how do you turn on your computer?

[Muse]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: Muse
The guy who sold me my first computer (used) said I should put it on a power strip and turn it on with that, not using the button on the computer. That was an AT mainboard, so it didn't activate the PSU via the button like the ATX cases. Nowadays if you don't want to use the button on the case I guess you can have turn on by keyboard action set in the BIOS and stuff like that. His concept was that someday that button would break. Of course, a year or two later he died from an appendectomy gone wrong.

I'm not sure why that is related... unless he did the surgery on himself... but anyways. He did have a point, I know someone that used the switch on the front of their UPS to turn on/off the entire rig, and after a year or two, that switch failed. -snip-

I guess my point was it's possible to win a battle and lose the war.

Anyway, when I press MY power button I am always very gentle with it based on his admonition. I never jab at it. So far so good.

 

[Arcanedeath]

I hit the spacebar on my keyboard unless theirs been a power outage that drained my 1500VA UPS then I have to hit the power button on the PC.

 

[DreamerSpawn]

Same as you. I have a power console under my monitor, which I leave the power to the monitor on. When I shut down, hit the main power button and all is down (if I have printer on, that's off too). To turn the system back on, turn the MASTER power button on then the power button on tower. THIS is the time I miss AT instead of ATX! I remember having a simular setup on the older AT systems...turn MASTER power on, all comes on...tower included.

What would be an EXCELLENT thing for a motherboard company to do is to put it in the BIOS as a choice "AT" or "ATX". Only problem is that they would HAVE to figure out how to do AT WITHOUT a seperate power button.

Originally posted by: her34
i flip on power strip (monitor turns on from power), then case button

what's your procedure?

 

[DreamerSpawn]

It's amazing how many people post on a subject like this. hehehehehe.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: DreamerSpawn
It's amazing how many people post on a subject like this. hehehehehe.

It surely is! Anyway, my startup is:

1. Turn on peripherals power box - includes scanner, and external 1394 and USB devices.

2. Turn on main power box for other peripherals.

3. Turn on UPS.

4. Press button on computer.

It has worked for me for many years, and is safe, secure, and fairly immune to power burps, surges, etc.

 

[Zepper]

In the old AT days, the power switch was REALLY a power switch - switched up to 6 or 8A of inrush current at 110 or 220VAC. Now the "soft power" switch on ATX is a very low current momentary contact switch that should last nearly forever in normal use. Keyboard ON is also a very nice function if your case is in an inconvenient spot. This is usually enabled/disabled with a jumper on the mobo if yours has it.

.bh.

 

[EmoHawk]

Bios alarm at 7:45 everyday, monitor stays on 24/7.

 

[sharkeeper]

I hate startups.

They should be easy.

However, they're pretty f'ing far from that. (loud sound advisory!)

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Muse
Anyway, when I press MY power button I am always very gentle with it based on his admonition. I never jab at it. So far so good.

I kick mine with my foot.

(The front plastic "color accent" bezel is missing from my case, and the power/reset buttons stick out from the main plastic bezel and are supposed to sit flush with the "color accent" bezel. Plus, my case is under a table, a bit futher in. So I really do use my feet. I might stop doing that though, accidentally kicked it and it "bounced", and it clicked off-on really quickly, that can't be good for the HDs. )

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: sharkeeper
I hate startups.

They should be easy.

However, they're pretty f'ing far from that. (loud sound advisory!)

I've heard that before from when you've previously posted it - what is that starting up? Sounds like a server cluster to me, but I'm interested to know

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Zepper
In the old AT days, the power switch was REALLY a power switch - switched up to 6 or 8A of inrush current at 110 or 220VAC.

Yes. All the more reason to not leave the PSU plugged into the wall, for "grounding"... especially if you are initially wiring up the front-panel switch on the case to the AT PSU AC-power leads. Yes, in my early years, I realized that the hard way, doing a system build at 3am when I wasn't thinking straight. Trust me, I was pretty "awake" after that happened.

(New rule of thumb: always pull the AC plug! It's not actually needed for "grounding" either, I found out after that incident.)

I also sometimes mis-wired the AC power leads the wrong way over the switch leads, so when you plugged in the AC power cord, usually you would trip a breaker if that happened. Oops. (Is it black-white, blue-brown? Or is that backwards again... and it's supposed to be black-brown, white-blue?)

I do kind of miss the chassis grounding lead coming off of the PSU though. Apparently, Tagan ATX PSUs still have that lead, and claim that it helps the regulation of the power planes slightly.

 

[sharkeeper]

Most of the sound comes from the generator (R717) starting up. Once the pressure stabilises and all coldplates are satisfied, the micros get their power. Then the storage bays (typically 14 drives per row) get the go for spin up. By this time we have mips and are ready to start main OS boot.

This is a 400Hz system too so it has other unique sounds.

 

[HannibalTheCannibal]

I leave mine on. But if it happens to need turning on, I push the little power button on the front of my case.

 

[boomerang]

First, I call my neighbor. I say Hi and always ask the same equestion. "How's the weather?"

Next, I walk down the hall and back three times while counting to myself from one to 37.

Then I check the pilot light on the hot water heater three times taking three steps back and then forward each time.

Next, I lay on the couch on my back with my right foot on the floor and blink 12 times.

I then check the light in the refrigerator to make sure it's working.

Next I walk out on the deck and check the railings very carefully and cough 7 times while facing SouthEast.

Then I walk up to the computer and press the button.

This is my procedure when I'm taking my meds. It's really different and more complicated when I don't.

 

[Zepper]

Hey VL,
. Did you ever get an AT PSU that had the switch wiring diagram (usually on a sticker on the PSU case) screwed up (actually it was probably the AC wiring itself in the PSU as the colors on the digram were correct)? I did, and from then on I always tested all wires with a DMM before the AC plug ever hit the outlet.
. One usually does such things only once...

.bh.

 

[Infohawk]

Keyboard, and I'm never going back.

What's the point of those boot on lan things? What specifically triggers it to boot? A simple lan connection? So you'd turn off your router every night.

 

[ROcHE]

Originally posted by: DreamerSpawn
Same as you. I have a power console under my monitor, which I leave the power to the monitor on. When I shut down, hit the main power button and all is down (if I have printer on, that's off too). To turn the system back on, turn the MASTER power button on then the power button on tower. THIS is the time I miss AT instead of ATX! I remember having a simular setup on the older AT systems...turn MASTER power on, all comes on...tower included.

What would be an EXCELLENT thing for a motherboard company to do is to put it in the BIOS as a choice "AT" or "ATX". Only problem is that they would HAVE to figure out how to do AT WITHOUT a seperate power button.

Originally posted by: her34
i flip on power strip (monitor turns on from power), then case button

what's your procedure?

Configure your BIOS to turn on when there is a power failure. It will turn on when you open your switch.

 

[qbackin]

Originally posted by: ROcHE

Originally posted by: DreamerSpawn
Same as you. I have a power console under my monitor, which I leave the power to the monitor on. When I shut down, hit the main power button and all is down (if I have printer on, that's off too). To turn the system back on, turn the MASTER power button on then the power button on tower. THIS is the time I miss AT instead of ATX! I remember having a simular setup on the older AT systems...turn MASTER power on, all comes on...tower included.

What would be an EXCELLENT thing for a motherboard company to do is to put it in the BIOS as a choice "AT" or "ATX". Only problem is that they would HAVE to figure out how to do AT WITHOUT a seperate power button.

Originally posted by: her34
i flip on power strip (monitor turns on from power), then case button

what's your procedure?

Configure your BIOS to turn on when there is a power failure. It will turn on when you open your switch.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: sharkeeper
Most of the sound comes from the generator (R717) starting up. Once the pressure stabilises and all coldplates are satisfied, the micros get their power. Then the storage bays (typically 14 drives per row) get the go for spin up. By this time we have mips and are ready to start main OS boot.

This is a 400Hz system too so it has other unique sounds.

I'm not entirely sure what most of that means - server cluster / mainframe?

Also, is 400Hz the operating frequency, or something else entirely?

Cheers!

 

[ddviper]

Originally posted by: HannibalTheCannibal
I leave mine on. But if it happens to need turning on, I push the little power button on the front of my case.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Hey VL,
. Did you ever get an AT PSU that had the switch wiring diagram (usually on a sticker on the PSU case) screwed up (actually it was probably the AC wiring itself in the PSU as the colors on the digram were correct)? I did, and from then on I always tested all wires with a DMM before the AC plug ever hit the outlet.

Nah, I usually just wired them up best I could figure, and then made sure that my other PCs and important electronics were turned off in the house, as I crossed my fingers and waited for the breaker-trip.
I'm not really sure what you would be able to test with a DVM on those four leads without it plugged in. Continuity? I was under the impression that it somehow depended on how the PSU was designed, but I'm no EE. My bigger problem was with the AT case switches - some of them have a raised line in the plastic, and I'm never sure if I'm supposed to wire the two pairs across that line, or alongside it. I swear that I've seen switches both ways. So whether or not the PSU wires were labeled correctly, my problem was mainly with the case switches. WTH, I guess I live dangerously. I don't bother looking up case LED polarity either, I hook it up, turn it on, and if they don't work, I turn it off and swap them.

 

[sharkeeper]

I'm not entirely sure what most of that means - server cluster / mainframe?

Also, is 400Hz the operating frequency, or something else entirely?

Cheers!

It's a wide scale real time coordinate processing system. 400Hz is the frequency of the power mains it runs on. There are 2600 3.2 GHz cpus, 1800 3.0 GHz cpus, and 4400 2.66 GHz cpus onboard. I'm proposing to add 900 3.6GHz cpus in the next six months.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: sharkeeper

I'm not entirely sure what most of that means - server cluster / mainframe?

Also, is 400Hz the operating frequency, or something else entirely?

Cheers!

It's a wide scale real time coordinate processing system.

Sounds interesting

400Hz is the frequency of the power mains it runs on.

Ah, I see now.

There are 2600 3.2 GHz cpus, 1800 3.0 GHz cpus, and 4400 2.66 GHz cpus onboard. I'm proposing to add 900 3.6GHz cpus in the next six months.

:Q :Q :Q Holy Mother of God...

Prime95 scores? :laugh:

 

[suse920]

Originally posted by: cyberknight
POWER BUTTON

 

[CraigRT]

never off, but when i turn it on if i have to, power button of course.