History Main / HaveYouTriedRebooting

* An occasional bug on ThisVeryWiki will cause the "Random Trope" button to constantly redirect to this very page. Sadly, it's not a sign from the technology gods, rebooting the browser or the computer won't fix it.

* ''Fanfic/AllGuardsmenParty'': When the team discusses how to deal with a techpriest who nearly got them killed several times, another techpriest suggests turning him off an on again. [[DeadlyEuphemism With their laspistols]]. Turning him back on might be difficult, but it's worth a try.
* ''Fanfic/ImNobody'': When the computers in [[spoiler:Castle Oblivion]] mysteriously start rejecting the operator's inputs, [[spoiler:Kirux]] asks him why doesn't he simply turn it on and off. It should be noted that it's unclear if those computers can be turned off.

'''Roy:''' Hello, IT, have you tried turning it off and on again? Well have you tried sticking it up your arse!?\\

'''Roy:''' Have you finished that step? Well that step is very important, there's no way you can do the next step if you don't complete that step. So. Now. TURN IT BACK ON AGAIN! ''[slams phone down]''\\

** 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. However, Howard's main objection was that he could not be sure if the rebooted robot arm would release its grip first or if it would instead move while still holding on to the sensitive body part which could do serious injury to Howard.

* In "First Vacation" from ''Series/MrAndMrsSmith2024'', John as a NewhartPhoneCall with his mother, Denise, and after asking why she called three times asks if she's tried turning it off and then back on.

* This is actually how you reach the final level of ''VideoGame/XMen1993''. The X-Men will be met with Professor X, who tells the team how to finally escape the Danger Room by telling them to defeat and reset the computer putting them through the mess. Professor X points out specifically that ''you'' must be the one to reset the computer. Once you defeat Mojo, find the computer and destroy it, you must ''literally'' hit the reset button on your Sega Genesis to get to the next stage (lightly, not hard)
* When Estelle and Joshua reach Zeiss in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'', Tita is called away to help troubleshoot the Capel, but is unable to find the problem. However, after a city-wide blackout caused by the Black Orbment forces it to reboot, it works flawlessly.

'''Caboose:''' It was dark and I got to hold my breath. I'm pretty sure there was no side-effects.

** 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]].

* ''WebVideo/LinusTechTips'': Discussed in the ''Techquickie'' episode "[[https://youtu.be/Lish5QFp81E Why Does Rebooting Fix So Many Problems?]]" Linus explains that programs can experience errors they cannot fix by themselves, and that a computer might just get cluttered with processes after staying on a long time.

* 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.
* Possibly inspired by Tandem's example, the Minix 3 operating system does something similar for its system drivers -- network, file system, etc. [[http://www.minix3.org/docs/jorrit-herder/dsn-dccs07.pdf There's at least one report]] of the network driver being deliberately and repeatedly crashed ''during'' a file download. Worst-case slowdown was taking about a third longer than the no-crash case, and the repeated crashes and restarts didn't affect the file being download.

* 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.

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

--->'''Android 16''': Island: noun. Island: noun. Island...\\
'''Android 18''': Okay, we have got to get you fixed up.\\
'''Android 16''': Have you tried turning me off and on again?

* 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.
* Possibly inspired by Tandem's example, the Minix 3 operating system does something similar for its system drivers - network, file system, etc. [[http://www.minix3.org/docs/jorrit-herder/dsn-dccs07.pdf There's at least one report]] of the network driver being deliberately and repeatedly crashed ''during'' a file download. Worst-case slowdown was taking about a third longer than the no-crash case, and the repeated crashes and restarts didn't affect the file being download.

* A series of ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' strips had Dogbert working in tech support, and had several jokes based on the concept. In one strip, he advises the customer not just to restart the computer, but restart ''everything''. "Cancel your garbage service, renounce your citizenship, and yank out your phone." Another went like this:

* Referenced a few times with the Androids in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'':
** After 17 is first activated:
--->'''Android 17:''' See, every time you spoke I just kept hearing "Kill me! Kill me!" [[BlatantLies Probably an issue with my auditory.]]\\
'''Dr. Gero:''' Well, maybe you just needed to be turned off and then on again.\\
'''Android 17:''' Imagine that.
** After 16 has been badly damaged and has a giant hole in his head:
--->'''Android 16''': Island: noun. Island: noun. Island...\\
'''Android 18''': Okay, we have got to get you fixed up.\\
'''Android 16''': Have you tried turning me off and on again?
* In ''Fanfic/AllGuardsmenParty'', when the team discusses how to deal with a techpriest who nearly got them killed several times, another techpriest suggests turning him off an on again. [[DeadlyEuphemism With their laspistols]]. Turning him back on might be difficult, but it's worth a try.

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

* [[http://xkcd.com/806/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{Xkcd}}'' comic shows what happens if you take this too far. There ''are'' problems that can't be solved by rebooting.

* ''WebVideo/The8BitGuy'' brings this up a few times:

* 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...

* Being a very common real-life form of troubleshooting, this naturally became a part of the lexicon for early programmers. It was considered foolish to power-cycle something if you didn't know what was going on, but it was also absolutely essential at times when you ''did'' know what was going on. [[http://catb.org/jargon/html/koans.html#id3141171 Observe.]]

* Referenced and parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldofGumball'' episode "The Web", where Gumball and Darwin discover that the adults of Elmore are extremely incompetent when it comes to using modern technology. There is a specific instance when an office worker is talking to an IT employee on his phone about why his computer doesn't work. He says he ''already tried'' rebooting his computer, and after being lightly badgered by the IT guy says he'll try it again. He kicks his computer twice, therefore "re-booting" it in the most literal sense of the term. It still doesn't work.

* Referenced and parodied in "WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldofGumball" episode "The Web", where Gumball and Darwin discover that the adults of Elmore are extremely incompetent when it comes to using modern technology. There is a specific instance when an office worker is talking to an IT employee on his phone about why his computer doesn't work. He says he ''already tried'' rebooting his computer, and after being lightly badgered by the IT guy says he'll try it again. He kicks his computer twice, therefore "re-booting" it in the most literal sense of the term. It still doesn't work.

* ''Fanfic/ImNobody'': When the computers in [[spoiler:Castle Oblivion]] mysteriously start rejecting the operator's inputs, [[spoiler:Kirux]] asks him why doesn't he simply turn it on and off. It should be noted that it's unclear of those computers an be turned off.