Specifications

CHAPTER 3
128
All About Motherboards
BOOTING A COMPUTER
The term booting comes from the phrase “lifting yourself up by your bootstraps” and refers to
the computer bringing itself up to a working state without the user having to do anything but
press the on button. This boot can be a “hard boot” or a “soft boot.” A hard boot, or cold
boot, involves turning on the power with the on/off switch. A soft boot, or warm boot, involves
using the operating system to reboot. For Windows Vista, one way to soft boot is to click Start,
click the right arrow, and click Restart (see Figure 3-31). For Windows XP, one way to soft
boot is to click Start, click Turn Off Computer, and then click Restart (see Figure 3-32).
Figure 3-31 Windows Vista menu to perform a restart
Courtesy: Course Technology/Cengage Learning
Figure 3-32 Windows XP Turn off computer dialog box
Courtesy: Course Technology/Cengage Learning
CHOOSING BETWEEN A HARD BOOT AND A SOFT BOOT
A hard boot takes more time than a soft boot because in a soft boot, the initial steps of a hard
boot don’t happen. To save time in most circumstances, you should use the soft boot to
restart. A hard boot initializes the processor and clears memory. If a soft boot doesn’t work or
you want to make certain you get a fresh start, use a hard boot. If you cannot boot from the
operating system, look for power or reset buttons on the front or rear of the case. For exam-
ple, one computer has three power switches: a power button and a reset button on the front of
the case and a power switch on the rear of the case (see Figure 3-33). They work like this:
The power button in front is a “soft” power button, causing a normal Windows
shutdown and restart.
The reset button initializes the CPU so that it restarts at the beginning of the BIOS
startup program. The computer behaves as though the power were turned off and
back on and then goes through the entire boot process.
A+
220-701
1.2
3.4
1435487389_ch03_CTP.qxd 7/30/09 5:22 PM Page 128