[SOLVED] Is a power shortage bad for the PC if it's turned off?

[rbogomolec]

Where I live there are a power shortages almost every week. Is it bad for the PC if the electricity is suddenly cut and then comes back, but when the PC is turned off? I know it's bad when the PC is on, cuz the sudden surge of power can damage the motherboard etc. But what is the PC is off? Is it better for me to plug it out of the wall when I'm not using it? Because I read that then if you plug it out every day, then the motherboard will use more of it's internal battery and that this may make the motherboard last shorter. But I'm afraid that if I leave it plugged in the whole time, that these power shortages will screw something up if they keep on occurring every damn week... I'm hoping for an answer like "don't worry, if the PC is turned off, nothing can happen, even if you have shortages 3 times per day".... But, in case that this is still harmful for the PC, please tell me how to avoid damage or how to keep the damage at minimum.

 

[jay32267]

"Is it bad for the PC if the electricity is suddenly cut and then comes back, but when the PC is turned off? "

don't worry, if the PC is turned off, nothing can happen, even if you have shortages 3 times per day

How's that?

If you leave it off....power outages can't damage anything.

 

[hotaru.hino]

If it's happening like once a day or spaced apart between hours, then it's not a problem. If it's happening rapidly, there might be a problem considering every time the grid is energize the PSU gets subjected to inrush currents. Turning the hard switch off should prevent this. In either case, only the PSU is being affected here as long as the computer is "off," so if something is going to be damaged, it's that.

 

[rbogomolec]

"Is it bad for the PC if the electricity is suddenly cut and then comes back, but when the PC is turned off? "

don't worry, if the PC is turned off, nothing can happen, even if you have shortages 3 times per day

How's that?

If you leave it off....power outages can't damage anything.

Just the answer I was hoping for! Thanks! 😁

 

[rbogomolec]

If it's happening like once a day or spaced apart between hours, then it's not a problem. If it's happening rapidly, there might be a problem considering every time the grid is energize the PSU gets subjected to inrush currents. Turning the hard switch off should prevent this. In either case, only the PSU is being affected here as long as the computer is "off," so if something is going to be damaged, it's that.

Thanks, now I can sleep peacefully 😁 Finally got a good gaming rig after years of having to play on a "gaming laptop", so I'd sure hate to see it get damaged cuz of currents.

 

[Colif]

if its windows 10, you might want to turn this off - https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-turn-off-fast-startup-windows-10-a.html - as a PC with windows 10 installed is never off, it is asleep during shutdown and unless you turn that off, it could corrupt the install if it loses power while shut off.

so while it can't break anything physical, it can cause problems for windows.

If you have an nvme or ssd as boot drive, you don't need fast startup anyway.

 

[jay32267]

Just the answer I was hoping for! Thanks! 😁

You're welcome.

 

[jay32267]

If it's happening like once a day or spaced apart between hours, then it's not a problem. If it's happening rapidly, there might be a problem considering every time the grid is energize the PSU gets subjected to inrush currents. Turning the hard switch off should prevent this. In either case, only the PSU is being affected here as long as the computer is "off," so if something is going to be damaged, it's that.

The only time it will ever be a problem is if the voltage goes higher than the max voltage input spec for the PSU. In my experience this generally doesn't happen with outages...BUT IT CAN...depending on a lot of different things.

So if you absolutely wanted to be 100% safe.....unplug it.

...but for the most part you are safe with it off....and the only thing that could possibly be damaged is the PSU but that is very doubtful in most cases.

 

[Krotow]

You can't damage computer which is turned off with power outages. Losing power when computer is on is whole different story. If blackouts in your area happen very often, get UPS, adequate to your system power consumption. Then you at least will be able to safely shutdown your computer without corrupting system drive and losing data.

 

[hotaru.hino]

The only time it will ever be a problem is if the voltage goes higher than the max voltage input spec for the PSU. In my experience this generally doesn't happen with outages...BUT IT CAN...depending on a lot of different things.

The problem I'm describing is there are components in the AC input side of the PSU designed to protect against inrush currents. If you keep hitting the PSU with inrush currents in a short period of time, you can burn out the protection components.

 

[rbogomolec]

if its windows 10, you might want to turn this off - https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-turn-off-fast-startup-windows-10-a.html - as a PC with windows 10 installed is never off, it is asleep during shutdown and unless you turn that off, it could corrupt the install if it loses power while shut off.

so while it can't break anything physical, it can cause problems for windows.

If you have an nvme or ssd as boot drive, you don't need fast startup anyway.

Yeah, that's a nasty one. I used to have Win7 on my laptop and would always check how much time I spent on my laptop by going into the performance menu to see the up time. But on Win10 I've noticed that even though I turn off my PC, the up time is like 7 days. Once I found out what behind this I was really pissed at Microsoft... This shouldn't be the default option, and is sure shouldn't be so damn well hidden... I remember everybody talking about how Win10 boots up very fast, even on old PCs. Well, no wonder it does, if it's just hibernating all the time...