Restarting time for all pc's?

[mikehende]

How would you know how long to wait before "manually" restarting "any" pc? I remember reading an article in the past about certain "older" pc's components having to get "cooled" before restarting or you risk damaging the pc, also, a Dell tech once told me to wait at least 10 seconds before manually restarting a pc so my question is, when you come across different pc's, how would you know how long to wait before you can safely manually restart?

[Terry Hanushek]

Mike

I assume you are asking about the time between a computer is stopped and is subsequently restarted (as opposed to the use of the reset button). I have always considered it good practice to leave the machine sit until the hard drive(s) completely stop spinning. I have never attempted to quantify the time but your ten seconds seems in the ball park, perhaps a bit more. I tend to be cautious and give the machine plenty of time to come to a complete stop.

HTH

Terry

[dbarrow]

It would be hard to imagine any detrimental effects...
All mobos come with a reset button
The OS has a restart function
A 'hot' reboot is so quick there is no power interruption so drives don't spin down, capacitors don't have to build up, and voltages adjust. Probably less component stress from a hot restart.

[mikehende]

As far as I can tell Terry, this issue seems to be more "opinion" than fact as everyone seems to be telling me something different, some say it makes absolutely no difference if you don't wait a single second, others have varing times that they wait, I think I too will continue to wait 10 seconds before pressing the power button unless someone shows me some fact that proves the opposite, thanks for the input.

[mikehende]

Oh sorry DBarrow, guess you made your post a split-second before mine. I see your point now, hmnn, so I am back to square one?:confused:

[kern]

heres an excerpt from the "Restarting the System" section of my NEC Notebook manual.

Note:
After installing a software application on your harddisk, you may be prompted to "restart the system" to load the changed operating environment. The preferred method is to select "Restart" from the Start Menu (this is known as a "Warm Boot"). *Warning*- Avoid turning off or resetting your Notebook while the harddisk is in use and the HDD status icon is lit; doing so can result in loss of your data. Always wait at least 5 seconds after "turning off" your notebook before tuning it back on; turning the power on and off in rapid succession can damage the Notebooks electrical circuitry.

[mikehende]

*Warning*- Avoid turning off or resetting your Notebook while the harddisk is in use and the HDD status icon is lit; doing so can result in loss of your data.

So this confirms what Terry is saying.

[dbarrow]

As would hitting power or reset while your desktop is "Saving your settings" while quitting Windows. This is the time frame where Windows saves any changes to several files including the REGISTRY. Cutting the process short before it is complete and the drive has written the files can result in lost data and BLOWN REGISTRY files.

There are MSKB articles detailing how to increase the shutdown delay to complete all processes and close all programs where there was a problem with some (particularly older) machines powering off before the task was done.

As to component stress...
There is a lot of voltage regulation, even though it only takes milliseconds, when you first power up. That is the most vulnerable period when under/over volting can stress a component until the power is stabilized.
Particularly noticible in the "Bad Cap" problem where faulty capacitors are responsible for voltage regulation on the mobo where the damaged capacitor is slow to reach its optimal state.

Rapid power off/power on cycles where these components have not de-energized can cause a release of residual current with too rapid power on cycle, again resulting in an overvolt.

Older hard drives required time to "park the heads" in a safe position on power down. I believe that condition still exists in notebook hd where they "park" for safe transport and movement. I don't know what that time requirement is but interrupting it could result in a head dive into the platter and a blown hd. Most notebooks caution about the shutdown and power off sequence.

Suffice to say... rapid punching of the reset button in a fit of rage can have devestating consequences!

If you do have to hit the reset to escape a frozen machine, do it as a last resort after trying ctrl-alt-del to open the Device Manager and trying to manually shut down a non-resonding program.
A BSOD has already aborted Windows so there is no shutdown sequence but if you have error reporting and mini-dump turned on, allow a few seconds to make sure they complete.

It only takes fractions of a second to scramble the file table or blow a few files while the machine is in this, the most vulnerable, shutdown period.

I would say that 90% of "no boot" problems are caused by incomplete shutdowns where the reg files get farkled by not completing the write process in which case, an image file and knowledge of how to repair blown reg files is your only salvation short of a repair install.

Another XP option and BIOS option to look at is restart after power failure. Default is to remain off after a power loss but you can set things to do a restart.
Considering that after a power interruption, as in lightning strike taking out the neighborhood, voltages are likely to be whacky for some time after power is restored with all kinds of up and down spikes ... as in the lights dimming and the TV image shrinking... and, high voltatge spikes are not uncommon until the power grid reacts and stabilizes.
A good power "conditioner" and regulator along with surge suppression is essential under these conditions.

APCs and backup power supplies may be a worthy investment as even the cheapest provide enough backup power for the machine to complete the shutdown writes and power off normally.

[mikehende]

wow, that's a lot of info, thanks. So I will wait the 10 seonds anytime I have to manually restart.

[Poconos]

Just looking at the issue from a power supply and on-board regulator design standpoint, it is always wise to wait for all circuits to discharge fully before restoring power. It all depends on the circuit design. With the over-voltage clamps in good designs, cycling power rapidly should be no problem. But who knows and why take a risk. If circuits haven't discharged completely when power is reapplied, wild voltage swings can occur. There are finite response times for active regulators. A ten second wait time should be plenty. In the UPS arena, I've rigged a simple relay on my UPS input that once the power is out and the batteries die, the UPS won't come on until I manually force it on. Without this, intermittant power restoration on dead batteries can cause several hits on the UPS and its load.
Al