Burn-In Concern

Powering up my new computer for a 72 hour burn-in seemed to go normally. The power light came on steady and stayed on. The HD light came on for a moment and then went out. Two hours into the burn-in we had a momentary loss of household current. My current computer went down and then powered itself up. The new one went down. When I turned it back on the power light acts as it should but now the HD light stays on. Do I have reason for concern?

 

A power surge could cause a serious problem, but a momentary power loss will or could cause RAM data loss.

In a manufacturing environment computers were burned-in for 72 hours and maybe that procedure continues. That is not any magic number, but it was a minimum of time for expeditious reasons. You may want to consider a longer time period. Apparently, you know weak components will fail in a short period of time... I almost always leave my computer on with the believe that turning on and off is damaging in the long run.

 

I'm another big believer in leaving things running 24/7 - none of them ever get turned off for the night. However, going back to the original question re: hard drive light now acting finicky, I've found that total disconnect from power (and I mean unplugging your computer) can sometimes cure the strangest things. This is true of both printers and CPU's - I recently had a Plextor CDRW that was continually flashing, was no longer recognized, wouldn't respond to pushing eject or selecting eject from a right click - notta, notta - nothing - dead drive. Tried everything I know of to no avail and was going to physically replace the drive. Disconnected everything, includng power cord to install another computer in a relatively tight space next to this machine and rearrange wires. When I plugged this box back in, Plextor drive is working like nothing ever happened. Go figure ....

 

Rockster2U, that worked, go figure.

 

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I've found that total disconnect from power (and I mean unplugging your computer) can sometimes cure the strangest things.
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I agree. It is not unlike reversing a two prong plug (both the same size) and that would correct what may have been a polarity problem.
The only variable involved in this instant case is true grd. Apparently, removing grd. and reconnecting clears out a circuit, but to show a causal relationship to a momentary power loss is a challenge.