[osxrules]

My Mac Mini doesn't crash that often but when it does, the only way I can see to restart it is to hold in the power button until it turns off. The problem here is that when I'm running Azureus at the time, it empties all my downloads and I lose gigabytes of files.

Now, I remember my ibook crashing while running Azureus too but it never emptied my downloads and the only reason I can think why is because the ibook had a soft reset: command-alt-power key. I have an Apple Pro keyboard and there is no power key on it and doing command-alt-Mini power button doesn't work.

If anyone knows of a way to get the soft reset back, I'd appreciate knowing how. I really miss that functionality and always having to reach to the back of my computer to power it down.

[seanc]

Try command+alt+eject or something along those lines.

[P]

That shouldn't matter - a reset is a reset as far as Azureus cares. Azureus shoudln't empty the downloads in any case, but it does do a consistency check on them . The feedback is really bad, and it looks like it's redownloading them, but it's really just checking the files.

If Azureus is really zeroing the file, it's Azureus that is causing the crash - with or without the help of the Java runtime. Look for an Azureus update or - if you're out of options - downgrade Java.

[osxrules]

Originally Posted by P

That shouldn't matter - a reset is a reset as far as Azureus cares. Azureus shoudln't empty the downloads in any case, but it does do a consistency check on them . The feedback is really bad, and it looks like it's redownloading them, but it's really just checking the files.

If Azureus is really zeroing the file, it's Azureus that is causing the crash - with or without the help of the Java runtime. Look for an Azureus update or - if you're out of options - downgrade Java.

Yeah, Azureus is really zeroing the files. I know the file check you mean but once that is finished, I see the size I expect for a brief amount of time and then it sets them all to zero again. It is known that Azureus can do this, it's on their site:

http://azureus.aelitis.com/wiki/inde..._do_you_resume

"If you have lost partially downloaded files in a crash, or have deleted your partially downloaded files by mistake, and then emptied the trash, I'm afraid I will not be able to help you here, sorry."

The only way to prevent it is to make sure azureus can quit cleanly and the hard reset doesn't seem to be doing that. The ibook's soft reset did though because I never once lost files that way.

Originally Posted by seanc

Try command+alt+eject or something along those lines.

Yeah, command-alt-eject puts the machine to sleep. Command-ctrl-eject restarts the machine. However, I think I tried that when the machine crashed and it didn't work. Just as a test, I pressed it while not crashed and it goes through the same motions as choosing restart from the Apple menu. Unfortunately, this command waits for tasks to end so it might not actually restart the machine if the crashed process won't end. However, I reckon it might end all processes that can be ended cleanly - Azureus would be one of them as it doesn't produce a dialog - and then I should be able to hard reset without losing data. Now that I know the command, I'll make sure I press it next time and see if it makes a difference. Here's a list of keyboard commands:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

The ibook software reset didn't wait for applications to respond. Maybe I was just lucky that it didn't cause any problems but it seemed that the command-ctrl-power combo was safer than holding the power button.

[bradoesch]

I keep remote login enabled so I can ssh into my machines when they crash. You may be able to fix the problem with the command line.

[Big Mac]

Keep a terminal window open to issue a shutdown -r now command.

[osxrules]

A terminal window would only work if the GUI wasn't frozen. One time I was using IE to access a banking site and for some strange reason, it used all my CPU so that nothing GUI-wise responded. I personally think there should be an option to reserve say 5% CPU at all times for critical system functions. It would be some sort of cache. It should also help prevent that delay you get sometimes when changing system volume.

Remote login is probably the only option but I only have 1 machine. I just don't understand why Apple don't put a power key on their keyboards any more. I don't even use the eject key as an eject because I have multiple drives and I'm not sure which one it will eject. Probably all of them. It made it so much easier to turn on the machine too because I didn't have to reach round the back of my machine. I imagine it would be useful for people who use say their Mac Mini as an entertainment centre because it might be in a small shelf.

[JoeDokes]

At the risk of sounding horribly stupid, why don't you look for an older keyboard, one with a power switch? If it's the lack of the power button causing the problem, that would seem to be a cheap workaround.

[osxrules]

Originally Posted by JoeDokes

At the risk of sounding horribly stupid, why don't you look for an older keyboard, one with a power switch? If it's the lack of the power button causing the problem, that would seem to be a cheap workaround.

Yeah that is probably the only solution but I don't want to use another old keyboard when I have a nice shiny white one. The only other Apple keyboards that have the power key AFAIK are the old imac keyboards and the arrow keys are too small as well as having fewer function keys.

Maybe I should have bought something like this instead:

http://matias.ca/tactilepro/

Except it's 3 times more expensive than my Apple keyboard.

It just baffles me why Apple would remove such an important and useful feature - did it maybe adversely affect Windows users or something? I can't even do command-alt and press the power key on the Mini. It's not even like remapping keys using software would work either because for hardware level events, like booting the machine, the signal has to come from the keyboard in the right way.

[P]

The only USB keyboard with a power button is the old one shipped with older iMacs and none-beige G3s - that's the one with the shrunken arrows and F-keys that you mention. But I really don't think that getting such a keyboard is going to help you - doing a restart with that one shouldn't be any different from doing it by holding the power button.

[osxrules]

Originally Posted by P

The only USB keyboard with a power button is the old one shipped with older iMacs and none-beige G3s - that's the one with the shrunken arrows and F-keys that you mention. But I really don't think that getting such a keyboard is going to help you - doing a restart with that one shouldn't be any different from doing it by holding the power button.

Well, when I used the imac and ibook, the documentation always said to perform a soft-reset first and that was to do command-ctrl-power and only if that didn't work do a hard reset by either hitting the reset button (the imac) or hold the power key:

http://www.artsit.usyd.edu.au/labgui...tart_iMac.html

I figured that the keyboard combo was executing a command held in ROM or something and holding the power key was just cutting power to the system similar to pulling out the power lead.

The main point is that the keyboard combo didn't flush my Azureus files whereas the power key reset does. Maybe it has something to do with the keyboard command restarting the machine but the power key actually turns the machine off. Maybe it's able to recover better from a restart than a cold boot?

Can someone test if ctrl-command-power key on their computer restarts their machine? I think I tried this before and it didn't work but I don't know why it didn't work. Command-ctrl and the machine power key should do the same as command-ctrl and the power key on the keyboard IMO.