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By damien907 Fri Aug 10, 2007 4:55 pm
i was wondering if leaving my firewiere interface on (m-audio firewire 410) all the time is bad for it?

what do you guys do?

whenever its on, theres a solid blue light and when its off but still connected to a firewire port, the blue light flashes. should i just unplug it everytime im done with it for the night, or do you think it would be fine to leave it on all the time?

thanks.
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By m.sm. Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:11 pm
ill be honest, I dont know much about firewire interfaces, but I learned my lesson on leaving my gear on. I used to leave a lot of stuff on and it seems like things are just going bad one after another. first it was my mixer, and I think I had something to do with that dying out. Then its my right monitor. There's just this buzzing noise coming from the tweeter that will NOT stop. I am almost certain its because i've left them on for long periods of time....so now ill have to buy new monitors, too!

i dont know man, but if you can turn it off then why not do it? Save your power and extend the life on your gear. turn that stuff off when you're not using it!
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By Mike Dugan Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:41 pm
m.sm. wrote:
i dont know man, but if you can turn it off then why not do it? Save your power and extend the life on your gear. turn that stuff off when you're not using it!
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By damien907 Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:43 pm
alright, ill unplug it lol.

its weird though, i turn all my other gear off, but this doesnt really have an on-off switch on it. so i gotta unplug it when im done and i dont know if thats bad either, but ill just turn the switch so it flashes cuase that means its bus connected but still off, and then ill unplug it.

By tag Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:54 pm
I have a saffire box, and it's always on. You might don't know, but if your computer is connected to electricity it is sorta' still on even if you turn it off.
That's why some USB powered shit can still charge even if the comp is turned off. The iPod f.e.

By K-Mello Fri Aug 10, 2007 7:28 pm
tag wrote:I have a saffire box, and it's always on. You might don't know, but if your computer is connected to electricity it is sorta' still on even if you turn it off.
That's why some USB powered **** can still charge even if the comp is turned off. The iPod f.e.


It is sort of still on, but I don't know about charging other devices with it off. Unless you turn off the power supply to your PC (not your computers power switch. Most power supplies have their own power switch), part of it is always on, and part of the motherboard is always on. They are designed that way so that you can turn your PC on by hitting a designated key on the keyboard, or from a signal sent to your LAN connection, etc. Although after saying that, it almost makes sense that you could charge a USB device because a USB device could be used to "wake" your PC.

However, you can't just make a blanket statement like "turn your PC off whenever..." because the components in most electric/electronic equipment nowadays go under more of a strain when you first turn them on than they do just running idle. This is one of the oldest debates in the PC world though, and you will always get parties from both sides saying "turn it off" or "leave it on". Except for the electricity bill, most devices nowadays have a mfg'er "stated" lifetime long enough that if you left them on 24/7 you would outgrow the device before it died from overuse. Both those "stated" lifetimes are almost never true.

Bottom line is I'm just rambling because I don't want to be at work, and do whatever the f*ck you want to do. Your equipment probably doesn't care either way.

Peace,
KM
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By konc3pt Fri Aug 10, 2007 7:58 pm
If I was you I'd call tech support and ask to be on the safe side.

Cuz I know some companies urge to leave the gear on at all times.

Yamaha says it's better to leave your motif series synth on at all times. Cuz it's actually better for machine...

The adventage is you dont gotta waste time loading up your files everyday.

I imagine this would not work for speakers with built in amps, cuz they can get hot and overheat something inside the speaker ?
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By _casio Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:34 pm
i thought i remembered my ipod would stop charging when the computer went into sleep mode. i could be wrong, but i'm pretty certain it won't charge on my roommate's laptop when it's shut. haven't tested in awhile.

as for the on/off debate, i've never heard a definate. one huge downside i have with my computer being on so much is that it attracts a lot of cat fur and blocks the vents. as for turning on/off, the wires may go through so many hot/cold cycles that they become more fragile. that would require more research than i'm willing to provide.

if the light is blinking on/off, it sounds intentional unless the manual says otherwise. my samsung monitor's light blink when my computer goes into sleep mode. it's perfectly normal, but bright and annoying, so i turn the monitor off.

i have a yamaha powered monitor and i've left it on overnight and all day; it doesn't get hot (just stays warm). the heat is comes from electricity and if the speaker is only "on" but not in use, your power draw is minimal. but yea, i usually turn the speaker off when i leave my apt.