Advice Needed Does having a computer on sleep cost a lot?

[Jumpstart]

My desktop pc has been acting weird for the past two months.

It sometimes comes on, and then sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't come on, the tower has a high pitched whistle. Power but no Windows 7.

If I don't turn it off, it stays functioning, but I put it in sleep mode when not in use. Does this cost a lot in electricity?

Thanks.

 

[Lazarus]

No, not very much at all - but I suspect that's a minor issue as you seem to have an incipient failure in the offing.

Make sure you take regular backups of your files, so you lose little when either the PSU or the Hard Disc Drive (or both!) refuse to behave at all.

 

[Jumpstart]

Thank you. I have backed everything up, but it's been a good pc to me.

Shame it could be at an end. I wonder why it takes turns working and not working, when switched off then on.

 

[Lazarus]

The high-pitched noise points to PSU failure. Exactly why? Who knows!

If it were graunching (good word!) noises, that would be HDD.

Google for a replacement PSU for whatever model it is. Probably won't be expensive.

 

[Jumpstart]

Thanks again.

 

[Terryl]

Get one of these hummers, it will tell you how much it really costs.

http://www.altestore.com/store/Meters-Communications-Site-Analysis/Meters-Battery-Monitors/Power-Meters/Kill-A-Watt-EZ-Electricity-Cost-Usage-Meter-P4460/p6659/?gclid=CIPwyfbA4MICFRFhfgodTFMAmA

I used one and found out it does add up over time.

 

[pgh13]

Thank you. I have backed everything up, but it's been a good pc to me.

Shame it could be at an end. I wonder why it takes turns working and not working, when switched off then on.

PSUs often have cheap fans which grind to a halt plus being out of sight get clogged with dust. Gotta be worth a new power supply

 

[2cvbloke]

If it struggles to power up and stay powered up, I'd say bad PSU or bad caps on the motherboard (or both), I once had a computer that shut itself off if it was left idle, and nothing was set to automatically turn it off and always had to run a scandisk/chkdisk when I eventually turned it back on (it would spin up, then conk out a few times before it stayed running), turned out to be a bad PSU...

 

[Terryl]

I agree with the PSU as being the possible problem, the PSU has a sensing lead, this tells the PSU to start-up when you press the front panel power button, or if something like a LAN or WIFI card is set to "Wake on LAN", and depending on how old the PC is the circuit involved with that could be ready to go FUBAR.(or some way the "Wake on LAN" has been set to on)

If your going to replace the PSU go with one with a higher then needed wattage, I go with power supply rated at 150% above what would be specified by the manufacture, the PC I'm on now has been running continuously for the last 8 years with out problems.

When people add stuff like more RAM, or extra hard drives and bigger faster video cards to a PC it adds to the current load, get to the maximum rating of the power supply and it will shorten the life span of the power supply.

I always say "When in doubt go bigger" when replacing a PSU.

 

[Jumpstart]

I was given a quote to fix it. £150. WTF.

 

[2cvbloke]

I was given a quote to fix it. £150. WTF.

Cost of a standard ATX PSU is about £25-£30, time to fit, less than half an hour, rest of the money, er, they're rip-off merchants...

Grab yourself a screwdriver and some zip ties and replace it yourself, speaking as a computer tech who's replaced many a PSU, I can say it's easy as pie to accomplish...

 

[Jumpstart]

Thanks. I totally agree with you, 2cvbloke.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Hoover the chassis out first, you may find the dust is causing a part short across some higher voltage components.

 

[2cvbloke]

Hoover the chassis out first

Other superior brands of vacuum cleaner are available...

 

[Jumpstart]

Someone else suggested the 'Hoover' solution. Cheers.