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1200 West University Ave
Mitchell, SD 57301
Phone:
605-995-2697
E-mail: helpdesk@dwu.edu
Web: http://www.dwu.edu/is//
What is
a Server? A "server" is a computer which provides a
variety of software, storage, and services to multiple users across a
network.
Why do the servers crash?
Servers are simply computers.
There are a variety of reasons why computers lock up or "crash,"
including software conflicts, hardware errors, critical errors, power
failures, and temperature variances. While we try our best to keep
servers from crashing, some events or failures are beyond our control.
If you are working on something you do not want to lose, it is
imperative to save your work periodically (every five to ten minutes).
Why Reboot?
Rebooting is the source of frustration for techs and callers alike in
the support world, and it seems as if there are two sides lined up. The
users know they are going to be asked to reboot, and line up to defend
against that request in an attempt to keep their computer on. The techs,
on the other hand, attempt to get the users to reboot their computer
before any further troubleshooting can occur.
Sounds like some sort of game, rather than a tech support scenario.
And a little silly to boot (ha ha), from both sides. Take this
scenario... imagine you've taken your car into your mechanic to have it
worked on, yet steadfastly refuse to turn off the engine so that the
mechanic can look under the hood. What are the chances that mechanic
will be able to solve your problem, in a manner that is efficient for
the mechanic and satisfactory for you?
The problem resides in the fact that no one ever mentions why a
reboot is necessary. Well, it's mostly because "it just does," but there
are other reasons as well.
- If your computer is frozen, rebooting will "unfreeze it."
Sounds simple enough, though the main argument against this philosophy
is the belief that rebooting will cause a user to lose work. The
reality is, if the computer is frozen, it's already decided if the
work is saved, lost, or recoverable. Rebooting is not going to change
that, one way or the other. You won't lose work by rebooting that you
haven't lost already.
If your programs are freezing, but your computer hasn't frozen yet,
rebooting will make them run properly again.
Often times programs generate fatal errors, for a variety of reasons.
When this happens, the programs may close out on their own, or "hang"
and have to be closed manually, and frequently will not restart again.
Rebooting frees up resources that were previously lost, allowing
programs to function normally.
Rebooting frees up resources.
Your programs are
eating up your memory, temporary hard drive space, and other valuable
resources. Nothing to panic about, that's their job. But, there is
only a finite amount of resources your computer has. When they run
out, your computer slows down until it finally halts altogether.
Rebooting "refreshes" those resources, and allows you to continue
working at an optimal speed.
Rebooting fixes problems.
When you reboot, your
computer performs a series of diagnostic checks and often fixes
problems without you knowing. So if your computer is acting strange,
often rebooting fixes the error.
Sometimes, it just does. We don't know why, maybe
it's some mystical mojo, but sometimes rebooting fixes things for
reasons we don't know, or just haven't pinpointed.
It helps in troubleshooting. Finally, rebooting
helps us troubleshoot the problem, and answers one of our first
questions: is the problem something that's repeatable. A one time
problem, like a program freezing, would not refreeze after rebooting.
It may even go away forever. But we don't know the answer until we
attempt to recreate the problem, which means starting from the
beginning: when you turn on your computer.
Of course, the multitude of things that happen and are fixed by
rebooting cannot be boiled down to a list of six bullet points, but you
get the picture. So when we ask you to reboot, be assured that we are
not simply trying to do things by the book, or to give you a pat,
standardized answer, but are instead employing the first of many tools
to assist us in troubleshooting and ultimately solving your question.
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