Dave Horne Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 My previous computer was bought in 1999 and had Windows 98 as the OS. I stumbled across this feature on my new computer (preloaded with Vista) ... you can change the function of the on/off button on your 'tower'. You can set it to sleep, off or do absolutely nothing. This isn't exactly earth shattering but still new to me. The thought just now occured to me - if I have the button set to do nothing and shut the computer off via the mouse and screen, will the button work to turn the computer on? No guitarists were harmed during the making of this message. In general, harmonic complexity is inversely proportional to the ratio between chording and non-chording instruments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzed Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 Yes. Also, it's not exactly a new feature of Vista. It was a new hardware feature that became widespread maybe around 2000. It's called "soft power". If the machine is absolutely frozen, no matter what the button's function is set to, you can override it by pressing and holding the power button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matted stump Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I love power buttons that are not hard. NOT!!! Sometimes I have a machine lock up so hard that you can't get control again until you pull the plug. Or, in the case of a laptop, yank the power adapter AND the battery. Moe --- "I keep wanting to like it's sound, but every demo seems to demonstrate that it has the earth-shaking punch and peerless sonics of the Roland Gaia. " - Tusker http://www.hotrodmotm.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K K Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Hahahaha, I know what you mean. :grin: IMO, nothing will ever replace a good, old and entirely hardware SPST on/off switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botch Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I love power buttons that are not hard. NOT!!! Ditto. The first time I tried to turn off my crashed Wintel machine at work, and it wouldn't respond to a hardware switch, was not a comfortable feeling. I'm glad I didn't have my pistol with me at the time. Botch In Wine there is Wisdom In Beer there is Freedom In Water there is bacteria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Pierce Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 The soft power buttons will almost always respond to pressing and holding the power button for 4-5 seconds. I've seen exceptions to this, but VERY rarely. Typically the BIOS is set to respond to the 4-second hold, regardless of what's happening in the OS. If your system doesn't respond to this when crashed, a BIOS upgrade will probably fix that. --Dave Make my funk the P-funk. I wants to get funked up. My Funk/Jam originals project: http://www.thefunkery.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b3_john Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 The soft power buttons will almost always respond to pressing and holding the power button for 4-5 seconds. +1! GP sacred cow of the year: Jimmy Vaughan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clifton Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 The soft power buttons will almost always respond to pressing and holding the power button for 4-5 seconds. I've seen exceptions to this, but VERY rarely. Typically the BIOS is set to respond to the 4-second hold, regardless of what's happening in the OS. If your system doesn't respond to this when crashed, a BIOS upgrade will probably fix that. --Dave Exactly, I thought everybody knew that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matted stump Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 "Almost always respond - "almost" being the operative word here. As a developer on Windows running Microsloth Development Studio, I can assure you it is not that hard to lock up a box so hard that soft resets do not work, no matter how long you hold them down. Moe --- "I keep wanting to like it's sound, but every demo seems to demonstrate that it has the earth-shaking punch and peerless sonics of the Roland Gaia. " - Tusker http://www.hotrodmotm.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 (edit) someone beat me to it. A bunch of loud, obnoxious music I USED to make with friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzed Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 "Almost always respond - "almost" being the operative word here. As a developer on Windows running Microsloth Development Studio, I can assure you it is not that hard to lock up a box so hard that soft resets do not work, no matter how long you hold them down. But after holding the button down for a set length of time, the BIOS should basically trigger a hard-reset, regardless of the OS state. If that isn't working, you probably have a BIOS issue. It would be nice if computers had both a soft and hard switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matted stump Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I understand what you are saying. Nevertheless, on a Windows development machine which runs debuggers which actually hook into the OS call chain, it is indeed possible to lock things up so that the bios reset routine never gets called. Moe --- "I keep wanting to like it's sound, but every demo seems to demonstrate that it has the earth-shaking punch and peerless sonics of the Roland Gaia. " - Tusker http://www.hotrodmotm.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzed Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Wow, didn't know that. Rephrasing, it would really be nice if computers had both a soft and hard switch. Then again, I've never personally run into that situation before, but the fact that it can happen is a bit of a problem. You shouldn't ever have to unplug a computer to reboot the thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K K Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Imagine when HAL-9000 will be available to buy at the computer store. We won't have control on anything anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Pierce Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 "Almost always respond - "almost" being the operative word here. As a developer on Windows running Microsloth Development Studio, I can assure you it is not that hard to lock up a box so hard that soft resets do not work, no matter how long you hold them down. As a long-time Operations guy, you'd think I'd know by now -- never underestimate the ability of developers to hork boxen. --Dave Make my funk the P-funk. I wants to get funked up. My Funk/Jam originals project: http://www.thefunkery.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 BTW - as to the failed soft reset problem... I strongly suggest SLEDGE/MAUL, version 10# or higher, for the particularly stubborn lockups. A bunch of loud, obnoxious music I USED to make with friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matted stump Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 As a long-time Operations guy, you'd think I'd know by now -- never underestimate the ability of developers to hork boxen. --Dave Yes, we are the champions. Well, except for our 2 year old kids. Moe --- "I keep wanting to like it's sound, but every demo seems to demonstrate that it has the earth-shaking punch and peerless sonics of the Roland Gaia. " - Tusker http://www.hotrodmotm.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Many computers do have a hard switch in addition to the soft switch. The hard switch, if there, will be on the back and close to the power supply fan. The main idea behind the soft switch is to avoid killing the power during a HD write. Doing so can corrupt what ever sector is being written. If it happens to be the directory you are screwed. That is why I like the soft switch. Robert This post edited for speling. My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Oh, about the comment on the laptop and having to pull the battery. Many laptops have a reset button on the bottom. It will look like a small hole that you can stick a paper clip in. On Toshibas this even works in some cases when pulling the battery does not help. This post edited for speling. My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real MC Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 you can change the function of the on/off button on your 'tower'. You can set it to sleep, off or do absolutely nothing. The thought just now occured to me - if I have the button set to do nothing and shut the computer off via the mouse and screen, will the button work to turn the computer on? No, but the button will turn off your significant other. No matter what you set the button to do, it will not turn her on. Doing so is dangerous as it would spawn child processes. Yes I am at work :grin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K K Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/2053/HAL.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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