^{Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash}

So yesterday as I got to work, one of my neighbours complained to me about his laptop which he had been unable to turn on ever since he got to the office that morning. As I always would, I immediately told him I, unfortunately, know nothing about fixing #hardware problems as my expertise ends at #software issues in general...

However, after examining the laptop for a few minutes, I asked him to try removing and reinserting the battery of the laptop... and it worked.
Don't ask me why it worked... I can't tell you... again... I'm not a hardware guy 😃😃😃

While there are so many memes about IT Support asking you to restart a customer's device every time a customer calls that it may start to seem like a suggestion we roll our eyes at, I'm just here to remind you that sometimes, restarting your device (Computer, Phone, Server, etc) really is all you need to do

Here are a few reasons why Restarting works.

1. One big reason a restart will fix so many PC problems is that it will clear your Random Access Memory (RAM)

The RAM is a very essential part of any digital system... It's a big determinant of how fast any device can operate because software uses this space for (among others) creating and storing temporal files required to operate smoothly.
While using your device, different software create and keep temporal files, caches and more which take up space, sometimes completely exhausting all the space that device's RAM has available. When this happens, a memory leak happens which causes all kinds of errors and as is common with phones, freezing and forced restarts. This is why the bigger the RAM (32GB > 16GB > 8GB > 4GB), the faster the device.

2. Could also be the hardware

There are many different things that could be going wrong with (poorly built) hardware that can cause them to just stop working. People who use low-end phones instead of the flagship brands like Samsung, Apple, One Plus, Nexus, etc - experience this more often 😎😎😎
When this happens, the device can sometimes in its confusion crash, or just not have some things not working properly. For example, your device may not be able to connect to the internet because the WIFI card has stopped working. A quick restart could fix this.

Sometimes, something (like dust) could be obstructing the connections between hardware parts and in these cases, removing the battery and reinserting it could work. etc.

3. Could help with Troubleshooting

While some issues may be undetectable while your system is already running in full, the sequential process of starting various hardware and software components of your device that a restart gives could help you identify issues with your system.

4. Your device could just have been enjoying the 30seconds of Bitch it is entitled to

It's not only our women who know those parts to touch that will cause us the most pain. Our machines and devices have that bitch privilege too... and they just may be exercising their 30mins of bitch.

Translation: As a non-hardware guy, I don't know how to explain why devices sometimes just stop working.

Those are just a few reasons why restarting your device (or removing and reinserting a part) works!
Is it a full proof solution? Far from it, as a matter of fact, while a restart may get your system to run again, it will still be worth looking into what caused it to crash in the first place to avoid it from happening again.

Anyway! This is what I'm trying to say?

Whenever you're facing an issue with any of your devices, the first thing to do before looking for outside help is to REBOOT!