leaving pc for 6 months

[nikos_gevre]

i am leaving my country for erasmus studies and obviously i cant take my pc with me. i am gonna be away for 6 months, maybe even more if i expand my studies there. so is there any problem leaving my pc shut down for like 6 months? what could happen to my pc? i could have some people open it for a few hours/day but they don't game or anytning so it will not be under load for a very long time and of course i am not sure 100% that they will be able to go to my house every day and open my pc 😛 its a little wierd.
so any problems for leaving my pc shut down for 6 months?

 

[13thmonkey]

It'll be fine. Just make sure that the fans spin up once you start it (highly unlikely to be an issue), everything else will be good. Wait for windows and anti virus to update before going on line.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

so any problems for leaving my pc shut down for 6 months?

The outside of the case will get dusty, but that's it.

 

[Onus]

How old is the CMOS battery on the motherboard? If it's more than 2-3 years old, it might not be a bad idea to replace it. Otherwise, your biggest issue when you get back is likely to be a long time spent downloading patches and updates (unless someone's been doing that; once/week is enough).

 

[InvalidError]

If you unplug / hard-off the PC, then the CMOS battery dying is the only issue I can foresee. I would simply remove it.

I have put away some of my spare PCs for YEARS and they booted fine when I needed them for some random odd jobs or play an old game just for kicks. One of my oldest HDDs needed a few "love taps" with a screwdriver to get it unseized though.

 

[nikos_gevre]

How old is the CMOS battery on the motherboard? If it's more than 2-3 years old, it might not be a bad idea to replace it. Otherwise, your biggest issue when you get back is likely to be a long time spent downloading patches and updates (unless someone's been doing that; once/week is enough).

hmm cool. thanks. i have this pc for 2 years now so when i will be back it will be 2 and a half years while the last half year not working. should i change the cmos battery when i will be back?

 

[grimakis]

You'll be fine, just unplug it. The CMOS battery will be fine, only 2.5 years.

When you leave your computer for several decades, that's another story.

 

[InvalidError]

The CMOS battery will be fine, only 2.5 years.

Some CMOS/RTC implementations chew through the battery faster than others, removing the battery when you aren't going to use the PC for a very long time is cheap insurance. It also eliminates the possibility that the cell might leak and corrode the battery socket if the cell goes bad.

 

[nikos_gevre]

cool. thanks. so i will be just fine if i remove the cmos battery while i am gone. perfect.
thank you all for your time!

 

[Onus]

If you remove it, keep in mind that 1) all your CMOS settings will be reset, so if you've customized anything, write it down; and 2) no one will be able to use the PC while you are gone.
I've personally never seen a lithium coin cell leak, but I won't claim it never happens. One option would be to replace it; for <$5 it's cheap.

 

[grimakis]

If you remove it, keep in mind that 1) all your CMOS settings will be reset, so if you've customized anything, write it down; and 2) no one will be able to use the PC while you are gone.
I've personally never seen a lithium coin cell leak, but I won't claim it never happens. One option would be to replace it; for <$5 it's cheap.

I agree, I too have never seen a Lithium coin cell leak, and that includes not only CMOS batteries, but dozens of NES, SNES, Gameboy and N64 games that used them to keep save data. Not once have I seen a leaky one.