Power outage during sleed mode question?

[Guest]

Tried looking around a bit first. couldn't find a definitive answer.

I usually put my PC to sleep mode instead of shutting down completely. Makes it easier to turn it back on remotely, and I assume power draw isn't too bad during sleep mode. For the record though, I do completely shutdown frequently. like at least once a week, lol.

Anyways, I come home tonight after work to find there was a power outage while at work. My PC was sleeping at the time, and so when I got home I found it was off. Upon turning it back on, I noticed the Windows 8 Splash screen looking kinda glitchy. Nothing serious, but it wasn't normal nonetheless. The interesting thing though was that the computer turned completely back on from back where I left off, as though it went into hibernate mode. My question is this: on Windows 8, when in sleep/standby mode, if you have a power outage, or power simply gets cut, could there be any damage to PC? Usually when I put the PC to sleep, I close out most programs, or at least the most CPU intensive ones, but I assumed that if a power outage occurred, the PC wouldn't simply restore from a previous state, unless it was in hibernate mode?

Any help on this would be appreciated. I'm mostly curious on how this works with Windows 8, as I am aware that Windows 8 does things a bit differently when it comes to boot/sleep/ etc, but I am curious on how it affects PC's in general. I'm aware of possible data loss, but I would assume this relates specifically to things like RAM, Spinning hard disks, etc. But my bios is set to put everything into a deep sleep during standby, so, all fans stop spinning completely, including CPU fan; and drives stop spinning as well. Pretty much everything goes into a very low power state, and what intrigues me the most is how, even after power outage, my PC started back up from where I left off from sleep.

Thanks guys.

 

[bluebob951]

Windows 8 does do stuff a bit differently when it comes out of sleep. It goes into a deep hibernation state after a while of light sleep, unless you specify it to to differently. It will not injure the computer if it loses power in sleep mode, It has happened a number of times to me, and has happened with windows 8 installed. Have you shut it down since the power went out? A complete restart will help, meaning shut it down and unplug the computer and then plug it back and start it back up. Data loss in sleep mode really isn't a problem anymore, hdds and ram are pretty rugged nowadays...I don't think its too big a a problem. You could just get a UPS if you are worried.

 

[Guest]

Thank you! That's good to know! it's reassuring, because of all the warnings of data loss from previous OS's. data loss isn't that important to me. The machine is mostly just a gaming rig, but its cool to know that it doesn't just screw up the PC. I mean obviously there's still a chance, but its less common now. it's kinda neat. I may consider getting a UPS, but not to worried about that at the moment. Mostly just worry about possible physical damage to the PC. I have a surge protector currently installed.

 

[bluebob951]

The fact you have a surge protector is good enough for most people. I have had a psu blow up from the power coming back on without a surge protector so I use high quality surge protectors now on all my electronics and have had no problems with them now.

 

[Guest]

yeah I still haven't done anything with it lol. been meaning to buy a battery backup but money is tight, and at the moment its not too important. ive had other power outages since though, but ive noticed it doesn't always save the state. sometimes after power outage it starts up like normal, even though it was in sleep mode when the outage occurred.

IF I were to get a battery backup, is there some sort of software or setting in windows 8 that could detect when an outage occurs, and promptly shut the pc down? I would rather it shut down correctly than get cut off like that. 😛