Vibrations Damage Computer Parts?

[Roachmon95]

Hi everyone,

This is my first thread on this forum. I have what may seem like a dumb questions, but it’s been on my mind nonetheless.

I built my new computer a couple weeks ago, and I’m loving it. However, I’m a drummer and my computer is in the same room as my drums. I noticed if I play my drums, the vibrations will sometimes wake my monitor up from sleep. It got me wondering if the vibrations from playing would hurt my computer parts. The room is 12 feet by 12 feet BTW. If any one has an answer, it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[mikeymikec]

My first guess is that you haven't switched off the setting that allows your computer to be woken by your mouse.

Device Manager > Mice > right-click on mouse > properties > last tab on right, untick 'allow this device to wake up the computer'.

As for your main question, I'm sure that beyond a level of vibration is unhealthy, especially for say a hard drive, but if the computer is in sleep mode then most of it is switched off including the hard drive.

What the unhealthy level of vibration is I'm not sure, but if I had to guess, if glasses vibrate on the surface they're sitting on then a running hard drive probably won't like it much, but I doubt that drumming would cause that level of vibration.

 

[Mr Evil]

High levels of vibration can shake connectors and screws loose, and even cause fatigue in solder joints. I expect it will be fine though. After all, the electronics in things like audio amplifiers survive near extremely loud drums for years, and there are computers that live in places like cars where they are subject to much worse.

 

[HutchinsonJC]

I'm pretty sure you can't snare drum or cymbal hard enough to bother a computer's hard drive, but toms might, over time, depending on how close the computer is to the drum set, and the activity of the computer while you're drumming, but honestly I'm not sure.

I've watched my fair share of drum covers, and the computer setups for recording the audio that you can catch in the footage range from laptops to desktops. Might be a good idea to ask someone like Matt Mcguire, Casey Cooper, or one of the other youtube drummers and see if you can't get an opinion from them since they've done it for years.

 

[bononos]

.......
I built my new computer a couple weeks ago, and I’m loving it. However, I’m a drummer and my computer is in the same room as my drums. I noticed if I play my drums, the vibrations will sometimes wake my monitor up from sleep. It got me wondering if the vibrations from playing would hurt my computer parts. The room is 12 feet by 12 feet BTW. If any one has an answer, it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

To stop your computer from waking up, change the power management setting under settings-> device manager-> mouse->properties. What happens is that the drumming is moving the mouse slightly which causes the pc to wake up. I think some mouse models can only wake windows from sleep only by clicking and not movement.

Excessive vibration may not be good for mechanical harddrives under operation. Not sure what you can do in that situation. Heard some people put silicone shims do dampen vibration and maybe put your pc on a rubber mat used in gyms.

 

[Roachmon95]

Would those foam pads that you put under speakers help at all? I'm probably just being OCD about the whole thing. I can literally stand an action figure up on top of my computer case without it falling down while i'm playing my drums. I'd just hate to shell out all this money and then end up ruining anything. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It is probably vibrating the mouse just enough to wake it. It does not take much to do that, sometimes just walking near a computer might be enough.

It may potentially be problematic for the hard drive but it's probably fine. If you're really worried you could look at using rubber bands or something to add some vibration dampening to the hard drive. if it's a SSD then don't worry. I would not worry too much about the other parts. Though anything can fail over time from fatigue but chances are it won't happen in the life of the computer, not like you're drumming 24/7, and even then.

I have seen some specific situations where a very powerful fan is causing enough vibration to cause a HDD to not be usable though. It didn't damage it, it just caused tons of read errors to the point that the system would not boot.

 

[Roachmon95]

I bought some rubber feet that are designed to reduce vibration of heavy appliances. Hopefully that helps. What exactly would be considered an unhealthy level of vibration? I can set a funko pop figure on top of the case without it falling while I’m playing, it does “walk” a tad though. I’m probably just being OCD, but I don’t want to ruin anything.

 

[richaron]

I bought some rubber feet that are designed to reduce vibration of heavy appliances. Hopefully that helps. What exactly would be considered an unhealthy level of vibration? I can set a funko pop figure on top of the case without it falling while I’m playing, it does “walk” a tad though. I’m probably just being OCD, but I don’t want to ruin anything.

I'd be most worried about any spinning hard drive(s). If you're all ssd then I wouldn't worry too much. Sure stuff might wobble or loosen in their plugs/slots but the connections are usually sprung, and screws would have to unscrew a whole bunch before stuff falls apart.

But it's the moving stuff with bearings I'd worry about. Fans can be replaced easily enough and have hella loose tolerances anyway. Not hdd's. If you're super paranoid you can move your storage hdds to an external usb enclosure and hang it somewhere by an elastic band or something...? Or put your spinner on a network host (even a router's usb port)?