History Main / HaveYouTriedRebooting

See also CutTheJuice, the slightly more direct approach.

* Apollo 12 came very close to an abort when it was hit twice by [[LightningCanDoAnything lightning]] during launch, which resulted in the partial failure of the Command Module's computer, 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. The command was so obscure that the neither flight director, CAPCOM nor Mission Commander Pete Conrad even knew what it meant. Luckily Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean remembered it from a simulated test nearly a year prior. Apollo 12 carried out the mission successfully, and John Aaron was given the highest unofficial award NASA has: being called a "[[DangerDeadpan steely-eyed]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname missile man]]". The incident also proved the value of giving each stage of the Saturn V its own internal control computer. While the Command Module's nav system had no idea where the ship was (having been scrambled, but not damaged, by the surges of the strikes), the individual stage computers did their own jobs without difficulty and put the ship in orbit, where the crew was able to easily reset the nav system and proceed on schedule.

* Referenced in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'':
-->'''Android 17:''' See, every time you spoke I just kept hearing "Kill me! Kill me!" [[BlatantLies Probably an issue with my auditory.]]\\

* On the flipside, this is actually why Windows 10's Fast Startup option can cause so many problems, like the "90b system fan error" in HP Laptops, mounting problems with disk encryption, USB device errors, dual booting failures, can cause program installations or updates to fail, and even outright USB failure, just to name a few. Fast Startup is actually a form of hibernation where ram is dumped to a file and stored, so it can be reloaded when the computer turns on: this allows the system to just refresh itself with stored ram rather than reloading the kernel, drivers, and system state individually. The issue arises from incompatibility issues from devices and drivers which are expecting a proper cold boot and basically don't know what to do with the stored ram that's loaded up instead, in effect making it the computer version of someone telling you something so random and stupid you are [[MindScrew left unable to react]]. And, ironically, power-cycling your computer with a hard reset or by holding down the power button will fix it as both of these actually force a proper restart rather than loading from a ram dump. It's why, even in spite of the modest 30 seconds or so it saves you on startup, most computer experts recommend you turn it off.

* ''WebVideo/The8BitGuy'' brings this up a few times:
** One of the criticisms with modern-day computers as compared to the ones he grew up with like the UsefulNotes/Commodore64 evokes this when he describes how tech support back then was genuinely helpful and came from actual trained experts, while tech support today is incredibly unhelpful and comes from an untrained temp worker who can barely speak English and whose "help" is limited to more or less telling you to try rebooting, updating, and uninstalling software that didn't come with the computer.
** And again in his "Tales from Tech Support" video he recalls a co-worker who would basically do this to weasel out of any caller whose problem he couldn't fix. He'd advise them to do a defrag, run scandisk, and then reboot, and call back if it didn't work. Naturally it almost never did, but it would always be some ''other'' poor tech support guy who picked up when those customers called back more irate than ever. Naturally, this meant said co-worker would also take much more calls than the others since he was effectively shooing away people as quickly as possible, and he had the gall to [[MilesGloriosus brag about how much better at tech support he was than everyone else]].

* At least one manufacturer of highly-reliable computers in the 1980s, Tandem Computers, deliberately exploited this trope. [[https://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/tandem/TR-85.7.pdf As outlined here]], they observed that the vast bulk of software errors seen in actual use (more than 99%) were temporary and would go away when the original operation was retried - this happened automatically and at a very low level in the system. They also did something similar for their hardware, where 80-99% of hardware faults also showed themselves to be temporary and thus, go away when the original operation was retried.

* Done in a strip of ''Webcomic/LeagueOfSuperRedundantHeroes'' [[http://superredundant.com/?comic=779-hotline in order to bring a robotic soldier under control]].

* In the Website/CollegeHumor video "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX8yrOAjfKM The Matrix Runs On Windows XP]]", Morpheus orders the simulation to freeze during the training exercise -- but when he tries to ''un''freeze it...

* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', In the Episode "Solitudes", Carter reboots the Beta Gate's DHD to try and get a connection, which fails to her dismay. However, this causes a seismic vibration, which ultimately leads to her and Jack O'Neill being rescued by the SGC.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': This is the last step in resetting the command codes, which was needed after [[spoiler:the station seceded from the Earth Alliance]]. Unexpectedly, this ''caused'' a minor problem in the form of the activation of a long-forgotten, and completely obnoxious, personality program[[note]]voiced by Creator/HarlanEllison, in one of the show's more delightful {{truth in television}} moments[[/note]], which they had to spend the rest of the episode disabling. Special mention goes to Garibaldi getting so fed up with it he shoots the speaker in the elevator.

* On the flipside, this is actually why Windows 10's Fast Startup option can cause so many problems, like the "90b system fan error" in HP Laptops, mounting problems with disk encryption, USB device errors, dual booting failures, and even outright USB failure, just to name a few. Fast Startup is actually a form of hibernation where ram is dumped to a file and stored, so it can be reloaded when the computer turns on: this allows the system to just refresh itself with stored ram rather than reloading the kernel, drivers, and system state individually. The issue arises from incompatibility issues from devices and drivers which are expecting a proper cold boot and basically don't know what to do with the stored ram that's loaded up instead, in effect making it the computer version of someone telling you something so random and stupid you are [[MindScrew left unable to react]]. And, ironically, power-cycling your computer with a hard reset or by holding down the power button will fix it as both of these actually force a proper restart rather than loading from a ram dump. It's why, even in spite of the modest 30 seconds or so it saves you on startup, most computer experts recommend you turn it off.

* ''Film/Alien40thAnniversaryShorts''. In "Specimen", the botanical lab detects a biological contamination (a facehugger) and goes into LockDown with [[TrappedWithTheMonsterPlot Julie trapped inside]]. Dev reboots the system to unlock it, [[DarknessEqualsDeath turning off all the lights]].

Whenever technology misbehaves, restarting or power cycling it usually solves the problem. This is TruthInTelevision, as is explained [[http://www.howtogeek.com/173760/htg-explains-why-does-rebooting-a-computer-fix-so-many-problems/ here]].

* The Programmer from ''VideoGame/CitizensOfEarth'' can reboot ''his own body''. True enough to this trope, doing so will fix absolutely everything with him, giving him full restoration of HP and energy, removal of all debuffs, and even ressurecting him if he died between starting the reboot and completing it. The disadvantage of this skill is that Programmer becomes useless for the two turns it takes to reboot, and most battles (even boss battles) are rather short.

** A later episode has the team rigging a tape recorder to the phones where all callers are simply told to turn it off and then on again regardless of what the problem is.

* ''WebComic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal''

** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-08-08 Comic for 2013-08-08]]: Doesn't work so well when a robot tries it on a human. Turns out, if you turn one of those off (not talking about arousal this time), it won't start again at all.

-->'''Morpheus''': Unfreeze. ''(nothing happens)'' '''Unfreeze.''' ''(sighs)'' This happens fron time to time, go on without me. ''(angrily)'' Try Ctrl-Alt-Delete!

* Various [[GameBreakingBug Game-Breaking Bugs]] that freeze a game or otherwise cause problems can be overcome by restarting the system you're playing it on.

* Defibrillators work this way in reality. Instead of [[MagicalDefibrillator shocking a flatlining heart back to a pulse,]] defibrillators shock an arrhythmic heart into flatlining, then the operator either waits or uses CPR until the heart starts up again with a (hopefully) normal heartbeat.

* As with the movie, the ''Pinball/JurassicPark'' pinball has the "System Boot" mode, which requires the player to shoot Hammond's Bunker, Control Room, and the Power Shed to reboot the park's computer systems.