>>>>> shut-downs occurred three times during the past week. Otherwise
>>>>> we've been able to run the computer overnight without problems. We
>>>>> may just have to shut it down manually before we go to bed until a
>>>>> technician can check it out. Someone is supposed to come on Friday
>>>>> to troubleshoot  this issue
>>>> along
>>>>> with some issues with some of our other devices. I've heard of
>>>>> computers shutting down by themselves unexpectedly so this is not
>>>>> new to me. I'd be curious to know if there are any settings I can
>>>>> check that may be responsible for this behavior. Any suggestions
>>>>> will be
>>> appreciated.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Peter Donahue
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> edu
>>>>
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>>>> ble.co
>>>> m
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>> o
>>>> m
>>>>
>> --
>> Christopher (CJ)
>> chaltain at Gmail
>>
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