[Discuss] Kernel interpretation of pressing the reset button?

[Deryk Barker (Honorary Colleague)]

Well, I *did* say unless things have changed.

Certainly on the old PCI bus there was a line called RESET and *all* the button did was assert this line. It was up to the CPU to notice it.

Looking around there does not seem to be complete agreement these days and wikipedia (I know, I know...) says:

"On personal computers,[NB 1] the reset button clears the memory and reboots the machine forcibly."

before, a few paragraphs later, saying"

"Reset buttons or keypresses on any computer cannot erase the contents of system RAM, which can only be done by powering the computer off and waiting approximately 10 seconds for residual current in the RAM chips to dissipate."

So, the button either clears the memory or it doesn't...

deryk 
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Deryk Barker, Faculty Emeritus
Computer Science Department
Camosun College, Victoria BC