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MSDOS: reboot into boot sequence

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Reply 20 of 29, by Yoghoo

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igully wrote on 2025-11-27, 12:49:

I did not know it was possible to do such thing to Dallas RTCs. It is cool. I have added the procedure to shutdown. Thank you for pointing it out.

Thanks for this. 😀 One question about this new feature: should the Dallas RTC stop clock not be a new parameter? Personally I would like to do this only when I am storing a PC not always.

Reply 21 of 29, by Marco

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Thanks a lot for the ideas. Unfortunately the shutdown program wont work for me.
When using /F it will try to access drive a: and then does a std. warm reboot.

I also tested the debug written Programm. Thanks also. It will do a warm boot as well only (but without trying to access drive a: upfront).

Thus for me no quick boot replacement yet (as in qemm).

Anyhow: thanks for the ideas again

1) VLSI SCAMP 311 | 386SX25@TI486SXLC2-50@63 | 16MB | CL-GD5434 | CT2830| SCC-1 | MT32 | WDC160GB/7200/8MB | Fast-SCSI AHA 1542CF + BlueSCSI v2/15k U320
2) SIS486 | 486DX/2 66(@80) | 32MB | TGUI9440 | LAPC-I

Reply 22 of 29, by Disruptor

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Yoghoo wrote on 2025-11-27, 13:19:
igully wrote on 2025-11-27, 12:49:

I did not know it was possible to do such thing to Dallas RTCs. It is cool. I have added the procedure to shutdown. Thank you for pointing it out.

Thanks for this. 😀 One question about this new feature: should the Dallas RTC stop clock not be a new parameter? Personally I would like to do this only when I am storing a PC not always.

Yes I also thought about a new parameter for this feature, like /Y /N or just /N or so 😀
You won't put the computer to a long-time-outage everytime when you use that utility.

Reply 23 of 29, by igully

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Yoghoo wrote on 2025-11-27, 13:19:
igully wrote on 2025-11-27, 12:49:

I did not know it was possible to do such thing to Dallas RTCs. It is cool. I have added the procedure to shutdown. Thank you for pointing it out.

Thanks for this. 😀 One question about this new feature: should the Dallas RTC stop clock not be a new parameter? Personally I would like to do this only when I am storing a PC not always.

It is only done when you shut it down, not on any reboot procedure.

Reply 24 of 29, by igully

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Marco wrote on 2025-11-27, 13:54:
Thanks a lot for the ideas. Unfortunately the shutdown program wont work for me. When using /F it will try to access drive a: an […]
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Thanks a lot for the ideas. Unfortunately the shutdown program wont work for me.
When using /F it will try to access drive a: and then does a std. warm reboot.

I also tested the debug written Programm. Thanks also. It will do a warm boot as well only (but without trying to access drive a: upfront).

Thus for me no quick boot replacement yet (as in qemm).

Anyhow: thanks for the ideas again

The fast reboot option is just a documented DOS restart procedure (interrupt 19h). It is extremely dangerous as it does not clear any memory. I added it because I could, not because I should.

Only expect that it might work under some specific systems, but mostly crash or like you just experienced, produce another reboot type. This is because you have every DOS structure alive and kicking and yet you are forcing DOS to rebuild its structures on top. This is certainly not a good thing and results will most likely follow that route.

On my systems I tested it and got a crash in one and what appears to be a viable fast reboot on another (but I wouldn't trust it anyway). I wouldn´t run or trust this option ever as I know it is not sane. A cold reboot is always a sure bet, despite the longer wait.

Reply 25 of 29, by Yoghoo

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igully wrote on 2025-11-27, 17:30:
Yoghoo wrote on 2025-11-27, 13:19:
igully wrote on 2025-11-27, 12:49:

I did not know it was possible to do such thing to Dallas RTCs. It is cool. I have added the procedure to shutdown. Thank you for pointing it out.

Thanks for this. 😀 One question about this new feature: should the Dallas RTC stop clock not be a new parameter? Personally I would like to do this only when I am storing a PC not always.

It is only done when you shut it down, not on any reboot procedure.

I understand. But it would be nice if it was a parameter. I would like to use it in a batch file on a retro pc which I use regularly. For example start Windows 3.11 and shutdown the pc when exiting from it without halting the clock.

Reply 26 of 29, by igully

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Disruptor wrote on 2025-11-27, 14:36:
Yoghoo wrote on 2025-11-27, 13:19:
igully wrote on 2025-11-27, 12:49:

I did not know it was possible to do such thing to Dallas RTCs. It is cool. I have added the procedure to shutdown. Thank you for pointing it out.

Thanks for this. 😀 One question about this new feature: should the Dallas RTC stop clock not be a new parameter? Personally I would like to do this only when I am storing a PC not always.

Yes I also thought about a new parameter for this feature, like /Y /N or just /N or so 😀
You won't put the computer to a long-time-outage everytime when you use that utility.

Do you really need a new parameter for this? Is it not fine for every shutdown?
If that is the case let me know because I might add vintage drive parking to this process which could be something like:

SHUTDOWN /S - shuts down the system for long term storage. Includes drive parking and Dallas RTC battery preservation.

What are your thoughts on this?

Reply 27 of 29, by Disruptor

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Yes. You can shutdown the computer and when you switch it on next day you expect that it has correct date and time.
When you shut it down for long term storage and you switch it on RTC continues at shutdown date and time.

Fine.

Reply 28 of 29, by igully

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It was easier to do it than to discuss about it:

Here is version 2.04 which adds a new parameter:

[/S] Shuts down the system for long term storage. This option includes drive parking and Dallas RTC battery preservation.

SHUTDOWN [/Y] does indeed perform the traditional shutdown, but does not include the above mentioned long term storage routines.

So now you got them separated.

Last edited by igully on 2025-11-28, 14:18. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 29 of 29, by igully

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Blame it on my insomnia.

Version 2.05 (27 November 2025)
- Added text messages that allows users to follow each internal process as it is being initiated. Redirect to nul if you don't want to see them (Example: SHUTDOWN /Y >NUL).
- Reworked the overall general program structure to be more flexible and improved code quality (fingers crossed!).
- Clarified the /F option in the command line help text.

News update:

I have renamed SHUTDOWN to SANE and added a few bunch of useful features.

You can find it at its own page thread:
SANE - DOS All-in-one "safe" shutdown, reboot, bios password reset and DOS stabilization utility.