new computer question

[kaysixteen]

o here is my problem, if it is a problem.   After sending you all several messages about an hour or so ago (remember I work late), I made myself some din-din.   After eating, I went back to my computer, a Intel Core 15 ThinkPad that runs on something called 'Lenovo' ( really do not know what that means, but that is what I see every time I go back onto the machine after having had it sit long enough to have gone into power save mode (I think) and need to be called back up, simply by pressing a button on the side of the keyboard.   I have had this computer since March 2020, plugged into my wall outlet, and have never turned it off, largely because I remember what my comp prof in library school said (2000) about turning it on and off all the time being harder on the electronics than leaving it on (I do not know whether that is still accurate)-- I am also afraid to muck something up.   (I will of course have to turn it off later this month when I move).  I have put a whole lot of miles, as it were, on the machine, and quite frankly I do not know how long something like this is supposed to last (as it was a gift from my church, I do not even know how much it cost).  I surf the net regularly, write a lot of emails, and stream a lot as well.  And I taught Zoom classes for the senior citizens, four semesters by now.  Well ,when I returned to the machine after din-din, and pressed the button to come back on, all I got was a black screen, which turned into a blue screen, with a few icons at the lower right, and the cursor, which I could still move.   But I could not get anything else.   Two or three times over the months the machine has processed what appear to be mandatory updates and rebooted itself, but it was always clear it was doing that and I could see stuff.   Now, I just could not lose that blue screen, and attempts to hit the icons were useless.  I tried then to hit control-alt-delete to reboot it, but that did nothing, and I did not see anything that looked like an on-off switch, either.  I then decided to pull out the power cord, but that did not shut the computer down either (would I be correct to assume that this means that there is some sort of battery in the machine that is being recharged constantly as long as the power cord is connected, and, thus, it might well take some time (hours?) for the thing to shut itself off after you pulled the plug?)  Well, now what, esp since my smartphone is still down?   I was wondering whether I should take the thing to a repair shop, pub library, etc., but then decided to hold down the button that powers up from power save, for several seconds, and then the lights came back on and the machine rebooted itself.   Any thoughts anyone has here would be most appreciated, esp on the question of how long this machine is likely to last, esp given the heavy usage?   I do feel like an ignoramus, of course, and have long been telling myself I need to take some sort of course on updated tech, PCs, smartphones (I have one but am not good at using it), etc., but have not gotten round to it...

[Hegemony]

I have no idea, but I've noticed that if I do not turn my computer (a McBook Air) off periodically and start from scratch, it seizes up and won't function. Particularly when updates come in, it needs to be rebooted from scratch. I would say that's the simplest explanation for what's happened to yours. My advice would be to keep going as usual, with occasional reboots, and don't feel the need to consult anyone unless problems continue.

[ergative]

What Hegemony said: It sounds to me like your computer had a crash, and you did a hard reboot (that's what it's called when you hold down the power button for several seconds). This is the standard first treatment for a computer crash. If it fixed the problem, then you don't need to do anything further. Sometimes computers crash and need a hard reboot. You only need to worry if it starts crashing a lot.

Windows PCs (which is probably what you've got if you have a Lenovo Thinkpad) do need to be shut down and restarted every so often. Operating systems have changed a lot since 2000, and the wear and tear on the electronics is less of an issue now than the perpetual accretion of digital cruft that gums up the works if you don't restart your computer every so often. Not every day, but every week would probably be smart. Possibly the crash was the result of some digital cruft gumming up some digital cog.

[Parasaurolophus]

Yes, it will take hours to run down the battery. You can remove the battery, however. There should be a toggle under the laptop which will allow you to do so. With the battery removed, and disconnected from the power supply, it will power down immediately.

You can also try a hard reset, as ergative suggested, by holding down the power button for a few seconds, until the thing turns off.

It sounds like it may have powered up in safe mode, in which case the mouse is probably disabled when you're on the blue screen. If that's what happened, it sometimes happens when you power up with a USB key in one of the drives (otherwise, yeah, crashes happen). Use your arrow keys to navigate, and the 'enter' button to select a command. One of the options there should be to shut down or restart.

[Harlow2]

Agree with Hegemony. Not a PC user, but the university requires us to restart computers at least once a month so that any updates on our work computers get installed; like you, I never think to restart unless something freezes or I get the reminder from our IT folks.

Re Parasaurolophus's comment: Long ago I had an old Mac that was periodically wonky; IT suggested removing the battery and letting the computer sit for 15 minutes or so and then reinstalling the battery and restarting the computer. Worked like a charm

[clean]

Make sure that you have either an automatic back up system (some cloud thing), or an external hard drive.... AND USE IT!!  (I had an external hard drive, but didnt bother to take the time to use it and lost it all (until I spent a fortune to have my hard drive partially retrieved) 

Computers are cheaper now.  IF they break, you essentially need to buy a new one.  But a new one does not restore the data unless you have REGULARLY backed up the old one! 

You should regularly be rebooting your computer.  Some of the files need to restart to update the operating files. 

Also, make sure that you have a good virus preventing software. 

Finally, IF you are leaving it plugged in  all of the time, make sure that you have a surge protector to keep the electronics safe (Including TVs and other such things!  I also use a battery back up for my TV and Direct TV devices, as well as my router.  These provide power should there be a brownout or power flash.  (If the direct TV, for instance, loses power even for a second, it can take 30 minutes for it to reload and reattach to the network... this keeps everything up and running for at least 1/2 an hour ... long enough for me to log in to the power provider to see the problem and get estimates of the time to repair)

[Mobius]

Lenovo is a company, just like Dell and HP. ThinkPad is a brand that has had several owners, including IBM. I don't know why the instructor said to leave a computer running. You really needed to reboot daily back then for a few technical reasons that aren't important to get into too much detail. Suffice to say, I worked for a Microsoft contractor in 2000 providing technical support for Windows 95, 98, and Me, and you know what the first option always is?

"Did you turn it off and turn it back on?"

Windows 10 and 11 are very stable, but again, if anything goes wrong, reboot.

[kaysixteen]

OK, but reboot is *not the same* as turn it *all the way off* and then back on, right?

[Puget]

OK, but reboot is *not the same* as turn it *all the way off* and then back on, right?

Yes it is--it just saves you a step of turning it back on as it automatically turns it back on for you if you select restart/reboot rather than shut down.  In cases where it freezes or you get the blue screen of death, you can usually fix it by doing a hard reboot (pressing the power button until it turns off, then turning it back on).

[kaysixteen]

Thanks, and thanks again to all here.   Your comments also agree with what a buddy of mine who is a comp sci teacher says.   I am tech-deficient/ illiterate, and sometimes slow on the uptake.   But I can get with the program.