Tech Talk: Give Reboot Some Respect

Give Reboot Some Respect!

By Brian Boston

My wife made a point of showing me this recent Dilbert cartoon.

Dilbert makes a desperate plea based on his engineering expertise to Dogbert on the Tech Support phone line to not ask him to reboot the computer as part of the troubleshooting process … and Dogbert gleefully ignores the request.

Yes, it’s funny, especially the way Scott Adams writes it. And my wife thinks it’s funny too. It’s always good policy to agree with her.

However, I would have done exactly what Dogbert did. Okay, maybe not the “glee” part. I would have respectfully asked Dilbert to restart the system one more time, starting with something like “Please indulge me for a moment….”

Rebooting Reluctance is a State of Mind

People are people. Despite our titles, training, and proficiency, we are subject to “human nature.”  If there is a obvious way to shortcut a series of steps because they seem unnecessary or redundant to us, we will do it.

For most people, the necessary steps for good tech troubleshooting are a tiresome time-suck on their day. I am sure there many other things they either need or prefer to be doing, like dental work or unclogging drains.

Restarting the computer is sometimes my second step in the process of basic troubleshooting that starts just past that sad but necessary query, “is it plugged into a live power outlet or power strip?”  It’s too bad because rebooting and restarting really deserve more respect and some serious consideration.

Whether it’s a computer, smartphone, or today’s audio/video gear, don’t underestimate the power of pulling the plug. I had a client who mentioned a problem with his Blu-Ray player. It had become unresponsive to the remote control or to buttons on the device.

When we unplugged the player for about 10 seconds and plugged it in again, it started up just fine and has behaved well ever since.

Sometimes Hardware Gets Confused

“Confused,” while not an engineering term, describes for me a transient condition where hardware is unable to meet its design specifications. This temporary state makes a device unaware or unavailable for interaction with other hardware/ software components … or you.

Hardware awareness?  That doesn’t sound like traditional hardware behavior. It isn’t … at least the concept of hardware most people have.

Hardware Isn’t Just Hardware Anymore

Most device hardware or device components do contain traditional electrical hardware (switches, gates, motors, diodes, capacitors). However to meet our more sophisticated needs, additional components control these parts.

Chip-mounted “controllers” direct their more traditional cousins to perform necessary tasks. These controllers would have easily been considered computers on their own in earlier times.

As computers, controllers do need direction in the form of software instructions. Stored directly on the controller chip or another chip, these instructions are called firmware, since they do not disappear when power is removed.

You will find this new “smarter” hardware on nearly everything, from your computer’s video display and network routers to a microwave oven or your alarm clock.

The great thing about this hardware evolution is that the instructions can be modified and updated through firmware updates, allowing problems to be fixed or functionality to be improved. It also means that power fluctuations or environmental changes can temporarily “confuse” the set of instructions or the controller’s ability to respond to them.

“Powered Off” Isn’t the Same as No Power Applied

It was pretty novel when Westinghouse premiered their Instant-On TVs in the late sixes. TVs of that era used tube technology throughout. Since tubes took time to warm and become functional, it would often take a minute or two for the TV to display a picture.

Westinghouse got around this by have the “Off” button only reduce the current to the TV by 50%. The resulting tube warm up time was reduced substantially. The picture would appear as within a second or two instead of a minute or two.

Your electronic bill also increased by a proportion proportion. Some TVs also had what was called a “vacation switch” to reduce costs when the TV would not be in use for a while.

Today’s instant-on electronics use less power but with similar goals. It can also mean that clearing hardware confusion might not be possible until the the device is unplugged.

The Lingering Effects of an “Always On” World

Up to this point, we have been talking about confusion in the semi-smart hardware world. Today’s computers, smartphones, tablets, TVs and other more sophisticated devices are designed to always be on in some form.

Even when you tap the power button on your laptop, it’s likely programmed to either “sleep” (shut down most hardware but keep current work in memory) or “hibernate” (same as sleep except memory is saved to a large hibernation file on the hard drive).

Over time, the chance of subtle changes in the memory or memory image without the rejuvenating effect of a system restart increase, especially after a few weeks of a start up/sleep cycle. Some programs tolerate this well. Others may not release memory after it's used (known as a memory leak) or start behaving badly in other ways.

That is why I usually recommend a mix of sleeping and restarting for PC/Mac desktops and laptops to give you the benefits of both forms.

• Sleeping on a daily basis provides prompt access. It give you quick startup time, places you where you left off on the device and allows the device to wake up and receive necessary updates in a timely way. This can be done manually or automatically after a defined internal of no usage.
• Restarting once a week keeps the system stable and responsive. A restart insures that any transient problems associated with the environment, software or other less predictable factors are cleared.

Does Restart Correct All Hardware Confusion?

No it doesn’t. Restarting does not remove power from the system. It only flushes the system RAM memory and cannot be counted on to correct the more basic hardware confusion mentioned earlier.

Shutting down and unplugging are the most complete ways of clearing the confusion. Just make sure you follow those two steps in that order to minimize damage from a sudden loss of power.

So, the next time you are asked to restart, understand that in many ways it doesn’t have to be an ordeal, just the beginning of a thoughtful troubleshooting process.

Tech Talk goes on summer schedule

Speaking of next time, you won’t be seeing a Tech Talk next weekend. We are switching to a summer schedule for the next few months. Look for Tech Talk again in the next couple of weeks.

Do you have a follow up on this topic or technical question on that needs to be answered or explored? Please share it with me at brian@bostonlegacyworks.com. Your question may show up here on Tech Talk.