Remover Power Supply during Hibernation or Hybrid Sleep?

Hello all,

I have 3 questions regarding putting a PC into a lower energystate.

1. Can the PC be damaged if I turn off and remove the Power Supply and opening the case to clean the PC, while the PC is in Hibernation Mode instead of having it fully shut down?

2. I've seen in the energy options that there is a Hybrid Sleep state as well. How can I determine if my PC is in Hibernation or in Hybrid Sleep mode? I usually select the option in the start menu Power icon, but since the language is in Dutch, I'm not sure which is which. I can press a key on the keyboard to turn the PC back on if that info is of any use.

3. If my PC is in Hybrid Sleep mode, will it do any damage to the PC if I remove the power supply, open the case and clean the PC?

Either will be OK as both hybrid sleep and hibernation write contents of RAM to disk. Hybrid sleep keeps contents in RAM as well - that is the difference.

These pictures might help: Comparing Sleep, Hibernation, and Hybrid Sleep on Windows - TekRevue

I'd unplug it from the wall before opening the case anyway though.

lx07 said:

Either will be OK as both hybrid sleep and hibernation write contents of RAM to disk. Hybrid sleep keeps contents in RAM as well - that is the difference.

These pictures might help: Comparing Sleep, Hibernation, and Hybrid Sleep on Windows - TekRevue

I'd unplug it from the wall before opening the case anyway though.

Thanks for the reply. I've indeed found that article before. But, if Hybrid Sleep still uses RAM while RAM needs power, how can it be ok to turn off the power supply during that mode?

Josey Wales said:

You can't. Once you remove the power supply anything in memory vanishes? Nothing will happen if you just turn your PC off and the clean it.

In that case, it shouldn't also be a problem if you remove the power supply during a normal sleep state?

Wouldn't that be a risk to corrupt or damage the RAM memory?

JohnnyGui said:

...if Hybrid Sleep still uses RAM while RAM needs power, how can it be ok to turn off the power supply during that mode?

Because Hybrid Sleep has two copies of the RAM data - one in the RAM itself, the other written to disk. It uses the RAM if available, or restores the RAM from disk if not. The key line in the article is...

When enabled, hybrid sleep writes active data to the hard drive (like hibernation), but also maintains low levels of power to RAM (like standard sleep). This allows a user to wake the computer quickly, but also protects user data with a copy on the hard drive in the event of a power failure.

Bree said:

Because Hybrid Sleep has two copies of the RAM data - one in the RAM itself, the other written to disk. It uses the RAM if available, or restores the RAM from disk if not.

That clears it up. So if I understand correctly, it shouldn't be a risk of RAM damage if I remove the power supply while RAM is receiving power? The same thing happens if you completely shut down the pc?

JohnnyGui said:

That clears it up. So if I understand correctly, it shouldn't be a risk of RAM damage if I remove the power supply while RAM is receiving power? The same thing happens if you completely shut down the pc?

That's right. When the power is lost the contents of the RAM are lost. It doesn't damage it.

When you restart if it was in Hybrid Sleep it will see the RAM is empty and restore the contents from the disk.

If it was in Sleep there would be nothing in RAM and nothing to restore from disk so it would do a cold boot which probably wouldn't damage anything (certainly not hardware). You would however lose what you were doing and could potentially corrupt Windows although it never happened to me.

Do unplug it from the wall though - don't just open the case and remove the power supply with it still plugged in to the mains.

lx07 said:

That's right. When the power is lost the contents of the RAM are lost. It doesn't damage it.

When you restart if it was in Hybrid Sleep it will see the RAM is empty and restore the contents from the disk.

If it was in Sleep there would be nothing in RAM and nothing to restore from disk so it would do a cold boot which probably wouldn't damage anything (certainly not hardware). You would however lose what you were doing and could potentially corrupt Windows although it never happened to me.

Do unplug it from the wall though - don't just open the case and remove the power supply with it still plugged in to the mains.

Thanks for clearing this up lx07. I always unplug everything from the wall and discharge myself before cleaning it, thanks for the advice nonetheless.