Re: "RESET"

On 2025-05-24, Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

I don't quite understand the need for "reset" buttons on products.
>
That function is always available by cycling power -- even for devices
where that is difficult for the user (e.g., PoE, BBU, etc.)
>
Shouldn't a device be able to get itself out of a "pickle" without
requiring the user to intervene?  Particularly devices that are
intended to "run forever"?
>
I.e., it seems like the presence of a reset button is a tacit admission
that the engineering is "lacking"...

Ususally the "reset" button is really "factory reset", which is intended
to revert persistent state back to know values. A typical use for this,
that absolutely must not be done on a power cycle, is setting a login
password to a known value ("1234", or some more secure unique string
printed on a label if the designer is sensible).

As a convenience (for who?), a quick press of the reset button usually
just does a POR, and you need to hold the button for some length of time
to reset the configuration. I think this has just become a convention
that every device seems to follow.

Yes, a lot of complex devices that really should be able to run forever
sometimes can't, and lock up. I blame lack of understanding of the whole
system by the programmers (and it is usually software that is at fault,
rarely the hardware). It's going to get worse with completely clueless
people throwing together something that barely works with the help of
automated idiots.

I write microcontroller code in assembler that runs 24x7x365x∞ (that's
"infinity", for the UTF8-challenged :)

--
Ian

"Tamahome!!!" - "Miaka!!!"