History Main / HaveYouTriedRebooting

* Hilariously, a simple system restore was the solution to a ship-threatening alien program in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. In the future, we apparently won't remember the purpose of protected backup archives. It took Data doing the same thing as a natural function of his programming (Soong was CrazyPrepared like that) to remind Geordi.
** Ridiculously, this was the solution to another ship-threatening problem in ''StarTrekEnterprise''. When Klingons sabotage the computer running the warp core, Trip restarts it to restore the computer to default settings. The ridiculous part is that the ship was stuck in '''MAXIMUM WARP''' at the time, and they were restarting the ''ENGINE''.

* In ''JurassicPark'' after the computer system locks out the operators, it is suggested they try restarting it entirely.

* The BullshitMan [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV0M9_NwMHY tries this on his printer]] when it won't print. It doesn't work.

-->-- [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Actual]] call between a customer and tech support.

-->-- Actual call between a customer and tech support.

** Speaking as a Customer Service Rep; this also applies to cable television, phones, and modems.

** Speaking as a lifelong computer engineer, this is the first step in ''shoddy'' troubleshooting, made necessary by poorly designed, hastily implemented, and inadequately tested systems and software, aggravated by the intense pressure to reduce customer-service costs in an explosively growing field. In short, it's merely the best start that can be managed for incredibly complex systems with few support resources. But it's frequently much faster than proper troubleshooting, and often works, at least short term.
*** Speaking as a Technical Support/Helpdesk Agent, this is the standard early step in troubleshooting precisely because it's much faster than proper troubleshooting. Most average computer users will not know how to debug the registry or kill specific processes, but will be able to hold in a power button for a few seconds. It doesn't confuse or frustrate the caller and doesn't require a technician dispatched.
*** As someone who has also spent plenty of time troubleshooting issues, one may be surprised at exactly how often this does "fix" things. While it won't actually fix the root cause, various issues involving program memory leaks, stuck processes, quirky drivers, and "stuck" logic would automatically be corrected on a restart. Depending on whether the issue returns immediately after restarting, to many months, dictates the elevation of troubleshooting. However, as a first step - it's usually much more efficient than having to walk someone through finding the appropriate process/driver and killing/restarting it.
** More retail-based tech support monkeying here, and depending on the issue, rebooting is definitely a viable potential first candidate. "Depending on the issue" is where the problems start, of course (when the presentation of the issue is a whiny customer whose description is "it doesn't work", you're limited on things to go on). There's also the fact that it's useful as a quick fix that can leave the customer with a working computer and leave you to get on with the rest of the queue.

* Apollo 12 came very close to an abort when it was hit twice by [[LightningCanDoAnything lightning]] during launch, which resulted in the telemetry failure of the Command Module's computer entirely, giving both all three astronauts aboard and Mission Control blank screens. Flight Controller John Aaron remembered the pattern of system failure from a previous test and gave instruction on switching "SCE to Aux" which rebooted the telemetry data off of a backup power supply. For this Apollo 12 carried out the mission successfully, and John Aaron was given the highest unofficial award NASA has: being called a "[[ChuckYeager Steely eyed]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname missile man]]".

* ''{{Series/Babylon 5}}'': Done along with resetting the command codes as a precaution after the station [[spoiler: seceded from the Earth Alliance]]. Unexpectedly, this ''caused'' a minor problem in the form of the activation of the station's dormant ([[RememberTheNewGuy and long-forgotten]]) AI. The station's dormant, long-forgotten, and ''[[AIIsACrapShoot very obnoxious]]'' AI, which they had to spend the rest of the episode [[WhatMeasureIsANonhuman disabling]].

* ''Series/Babylon5'': Done along with resetting the command codes as a precaution after the station [[spoiler: seceded from the Earth Alliance]]. Unexpectedly, this ''caused'' a minor problem in the form of the activation of the station's dormant ([[RememberTheNewGuy and long-forgotten]]) AI. The station's dormant, long-forgotten, and ''[[AIIsACrapShoot very obnoxious]]'' AI, which they had to spend the rest of the episode [[WhatMeasureIsANonhuman disabling]].

* ''TheITCrowd'': "[[CatchPhrase Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?]]"
* ''TheBigBangTheory'': Howard has a prototype robotic arm grabbing him by the... let's just say it's somewhere personal, and is sent to the hospital. The nurse asks if they tried turning the computer controlling the arm off and then on again, and while Howard loudly objects to the idea, the nurse does just that and the arm lets go.

* The Blues in ''RedVsBlue'' have apparently used this technique a few times.

* ''SouthPark'': When the internet stops and plunges the world into chaos, Kyle travels to the center of the internet, where he finds that it's a giant router. He simply unplugs it and plugs it back in, and the internet is up and running again.

-->-- [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Actual]] call between a customer and tech support.

[[AC: Web Original]]

** Speaking as a lifelong computer engineer, this is the first step in ''shoddy'' troubleshooting, made necessary by poorly designed, hastily implemented, and inadequately tested systems and software, aggravated by the intense pressure to reduce customer-service costs in an explosively growing field. In short, it's merely the best start that can be managed for incredibly complex systems with few support resources. But it's frequently much faster than proper troubleshooting, and often works.

** Speaking as a lifelong computer engineer, this is the first step in ''shoddy'' troubleshooting, made necessary by poorly designed, hastily implemented, and inadequately tested systems and software, aggravated by the intense pressure to reduce customer-service costs in an explosively growing field. In short, it's merely the best start that can be managed for incredibly complex systems with few support resources. But it's frequently much faster than proper troubleshooting, and often works.

Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: "You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong."\\

-->-- AI Koan

-->-- Actual call between a customer and tech support.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Burning_Computer_6942.jpg]]

* ''TheITCrowd'': "Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?"