Like MrSmith said, it definitely wouldn't cause software issues, though it could cause hardware issues that appear to be software related. Unlike MrSmith said, I think poor quality electricity can "jump" the power adapter/supply and damage other components, especially if the adapter/supply is itself of low quality. But yeah, the power adapter for a laptop or power supply unit in a desktop would likely be the first part to go.

And I wouldn't be too worried about the voltage being too high, because if it were there would probably be trouble with more than just computers. Voltage that is too low would be more of a concern, because some devices have to draw more current to satisfy their power requirements, and more current generates more heat. Even so, a steady supply of somewhat low voltage probably wouldn't be too much of a problem, either. If the voltage isn't steady, that could possibly shorten the life of a lot of electronics as they go through more thermal cycles.

Or I could just be talking out of my arse.

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Posted by jose

Houma

Member since Feb 2009

28740 posts

Posted on 3/4/15 at 4:00 pm to Korkstand

quote:
If the voltage isn't steady, that could possibly shorten the life of a lot of electronics as they go through more thermal cycles.

I'm not tech savvy by any means, nor do I truly understand what you mean by thermal. But I do notice that my computer does remain pretty warm and seems to be making lots of noise sometimes. When this happens, I always try to see what programs are running and shut some down trying to lower the demand.

But based on what you are all saying, is it safe to assume that the voltage could be the reason we are all having computer problems?

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Posted by ILikeLSUToo

Central, LA

Member since Jan 2008

18018 posts

Posted on 3/4/15 at 4:09 pm to Korkstand

quote:
I think poor quality electricity can "jump" the power adapter/supply and damage other components, especially if the adapter/supply is itself of low quality.

This is true. Some of them have few or no protection circuits. Ideally, a good quality power supply/adapter, makes dirty power invisible to the user, and worst case scenario OPP/OCP will kick in and shut it off or kill it. But a shitty unit will just as easily continue to heat up for a while until it dies, possibly taking a few components with it. A capacitor on the unit could die at any time, and more noise/fluctuations would be allowed to bypass the unit and stress the hell out of voltage regulators on the motherboard.

Not at all common, since ideally the point of the power adapter/power supply is to prevent this, but you have to consider that $300-500 laptops (and up) don't exactly ship with high-end adapters designed with the absolute worst-case scenarios in mind.

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