Appendix Awatchdog Timer; About Watchdog Timer - AXIOMTEK eBOX671-521-FL Series User Manual

eBOX671-521-FL Series user's Manual
APPENDIX A
WATCHDOG TIMER

About Watchdog Timer

Software stability is major issue in most applications. Some embedded systems are not
watched by human for 24 hours. It is usually too slow to wait for someone to reboot when
computer hangs. The systems need to be able to reset automatically when things go wrong.
The watchdog timer gives us solutions in this regard.
The watchdog timer is a counter that triggers a system to reset when it counts down to zero
from a preset value. The software starts the counter with an initial value and must reset it
periodically. If the counter ever reaches zero which means the software has crashed, the
system will reboot.
Watchdog Timer
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