cortez
March 16th, 2008, 06:48 PM
I timed the shut off period that would allow XP to be unaffected by rebooting and with my time watch it was almost exactly 1 Second. In this second in which XP was shut off it went back on simply by flipping the switch back on and there was no "Dos" like screen (the safe mode menu) asking "how" I wanted to start XP due to an unexpected shutdown.
I have a 4X4 made-to-code steel-box outlet/switch setup for all my computer hardware and so can shut EVERYTHING OFF and ON instantaneously with it.
When I tried two seconds XP did not start up and needed to be rebooted, but with out any "safe screen" appearing and it worked fine as it did with the 1 second shut off.
To me this seems to indicate that a shut down rather than a restart is required when one wants to clear ram due to whatever cause would warrant it (many sources recommend 45 seconds minimum to clear ram, other more cautious sources recommend disconnecting the power cord or shorting out the double prongs on the power cord ).
For minor "refreshing" or clearing out a minor hang up it seems that a complete reboot with a minimum of 30 to 45 seconds should clear out ram for these purposes. Most capacitors on a computer should clear in this time frame.
The capacitors on the monitor are a different animal and they can hold a charge for many minutes but these do not affect the computer ram discharging.
Edit: Older TV sets can retain a charge in their main capacitor for hours and I presume many older monitors could as well (non LED types) so heads up when opening them. Some sets can store up to 25,000 volts so it is essential to drain the caps in these sets.
I have a 4X4 made-to-code steel-box outlet/switch setup for all my computer hardware and so can shut EVERYTHING OFF and ON instantaneously with it.
When I tried two seconds XP did not start up and needed to be rebooted, but with out any "safe screen" appearing and it worked fine as it did with the 1 second shut off.
To me this seems to indicate that a shut down rather than a restart is required when one wants to clear ram due to whatever cause would warrant it (many sources recommend 45 seconds minimum to clear ram, other more cautious sources recommend disconnecting the power cord or shorting out the double prongs on the power cord ).
For minor "refreshing" or clearing out a minor hang up it seems that a complete reboot with a minimum of 30 to 45 seconds should clear out ram for these purposes. Most capacitors on a computer should clear in this time frame.
The capacitors on the monitor are a different animal and they can hold a charge for many minutes but these do not affect the computer ram discharging.
Edit: Older TV sets can retain a charge in their main capacitor for hours and I presume many older monitors could as well (non LED types) so heads up when opening them. Some sets can store up to 25,000 volts so it is essential to drain the caps in these sets.