Startup problem after Windows Update

We are a caravan park and operate computerised boomgates. There is a live boomgate monitor running all the time, and so our compputer is running all the time. If Windows does an Update then shuts down and restarts the computer, the boomgates, which are in the startup menu, are not started, and have to be started through Programs. At any other time, except for the restart after Windows Update, the boomgate program starts up as it should. You can imagine that this is a major problem if Windows updates during the night - no one can get in or out and we get woken up in the middle of the night to fix it. Our software support people (RMS) have looked at the problem and believe it is a Microsoft problem. Any clues?

 

mommajennyt: Welcome to the BBS!

It sounds as though nothing is wrong with Miscrosoft. You just need to reconfigure your system so that when the MS updates become available they alert you to that fact but will wait for you to download and install them at a more convenient time.

Get back to us to let us know how it goes. Good luck.

 

Thanks, Bobbo, but...

Yes, I can see that would get around the problem, but it doesn't explain why the problem is happening i.e. why a restart after Windows Update doesn't load programs in the right order. Any other restart and there isn't a problem: what is different about a restart after an Update? OK, maybe I'm being a bit pedantic. I DO appreciate your help and will follow your suggestion as a way of avoiding the problem. Thank you very much for your time...

 

You're very welcome.

I don't know the answer to your "Why?" question, but somebody else here might.

If you need any help with that reconfiguration, let us know.

 

Thanks Bobbo, I have already reconfigured it to your suggestion. The frustrating thing is that it is a relatively recent problem (we have had the boomgates for 2 years) and I hate mysteries. Guess that is part and parcel of computers, eh?

 

Afraid so. But check back in from time to time to see if somebody else can solve the "Why?" mystery for you and satisfy your curiosity.

 

The boomgate sensor device that allows the computer to read the status of the boomgate is not reset during a soft reset done in software, such as that done by an Update.

The sensor is in an unknown state unless started from a mains power-completely-off/power-on cycle.

I have seen PC-based cash registers exhibit the same behavior for the same reason.

Usually there is a way to write directly to the controller card to reset it to a known state. But you can imagine how confused things could be if the gate was down and the controller believed it was up. The software instruction to open the gate would be ignored -- as far as the controller was concerned the gate was already up. A command to close the gate would be lead to no result either - the gate is in fact already closed. It cannot become more closed than it already is in fact.

 

not the same thing - the boom gates have their own controller. The computer only monitors the in/outs through the RMS (Reservation Management System) software. The boomgate software is supposed to start up at startup - and ususally does. It's only after Windows Update restart that it doesn't happen

 

restart

there is never any kind of a problem with any kind of a restart EXCEPT for the restart after a Windows Update (used to be auto, but now I have configured it so that I can do it manually)