# Difference Between Hard And Soft Reset?



## Trainerman (Jul 14, 2008)

I have seen many on here talking about doing hard and soft resets on their boxes. Can anyone tell me the difference? 

Thanks for your time.


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## jwd45244 (Aug 18, 2006)

Trainerman said:


> I have seen many on here talking about doing hard and soft resets on their boxes. Can anyone tell me the difference?
> 
> Thanks for your time.


Hard Reset: Push Red Button located next to the Access Card (also can be pulling the power).

Soft Reset: Menu --- Setup --- System Setup --- Reset --- Reset Receiver


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Each man should know a difference between soft and hard type. 

Actually, soft reset going thru menu and select "Reset' or "Reboot", but hard one - press power button for 10 sec or unplug power cord for a minute. Red button is semi-soft or semi-hard type.


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## Trainerman (Jul 14, 2008)

jwd45244 said:


> Hard Reset: Push Red Button located next to the Access Card (also can be pulling the power).
> 
> Soft Reset: Menu --- Setup --- System Setup --- Reset --- Reset Receiver


So when should each be used and not used?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Use Soft, if it not available - use Hard.


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## Stanley Kritzik (Aug 4, 2005)

With a "Soft Reset", I am offered three options: "reset receiver", "reset defaults", and "reset everything". Is there documentation anywhere that tells me/us what does or does not get reset with each option? I'm concerned that "reset everything" will (possibly) delete saved recordings. I assume that it will wipe out all stored recording requests, may mess up "On Demand", etc.

Some help will be appreciated.

Stan


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## NotOneofYou (Sep 30, 2008)

Stanley Kritzik said:


> With a "Soft Reset", I am offered three options: "reset receiver", "reset defaults", and "reset everything". Is there documentation anywhere that tells me/us what does or does not get reset with each option? I'm concerned that "reset everything" will (possibly) delete saved recordings. I assume that it will wipe out all stored recording requests, may mess up "On Demand", etc.
> 
> Some help will be appreciated.
> 
> Stan


A soft reset is like a restart computer on a PC. Reset Defaults sets it all back to factory settings as far as preferances go but it does NOT delete any recordings. Reset everything and it will think it just left the factory & you will have to tell it what dishes you might have & everything else again.

To cover a previous question. A soft reset is a general reset to let a recv get it's head together so to speak. Use it first if it is available thru menus or the reset button. A true hard reset is to unplug a recv while the power button is on. Leave it off for 60 sec. Then power up. This is to clear stuck memory or to let the access card clear it's mind if you are getting chan not purchased or some other authorization error.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

"Reset receiver" is what you normally want so that it will not lose anything you want to keep or format the hard drive.


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## RoyGBiv (Jul 24, 2007)

Stanley Kritzik said:


> With a "Soft Reset", I am offered three options: "reset receiver", "reset defaults", and "reset everything". Is there documentation anywhere that tells me/us what does or does not get reset with each option? I'm concerned that "reset everything" will (possibly) delete saved recordings. I assume that it will wipe out all stored recording requests, may mess up "On Demand", etc.
> 
> Some help will be appreciated.
> 
> Stan


The options do what they say. Reset receiver will do just that. It will turn the receiver off then restart it so you receive new guide data. You _should_ not lose anything with a reset receiver. Reset defaults does that additional step. It resets the default conditions you would have with just starting up. It would require you to go through initial setup, and you would lose any scheduled recordings including series recordings. It would not wipe your hard drive, so you should still have previous recordings. Reset everything does exactly that. It reformats the hard drive in addition to the other steps, so you will have no data on your hard drive.

SMK


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

A Hard Reset frees up memory by freeing up temporary storage no longer needed so the Processor can function faster and more efficiently.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

richierich said:


> A Hard Reset frees up memory by freeing up temporary storage no longer needed so the Processor can function faster and more efficiently.


If this is a concern, then both type of reset are the same - will clean memory and start from beginning. But CPU will not run faster in any case.


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## bsprague (Feb 24, 2007)

I have an HR-15 in a motorhome that works like my HR-20 in a condo. It gets a hard reset frequently. The reason is that, when driving, I think the hard disk is better protected from road vibration with the power completely off. Everything works fine when I park and turn it all back on. All settings and recordings remain unchanged. 

I also do a lot of soft resets. I don't know why, but frequently only one tuner connects when I turn on the system after parking. It may be part of the process of the KVH automatic dish seeking a satelite. Once locked on, a soft reset will get both tuners working. 

Resets don't hurt anything unless you do it in the middle of a recording.


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## William Hecox (Jan 1, 2019)

P Smith said:


> If this is a concern, then both type of reset are the same - will clean memory and start from beginning. But CPU will not run faster in any case.


Both hard and soft resets are not the same. I recommended hard reset in most cases. 
A hard reset cleaes memory. I do not believe a soft reset does not. 
I could not get DIRECTV Subtitles to work. I tried a soft reset and still had the same problem. I then did a hard reset(red button) and DIRECTV Subtitles started working.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

William Hecox said:


> Both hard and soft resets are not the same. I recommended hard reset in most cases.
> A hard reset cleaes memory. I do not believe a soft reset does not.
> I could not get DIRECTV Subtitles to work. I tried a soft reset and still had the same problem. I then did a hard reset(red button) and DIRECTV Subtitles started working.


I recently had a problem with Norton Internet Securities not loading an update.
I called them and they told me to shutdown the computer and start it back up.
I told her that I had done a restart several times.

I said, "OK, I will do a restart". The lady that was helping me said "NO, that is different and will not work".
I did a Shutdown, waited until the count of 15 and then pressed the start button to turn the computer on. After it loaded and I signed in the software immediately installed.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

William Hecox said:


> A hard reset cleaes memory


any reset clears memory/RAM
I hope your background include some EE knowledge...
Just for fulness of the aspects - there is some difference like clearing internal registers


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

P Smith said:


> any reset clears memory/RAM


Or at least it should ... If that is what was coded into the program. That is where a harder reset can help. If there is a bug where soft isn't doing what it should hard can do more.

For a completely software driven reset one would need to know the code to know the difference. Hardware resets (powering down) resets anything that does not survive a power loss.


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## William Hecox (Jan 1, 2019)

I guess if you want a truly hard reset you should remove power from the unit and let it set for a least a minute before restoring power. We were told that any remaining electricity held by capacitors would drain off. I am not sure if modern electronics even use capacitors any more.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

William Hecox said:


> I am not sure if *modern electronics even use capacitors any more*.


discard my second phrase from previous post

and yes, modern electronics DOES use capacitors !


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