How “Turning it Off and On Again” Can Solve 90% of All Known Home User’s IT Problems

Yes, power cycling can solve most IT issues – and that is by simply turning your computer off and then turning it back on again.

It’s called power cycling, and it’s the act of turning a device or electronic equipment off, and turning it back on again. This is often done to computers and modems to correct a frozen, hung, or otherwise malfunctioning device. Normally, it is recommended to leave the device powered off for about 10 to 30 seconds before restarting. Sometimes in computer parlance, it’s called ‘restart.’

Of course, this is assuming that the problem is software in nature, and not hardware, and so, can be solved by power cycling. Here are a few ways to power cycle when using different gadgets and devices.

Remove the battery

If you have a gadget that suddenly freezes up and won’t work at all, pulling the battery is a good way to get it started. This applies to smartphones, laptops, digital cameras, and everything else with a removable battery. Before removing the battery, ensure the device is unplugged to ensure it isn’t receiving any power at all. Remove the battery, wait around 30 seconds, reinsert the battery, and turn it back on. The hardware will often come right back to life.

Long-Press the power button

Many new devices are coming without user-removable batteries, but users still need the ability to power cycle the gadget. If you have a device without a user-removable battery, there’s often a way to power cycle your device by long-pressing the power button. For computers, the power button is easy to locate. On Kindles, tablets, and most smartphones, long-pressing the power button for an entire 30 seconds will power cycle the device and force it to restart.

Unplug the power cable

If you have a device with neither a battery nor a power button, such as a router or modem, you can power-cycle the device by pulling its power cord and plugging it back in. However, you should wait at least 30 seconds to be safe, before plugging the device back in. If you plug it back in too soon, it may not lose power entirely.

If this didn’t solve your problem and your device still seems frozen (or dead), be sure that you’re following the correct procedure for your specific device. Check if your gadget has a reset pinhole instead of the power button, or may use a combination of buttons mentioned in the device’s manual. If following that process didn’t help, it’s possible that your hardware is dead and the device needs to be serviced or replaced. With computers, power cycling is synonymous with rebooting the whole system, this is why power cycling can also clean out whatever problem is inside the computer. If the problem persists, you may need to call a professional computer technical support company to see what the real problem is. Anything less than this, you might want to just turn off and turn on the computer or gadget to fix the problem.