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Comment by lmilcin | Hacker News Reader

I did the same almost two decades ago. Old AT power supplies on Proliant servers would turn the server off only after you lifted your finger. I have pressed it on a wrong server. Had to reach with my foot to the phone lying close by on the floor to call accounting department to log off the application to prevent corruption when the Novell Netware server powering it was was rebooted.

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386s had a push button power switch where if you were really fast you could let it out and immediately push it back in and the power wouldn't be interrupted. Found this out in class - we would walk over to each other, lean over pretending to talk to a friend and sneakily push the power button in. Before we worked out that trick, you would have to get your finger on the button before the other guy took his off, then hold it down while you saved your work.

> 386s had a push button power switch where if you were really fast you could let it out and immediately push it back in and the power wouldn't be interrupted

It would be more accurate to say “some computers in the late 1980s and 1990s”; not all of them were 386s, and not all 386s had this style of switch.

It would be even more accurate to say "Many power supplies, especially when computers were much less power hungry, had enough capacitance to be able to survive 0.1 to 0.2s needed for the operator to reset the switch back on. This only works when the switch is switching AC and the motherboard stays connected to PSU. Since ATX standard was introduced the switch actually disconnects the motherboard from the power supply and it is no longer possible. Many power supplies still have independent AC switch but this is not typically operated by the user to switch the machine on or off."

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