XXHighEnd

I like to leave NOS1 and PC on all the time but if something can wrong it will & it will happen to me  :(.  The NOS1 sound card can become toast with PC off & DAC on (i.e. on resumption of power after a power outage). So I set my PC to auto re-boot following a power failure. This should sort the problem shouldn't it?. Well I tried it and mostly it did. BUT about 1 in 4 times the PC hung when loading the BIOS. I could not see a way to fix this with total confidence so I made a "NOS1 insurance box". This is a very simple latch - so if the mains fails then power stays off until I reset it by pushing the red button on the box. 

The downside? - there is an additional contact in the mains supply but a good quality heavy duty relay helps. Also the inductance of the relay coil across the mains supply is not desirable *maybe*. Well I listened and I cannot hear any difference. So it stays, it is very, very simple and for the cost of a switch, a relay and a box I can now sleep easy at night  :).

It should really be stated that whilst this is very simple it should be done by a competent electrical person  :(.

P

I live in a suburban area in Bangkok where short power black out is very common. At least twice a week in the rainy season. To protect the potential hardware damage on my PC running XXHE and NOS, both are powered by 1.5 KVA true on line UPS located outside the listening room. This is expensive but a safer insurance.
I run both 7/24 without problem. 
Praphan

Nice ...

But two things :

1. The "toast" has never been prooven (but, I say it's not good);
2. From the moment on you hear the beep from the PC (which is before the BIOS jumps in, so to speak) all is fine.

Peter

I look for the light on the sound card (dull red glow on the card can be seen looking in through the left side grill) and on my set up that comes on when the W7 login screen appears. Is that not right?

All the best

P

It's the other way around Paul;
With PC Off look for the light to be On (this is not necessarily the case and would imply the "wrong" situation). Once you see that light On, switch on the PC, and in fact immediately it will go Off (even before the beep I think).

Whether it was On or Off with the PC off, from the moment on you prooved to yourself it's Off again all is right. So, only when the PC is completely dead (which is a small amount of time during a reboot) the light *can* be off and then it's wrong.

Well, is this confusing ot is it ! :)

All it needs for your proof is to have it On while the PC is off (just shut down and if necessary switch On/Off the DAC to get the light On), so you can check the moment it goes off again.

Peter

Well that is strange (and you are right confusing !! ) it does not sound to be the same that I see. I just double checked mine as follows (and the following happens 100% every time):

With DAC on & PC on  -  sound card dull red light (inside the DAC on the sound card) is on
Switch PC off the red light goes off just as PC powers down
Boot up PC (DAC still on) red light comes on JUST before the login screen appears (just as the W7 "trumpets" sound)
Then red light stays on all the time whilst PC on and DAC on.

Or Peter are you saying that if the red light stays on when the PC is off then that is wrong and a potential "toast situation". Or in other words if the above happens then is that OK and there will be no problems with toasted (potentially) sound card (ie providing the light goes out). Actually I am getting confused I need a drink.

Paul 

I *had* that drink, so how to say it ... :)

>With DAC on & PC on  -  sound card dull red light (inside the DAC on the sound card) is on

Ok.

>Switch PC off the red light goes off just as PC powers down

The wrong situation.
But, no big deal, as long as you reboot after that.

>Boot up PC (DAC still on) red light comes on JUST before the login screen appears (just as the W7 "trumpets" sound)

That's good.

>Then red light stays on all the time whilst PC on and DAC on.

Also good.

>Or Peter are you saying that if the red light stays on when the PC is off then that is wrong and a potential "toast situation".

Nope. That's just the forever allowed situation.

>Actually I am getting confused I need a drink.

Correct.

Paul, boozer, don't worry. That fact that you don't get this doesn't imply that you didnt arranged for it already. You did.
But get a good brand of whiskey. Really.
haha

Mmmm so before I go for that bottle of brandy (and this question is just out of interest really): -

With the DAC on & PC on you say that if I then power down the PC and the red light in the DAC stays on then that would be a good thing so why does it never happen in my set up?  Is it a random thing?

I think I really need that brandy now  :)

Paul

Same here. Turn off the PC and the red DAC light goes off. I turn off my PC and DAC every night. Once, I turned off the PC but forgot to turn the DAC off and left it on all night. Freaked me out, but all was okay.

That how it looks to us, yes. But it also varies over cards. Some will nicely stay On always, some will never go On, most go then On then Off.

The point is that the card isn't made for being without PC control. But this *is* what we do when we shut off the PC (and let the DAC/card on).

When it's under its own control properly, the light is On. The confusing part is about the startup stage. Then the PC shuts it off (totally harmless now) because it can't have the drivers loaded yet. When it has, the PC turns the card on again.
And when no drivers are there yet at all (very first time), the light stays Off. Again harmless, because under control.