Rebooting

Rebooting is the process of restarting a computer system or other electronic device, reinitializing software and hardware components. It closes running programs and begins a new session from a defined starting state. In common usage, reboot is often used synonymously with restart, though technical distinctions exist between reboot and a simple software restart.

Cold boot refers to the power-on reset that occurs when the device is turned on from zero power. Warm boot is initiated without cutting power, such as using a reset command or an option in the operating system; it may retain some stored hardware state. A soft reboot is an operating-system initiated restart that restarts software and services without power-cycling hardware, while a hard reboot powers the device off and on again.

During reboot, the system goes through initialization routines, such as firmware (BIOS/UEFI) POST, bootloader execution, kernel startup, and service initialization. The objective is to boot the machine into a clean state with correctly configured hardware drivers and software services ready for operation. Data integrity mechanisms and update processes can influence the sequence.

Rebooting can apply software updates, recover from errors, clear memory leaks, or apply changes to configuration. It clears volatile memory and resets hardware components, which can resolve transient problems. However, it risks unsaved data loss and, in some cases, file system damage if power loss occurs during writes or during firmware updates.

Reboot loops occur when devices repeatedly restart, often due to firmware, hardware faults, or malware. Persistent rebooting can indicate hardware failure, corrupted software, or insecure configuration; diagnosing requires checking logs, firmware, and hardware health.