Reboot

This page is about the process of restarting a computer system. For discarding all previous continuity in a fiction series and restart, see Reboot (fiction).

T-850 initiating reboot in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Cameron reboots in "Samson & Delilah".

Terminators can sometimes reboot/reactivate/restart themselves. This happens automatically after certain situations, such as when a CPU chip is removed and then reinserted, a Terminator leaves standby mode, or a Terminator suffers critical damage, usually from an explosion or its power supply being cut that temporarily disables it.

Films

• In The Terminator. the T-800 seems to be knocked out by the explosion of the tanker truck. It managed to reboot after a while.
• In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the T-800 reboots after having his chip re-inserted. Later, after its power supply was destroyed by the T-1000, the T-800 Terminator's system performed a diagnosis and then a warm reboot on alternate power.
• In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the T-850 got corrupted by the T-X with a Nanotechnological Transjector and had to reboot.
• In Terminator Genisys, after the main power supply was destroyed by Sarah Connor, the T-800 was rebooted by the T-1000 with a single drop of Mimetic polyalloy in 1984. Later in 2017, Pops was nearly destroyed and shut down after it was thrown into a pool of mimetic polyalloy from the magnetic field generated by prototype Time Displacement Equipment.
• In Terminator: Dark Fate, Carl, a T-800, was knocked offline after being caught in a turbine explosion. He later rebooted and managed to assist in destroying the Rev-9.

Comics

• C890.L, who was temporarily reprogrammed by Dudley, was caught in an explosion during its battle against Z000.M and shut down. It then rebooted and salvaged Z000.M parts to repair itself. Secondary Objectives issue 4

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Several Terminators have been temporarily disabled by damage, and subsequently rebooted 120 seconds later:

• Cromartie got knocked out after a truck hit him. (DVD deleted scene gives his POV.) Later, he got knocked out with electricity by Cameron. "Pilot"
• Cameron got knocked offline by the electrical trap on a safe in a Resistance safe house. "Gnothi Seauton"
• Cameron rebooted after Sarkissian's bomb detonated. Later, Cameron got knocked out with a clock radio in water. John and Sarah were unable to remove her chip in time. "Samson & Delilah"
• Cameron got knocked out by the Fields Terminator. "Alpine Fields"

A few Terminators have had their chips removed and re-inserted:

• Vick activated a reboot function when John applied too much power to his chip, and was in the process of seizing control of a PC and its communication peripherals before being disconnected again. "Vick's Chip"
• Cameron rebooted after John took her chip out, and then re-inserted it. "Vick's Chip"
• Cameron also rebooted after John put her chip back in, after he had taken it out because she had gone rogue due to damage from Sarkissian's bomb. "Samson & Delilah"

Several Terminators have rebooted within 15 seconds after leaving standby mode.

• Vick Chamberlain may have been waiting for Derek Reese in the Resistance safe house while in standby mode; he did not attack Cameron until his arm was moved and revealed no barcode. "Gnothi Seauton"
• Carter rebooted from standby when a mercenary shoved him over. Interestingly, Carter displayed the autonomic response to catch himself on his fists before the eyes indicated a return to full function. Later, he rebooted from standby again when Cameron attacked him. "Heavy Metal"
• Myron Stark rebooted after being on standby for approximately 80 years. "Self Made Man"

Video games

• In Terminator: Resistance, the T-850 was shot in the head by Jessica Baron with her plasma sniper rifle. The Infiltrator fell onto the ground and laid there for a while, seemly knocked offline and then rebooting shortly afterward before standing up. Additionally, the T-47 can be shut down and will reboot if it suffers a certain amount of damage. The same is said for T-800s if they are shot by by a RG01, VG01, or Remington 870P. T-808s will shut down and reboot if the fuel tanks on their backs are shot.

Notes

• There appear to be two types of reboots:
  • A full reboot: This reboot takes two minutes.
  • A standby reactivation: This is a 15-second reboot from standby. It lasts until the Terminator is moved or triggered to be awake.
• A reboot appears to help clear corruption or damage to a Terminator's system:
  • The T-850 in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines rebooted itself after the T-X infected him with nanobots, and was able to restore his mission to ensure the survival of John Connor and Katherine Brewster. Interestingly, the reboot did not restore his original Skynet settings, but allowed him to access the mission that had been re-programmed into him by Kate Connor of 2033 as it was captured and reprogrammed by the Resistance in the film. However in the novel, the T-850 was programmed by the Resistance under John Connor's order in 2029 instead of being captured and reprogrammed.
  • Cameron rebooted after John Connor cleaned up and restored her chip in "Samson & Delilah", and was also able to override her mission of terminating John Connor. Previously, a bomb had damaged her chip and restored her original settings, which included an imperative to terminate John Connor.
• A reboot also allows some Terminator series to access alternate power supplies, such as the T-800 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day drawing power from heat sinks.

Quotes

Sarah: (referring to Cromartie) Did you stop him?

Cameron: 120 seconds and the system reboots.

Season One, "Pilot"

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(A corrupted Cameron investigates the holy water font for clues)

Sarah: Now. (activating the electrical trap) Two minutes.

John: I know.

Priest: What are you doing?

Sarah: Stay away. Please. I told you to go away. You have to stay away. Go! 70 seconds.

John: The knife isn't sharp enough.

Sarah: Well, push harder.

John: How much time?

Sarah: [sighs] 55.

John: Oh, wait, I see it. I see it, I see it. Screwdriver, screwdriver.

Sarah: 35.

John: Oh, it's not the right size.

Sarah: 20 seconds.

John: Okay, okay. The knife, the knife. Damn it! We can't do this.

Sarah: Come on, John.

John: She's waking up. She's waking up!

(John and Sarah flee the church as Cameron comes back online)

Season Two, "Samson & Delilah"

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External links

• Booting on Wikipedia