# How long as your computer been running? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 20, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094 "2005-10-20T15:36:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Emilio\_Lizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Emilio\_Lizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilio_Lizardo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/1 "2005-10-20T15:36:42Z")
Scraping the bottom of the barrel in trivia here. According to the task manager, the Win XP box on my desk at home has been running for about 1130 hours since the last reboot. Can anyone beat that? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/2 "2005-10-20T15:48:57Z")
There are times when I could have easily beaten that – I probably reboot my computer at home four or five times a year at the most unless I’m in an upgrade mode. However, we had a thunderstorm out here earlier this week, so I had everything shut down. I’m at a paltry (approximately) 72 hours at the moment. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/3 "2005-10-20T17:10:22Z")
47 days without a reboot? Why aren’t you keeping up with the patches and updates? Aside from the reboots that come with most of the patches, the last time I actually took my main box at home down was for a five-hour power outage. Actually, the UPS brought it down after 20 minutes of running on battery. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/4 "2005-10-20T17:19:57Z")
Four hours, 20 minutes. We had a power failure here at work. My router at home has been up for 43 days. They have a server here at work that they just found out a month ago had been running, without rebooting or maintenance, for two and a half years… they’re kind of afraid to schedule any changes for it now, because they don’t know that it’ll start up again, or there might be a huge queue of changes lined up for the next time it reboots… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/5 "2005-10-20T17:25:11Z")
Our Iseries (AS400) midrange has been up for over 9 months and that was due to a long power outage. The Patches are applied live so we only bring it down for OP system (OS400) upgrades. I never let XP machines go longer than a week. I apply every patch. We have a 2000 machine that is off network and runs HVAC controls. It has been up since the power outage also. Don’t really care about patches on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/6 "2005-10-20T17:52:39Z")
Some friends of mine have a box that they maintain on the web just as kind of a hobby, and a place to login and chat and stuff. It currently reports that it has been up for 391 days. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/7 "2005-10-21T01:51:21Z")
> [@Emilio Lizardo](#): > > According to the task manager, the Win XP box on my desk at home has been running for about 1130 hours I’m running XP Pro and can’t find this info in my task manager… 😕 ---
**Author:** ![cat39645](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@cat39645](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cat39645)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/8 "2005-10-21T02:22:12Z")
What’s this reboot you speak of and how do I do it? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Eyed_Stranger)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/9 "2005-10-21T02:22:52Z")
```auto ~]$ uptime 21:18:46 up 81 days, 4:11, 2 users, load average: 0.71, 0.62, 0.65 ``` 2 1/2 months ago was prime thunderstorm season, so I probably shut it down then. GES ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/10 "2005-10-21T02:30:45Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > I’m running XP Pro and can’t find this info in my task manager… 😕 Argh, my virus software just updated itself and I had to reboot. So I’m still interested in where to find this info, but at this point the computer’s only been running for, like, 5 minutes. I only reboot for updates or blue screens (the latter, knock on wood, are actually few and far between). Sometimes I’ll take the computer down if I know that a big storm is coming through, but most of the time I leave 'er up (and pray that my firewall is as good as I think). ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/11 "2005-10-21T10:35:40Z")
The old Dynix Sequent ```auto $ uptime 10:58, up 111 days, 21:41, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 ``` Someone must have pulled out the wrong plug, It had been up for two or three years. It’s not a busy machine these days, as you can see. One of the Sun servers ```auto Sun Microsystems Inc. SunOS 5.8 Generic February 2000 wspsun:uptime 11:10am up 311 day(s), 23:52, 1 user, load average: 0.04, 0.03, 0.04 ``` I think everything was re-started after a power cut. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/12 "2005-10-21T14:02:05Z")
The home fileserver was up 72 days before I decided I wanted X11 on it and installed ubuntu. The iBook frequently goes several weeks at a time, but I get frequently impatient waiting for something that will, eventually, sort itself out if I give it enough time. Smoothwall has been up for 7 days, but that’s just becuase it’s newly replaced my home hardware firewall. I don’t bother checking the Windows box in the home office as it doesn’t get used much since I got the iBook. I guess the point is: Nothing has a killer uptime accrued, but I don’t forecast them rebooting in the next three months. (Well, the iBook’s seen three or four weeks at a time, but it’s not something I notice) ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/13 "2005-10-21T14:43:37Z")
Going by the “System Idle Process” and the corresponding CPU time, I’ve been up for 212 hours. On a work computer. I never turn it off. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/14 "2005-10-21T20:02:46Z")
Let me think. There was a power blackout in mid-September of 2003 , and then I shut it down on June 4th 2005 because I was moving, so that makes it approximately 1 year, seven months and change. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/15 "2005-10-21T20:06:52Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > Let me think. There was a power blackout in mid-September of 2003 , and then I shut it down on June 4th 2005 because I was moving, so that makes it approximately 1 year, seven months and change. Sod it. I forgot the hardware crash. That was in October of 2004. One year one month then. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/16 "2005-10-21T20:52:29Z")
According to the uptime monitor that constantly runs on my ObjectDesktop theme, my computer has been running for 147 hours. That’s nowhere near unusual. I think the longest I ever went between reboots with this machine was 45 days. I shut the computer down when I went on vacation, which ended the uptime. So, 45 days = 1080…so I’m close. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/17 "2005-10-21T20:56:34Z")
\*:: Ring :: :: Ring :: :: Ring ::\* **Emilio Lizardo** : Hello? Me: Is your computer running? **Emilio Lizardo** : Yes … Me: Well, you’d better catch it. I crack myself up. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/18 "2005-10-21T21:24:49Z")
At my previous job, one of the Unix servers went, at one point, past the 1000 **days** uptime mark :eek: (yes, I mean days. Nearly three years without rebooting) I think we rebooted it on principle the week after, just to make sure it could still cold-start if necessary… ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/19 "2005-10-22T08:49:00Z")
[http://en.uptime-project.net/](http://en.uptime-project.net/) ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094/20 "2005-10-23T05:10:52Z")
There was an IBM machine that was left running for [6 years](http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/legends/lost/index.html) because everybody forgot where it was located. I distinctly recall a router computer being lost at a university campus for over 10 years because someone inadvertantly walled it up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-as-your-computer-been-running/327094.md?page=2)