Power Outage/Brownouts

[Crimsonnaire]

Hi, everyone.

Can someone please tell me what hardware components of a desktop tower are at risk of damage when there's a power outage or brownout?

My old tower has the habit of turning back on by itself when the power returns in a few seconds, whereas my newer HP tower stays off until I press the power button again. What accounts for this difference, and is there any inherent benefit to either setting?

Any clarification is greatly appreciated.

 

[johnb35]

To stop the system from turning back on after power outage, go into the bios and change the setting to stay off after power outage.

Any component can go bad after a power outage/brownout. The most common are hard drive, memory, motherboard and psu.

 

[Crimsonnaire]

Hi, John. Thank you very much for clarifying.

Something I've been curious about for a long time is just what is the mechanism by which a sudden loss of power would damage a hardware component in the devices you listed, and what is the typical nature of the damage (as opposed to being from a surge)? Furthermore, how is the situation regulated by the system during a normal shutdown so that the cutting of power doesn't damage the components as from an outage?

Thanks again.

 

[johnb35]

What the difference is, is the abrupt cut off of power in the system compared to a normal shutdown when all programs, drivers, and what not have been unloaded during shutdown. I'm not saying something will get damaged on a power outage, but it could happen. Ever had the power go out and when you go to boot the computer back up, it won't boot? This is usually caused by errors on the hard drive caused by the power outage.

 

[FuryRosewood]

If your in a area where brownouts are frequent, i would recommend buying a UPS just to regulate your shutdowns being proper. (UPS - Uninterruptible Power Supply)

 

[ScottALot]

Brownouts are to gatorade as blackouts are to gasoline in cars... you'd rather run out of gas than have your car mutilated by something like gatorade in your fuel.

Brownouts cause fluctuations in power that can cause components to record data incorrectly, rather than simply omitting the data like a blackout. A computer is self-aware to the point that it can see where an omission has begun, and it can make amends to boot up regardless of the omission. However, not every incorrect section of information can be recognized by the computer (if the computer can even boot up to the point of seeking these errors), so brownouts can cause much more serious damage to your components.

Sorry if I got a bit confusing, it's late... or early depending on how you look at it *eek*

 

[Crimsonnaire]

Scott,

Thank you very much for explaining brownouts. This was also something that I didn't quite understand, but reading your example makes perfect sense!

Knowing this, I am really considering getting a UPS. The thing that deterred me from getting it before was that my area tends to suffer momentary power loss rather than surges, so just stuck with my SurgeMaster II. But since brownouts can be intermittent enough to not cause a complete outage, I really want a device that will let me know when a brownout occurs by either a light or beep. Is there a surge protector or UPS that has this feature?

 

[Crimsonnaire]

Another thing that kinda falls under the same subject matter that I've been wondering about is whether wall outlets in a common household room will divert wattage from one device if another device is plugged into a second outlet? I've got two electric heaters in my room, and I noticed that my light flickers slightly in brightness when the heater turns on and off from its thermostat. On top of this, I've noticed that my fan heater will die down slightly when I turn on the other heater and pick back up when I turn it off. As you probably already guessed, my concern is whether my computer outlet is being affected the same way. I understand that a typical house circuit has a limit of around 1400 watts, and both my heaters have a max setting of 1500 watts. Now if it's the case that the outlets in my room are being fed by the same circuit, then shouldn't it have blown when I turn on both heaters to the max setting? But if it's the case that the outlets are being fed by separate circuits, then why is there the noticeable power fluctuation?

I know, I know. I'm getting a UPS ASAP. I'm just curious to know what the situation is.