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  • #1

    Is this even possible....?

    Damnest thing happened with the computer at work last night.

    At the hotel, we use a 8 year old computer to run a 12 year old front desk/admin software package with windows 3.11.

    Last night the system froze up. Now, thats not particularly uncommon, the system will freeze or crash anywhere from a couple times a week to a couple times a shift.

    Here's the wierd part: System freezes up, I give it the old 3-fignered salute, nothing happens. I hit reset on the machine, nothing happens. Okay, so I hold in the power button for a few seconds, system powers down. I give it a few more seconds, hit the power button again.....

    System doesn't reboot; it goes right back to full powered, but completely frozen, in the middle of an address look-up in our database.

    WTF?

    I do it again. Power the system down, power back up, same result.

    I have never seen or even heard of this happening. Finally, I power it down, unplug it, have a cup of coffee. Plug it back in, power it up, goes into the boot cycle, check disk for errors, etc. Every is back to normal once it finishes booting up.

    Bizarre.
    Aliterate : A person who is capable of reading but unwilling to do so.

    "A man who does not read has no advantage over a man who cannot" - Mark Twain
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  • #2
    If it were a newer system, I'd think it suspended itself instead of powering off. I've seen that often where I work. Windows (XP and beyond only, AFAIK) can be set up to suspend or go to sleep when the power button is pressed.

    Another option, if you use Citrix servers to access your databases, it could be that the Citrix server is holding your session open and when you reboot and reconnect, it gives you the exact same screens again. That too, I see a lot of where I work, with JD Edwards software.

    Given how old the system is, I kind of find both of these hard to believe though. Who knows though. Anybody still using DOS/Win3.1 should expect weird things to happen...


    Eric the Grey
    In memory of Dena - Don't Drink and Drive

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    • #3
      It sounds to me as though the internal reset signals on the m/board are broken. Somehow it's keeping enough stored energy in the right places to keep the memory alive, so it acts like a poor man's suspend.

      Given enough time for the energy to leak away, it triggers a different kind of reset.

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      • #4
        This is why tech support will always tell you to leave something off for 30 seconds before powering it back on. They've been doing it since the dawn of time, which means while it's probably not necessary any more, it once was.
        Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

        http://unrelatedcaptions.com/45147

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        • #5
          More a tech help thread.

          Rapscallion

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          • #6
            So I'm guessing this is a Pentium 2 system? IDE (not EIDE) hard drive, 72 pin DIMM for memory?

            Something might have gone. Leave it off for a few minutes (like what Broomjockey suggested) to let it all clear out. Maybe even unplug it for this time.
            Quote Dalesys:
            ... as in "Ifn thet dawg comes at me, Ima gonna shutz ma panz!"

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            • #7
              Pull the power cord out the back of the computer. Let it sit for about 30-45 seconds. Plug the power cord back in and power it back up.

              If it still does that, most likely you're using a thin client and the server that it connects to has to "kill" the session.
              Fixing problems... one broken customer at a time.

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              • #8
                Maybe it's just me, but I find it more amazing that a PC built to run Windows 3.11 is booting at all, let alone freezing.

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