What company could release such a product. No, it couldn't be ... naw ...

[Christopher Friedt]

Who wants that to be automatic!? (ok, maybe for a server system ...)

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine got really sick of seeing the
BSOD (he was a windows user), and he wanted to rig up a USB lever to
pull every time the BSOD appeared to do basically the same thing. You
could probably make the lever do a 'force quit' on any unresponsive
'windows' too ;-)

Jackpot!

~/Chris

phiscock-g851W1bGYuGnS0EtXVNi6w at public.gmane.org wrote:
>>>> I'm surprised none of these companies have thought to include a
>>> watchdog
>>> card
>>>> to force the machines to automatically reboot in the event of a crash.
>>> Sounds like that would cost money..
> 
> Not much money. The main program could create a small process that would
> periodically send a message somewhere (on a serial port or printer port or
> via USB, for example). A microprocessor would watch for this and if the
> signal didn't appear, open a relay that would remove and then resore line
> power. Or briefly close the reset switch.
> 
> The  microprocessor could be programmed to wait for a 'startup sequence'
> from the main program so that it wouldn't go into action until the main
> program was running.
> 
> The microprocessor *itself* would use its own watchdog timer so it would
> reorganize itself in the case of, say, a lighting strike. (This is a
> common feature in five-dollar microprocessors.)
> 
> The hardware to do this could be done for a few tens of dollars.
> 
> Even simpler, if an unused printer port is available, you could flip a bit
> on a data pin and use that to reset a hardware timer.
> 
> Anybody remember those bandit-bank toys? You put a coin in a slot and
> very, slowly a door opened. Then a mechanical hand grabbed the coin and
> the door slammed shut. Inspired by that we put a small door on the front
> of the PC. When the program crashes, the door opens, a mechanical hand
> appears  and presses the reset button...
> 
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