Why does disconnecting and reconnecting the power supply solve many problems?

6 min read

 

You've no doubt heard the "unplug it and plug it back in" advice when trying to fix a problem with an appliance, or maybe you do it on your own when things don't go as intended or normal, and oddly enough, it really solves the problem and many more. Others after so many failed attempts that you wonder how easy it was to get it done. Here you will wonder inside: Did this have to be done just in order to solve the problem?! What exactly happens when the power is turned off and back on, what is the secret of its magical effect, what are the negative damages, and the cases in which it is prohibited to use this solution? We will explain all of this in detail in the following lines.

 

Why does disconnecting and reconnecting the power supply solve many problems

In the beginning, let's get acquainted with the devices that can work with this method (disconnecting and reconnecting the electricity current) in solving their problems and malfunctions. There are routers and any device that helps connect the Internet to your smart devices, as well as smart screens and smart home devices that work with the Internet.

 

In general, the consumer electrical appliances that we use frequently in our daily lives are well compatible with this method and can actually solve many of their problems by turning off the electricity. These devices draw their power from the so-called firmware, which will not be affected when the device is unplugged and plugged back in. To be clear, let's find out what exactly happens when you unplug these devices and plug them back in.

 

Reconnecting the power resynchronizes the components of the device

 

Unplugging some electrical devices, such as routers, from the mains, usually solves most problems that can occur because they contain small computers inside that power them. Unplugging and plugging it back in will force the microcomputer to restart, which in turn will eliminate any temporary failure of the microcomputer's running software. The software intended here is an operating system like Windows, but in this case, it is called “Firmware”, which is software code that works in conjunction with the rest of the hardware components installed on the motherboard of this device.

 

Reconnecting the power resynchronizes the components of the device

Sometimes, something malfunctions in this firmware code, whether suddenly or because you changed certain settings in the device, which disables some hardware components, so things do not go as they are, and you notice that the device is displaying error messages, slow in responding to commands, or hanging a lot, And so on. In this case, the restart process, which is by unplugging the device and plugging it back in, will clear the device's memory and force it to reload the software again and then start it from scratch. In short, rebooting here resynchronizes the device's internal hardware components with the firmware.

 

However, this is only a temporary solution!

 

Unplugging and reconnecting the device can often fix the problem, but don't be fooled as this is only a temporary solution and the underlying issue that caused the device to malfunction or hang in the first place has definitely not been resolved yet. Simply put, the restart process can be considered a “painkiller” but permanently solving the problem requires several steps on the part of the user, meaning that in some cases you may have to reinstall or update the firmware on that device in order to solve the malfunction in order to work efficiently Then. We have already explained how this is done for SSDs and routers as well as for computers by updating the BIOS piece.

 

However, this is only a temporary solution!

But if the problem is related to a malfunction in the hardware components themselves, due to an overload, excessive electrical power, or due to high heat, here restarting the device may cause those components to work again but with less efficiency before they lose their ability to work permanently. Therefore, the process of disconnecting and reconnecting the electricity supply temporarily solved the problem, and you have to go to a specialized maintenance center to solve the problem from its roots or replace it with a new one, so we advise in this case to contact the specialized technician of the manufacturer.

 

You don't need to always turn off the power

 

If the electrical device in which the problem is found has a power switch or power button, it must be slowed down a bit, as it must be used first to lock and restart the device again, which may suffice and solve the problem successfully before completely disconnecting the power to the device.

 

You don't need to always turn off the power

However, this method may not work in many cases, because many modern devices have a power switch that does not turn off the device completely, meaning cutting off the power to the components, but rather pressing it causes the device to go into a temporary sleep mode, which we do not want in any way. However, since it won't shut down all the internal components, we won't be able to perform a proper reboot as we would like.

 

If the device was originally damaged and not working properly, unplugging it and plugging it back in can never solve the problems. Therefore, it must be realized that it needs actual repair by sending it to a specialized maintenance technician in order to have it fully checked and replace the damaged internal parts if any.

 

This solution should not be used in some cases

 

It is not recommended to use the unplug and reconnect solution on certain electrical devices such as laptops or desktops because these devices load their software from a rewritable source such as a hard disk drive or SSD which is used to store temporary settings of the computer while it is running. If you turn off the power to the computer while it is working, it may interrupt the writing process to the volume and destroy all the files and data on your device which certainly no user wants.

 

This solution should not be used in some cases

But this principle should not be generalized to all computer malfunctions because sometimes the device is completely frozen and does not respond to any commands at all and there is no other way to fix it, at that time it is okay to unplug it and then turn it back on again. Some unpleasant things may happen such as losing some data but there is no other choice but to unplug the power cable or press and hold the power button.

 

There are also certain types of sensitive medical and scientific equipment from which the electricity should never be turned off in any way so that no one is injured or life is endangered. In general, an unplugging and reconnecting solution may work, but before implementing it you must make sure that the device is really not responding to any commands and that there is no other solution than to pull the power cable.

 

In conclusion: disconnecting the electrical devices that have some problems from the power and reconnecting them again may seem a very primitive solution, but what matters in any solution or way to get rid of any problem is the final result, I do not hide from you that this really solves a lot of problems, especially with Routers and laptops. But do not rely on it completely because there are some faults that require more than that to fix and it may even lead to maintenance or replacement, so you alone can decide when to use that method or not, but it was necessary to explain that method and give you a detailed look at it.

  

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