My Computer Just Locked Up / Won't Turn On

This article will walk you through a couple steps in case your computer stops responding.

Bear in mind that any completed transactions are still saved in Trackside previous to anything that was being worked on when the issue occurred. Once your point of sale is back up and running, you may resume your till where you left off and the details of all the transactions will still show up in any of your reports, including closing till.

Your first line of defense is always to press Ctrl-Alt-Del simultaneously to gain access to the Windows Task Manager. It's important to note some of the processes within this window are vital to Windows' operation, and if you close them you can crash Windows and force a system restart. If it was just Chrome that locked up on you, you can click on it and End Task, which will force our example, Chrome to close. You will lose anything you were in the middle of editing, but if the program wasn't going to respond, you're going to lose it regardless and this will allow you to re-open the program so you can resume.

If that doesn't work, then you can hold the power button to force the computer to shut down. You want to minimize the computer being turned off without a proper shutdown, because as is the case with all computers, this can cause bad spots in the hard drive. These computers are appropriately sized for the tasks they need to perform, but there isn't a significant amount of extra, and you won't be able to change internal storage on these. Power loss during storms will do the same thing. An Uninterruptible Power Supply, or UPS is one way to combat power outages and surges, even if you have a generator system. These are batteries with an interface system that will allow you time to shut down in case of an outage. A small one will suffice for these machines. If you're left with no other option though, holding the power button shouldn't cause any immediate failures.

If that's still unresponsive, or if the unit is not wanting to power on, there is a reset button you can push with a paper clip.

You can see My Screen Just Went Black and None of the Equipment is Responding! for additional steps to try, and if you're still having trouble, contact us!