Will my PC be ok if I shut down or rebooted by holding down the power button?

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Deep Blue

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Hiya

Today I just did some really stupid experiments and now I'm worried if my computer is ok

1) A while I ago after my PC crashed and rebooted, and at the "log in" screen I pressed the power button for about 2 seconds and windows shut down, was what I did could damage or corrupt my PC/HDD?

2) I tried another test to see how the power button works, while my windows finish rebooting and at the log in screen I hold the power button, *windows says it is shutting down*, *PC completely finishes shutting down with the power LED light fully off*, then I finally let go of the power button, was what I did was safe or could have damage my computer/HDD?

3) I tried another experiment but this time a bit further, PC rebooted again and at the log in screen I press and hold onto the power button, *windows is shutting down* *computer completely finish shutting down* *computer restarts/turns on again*, then I finally let go of the power button and got the *got the windows did not shut down properly, do you want to start in safe mode msg*, was what I did was safe, etc?

4) And the last experiment that cause me to stop once and for all, PC rebooted and at the log in screen I press and hold onto the power button, *windows says it's shutting down* *PC fully turns off* *PC restarts with power light on* *PC turns off and restarts again!!!(the second restart happened when it still hasn't reach the log in screen yet, it resetted during around the part when the monitor had the black background with all the white text words or could be when the windows loading logo was up)* I was horrified after the computer restarted while it was still booting up, I quickly let go of my power button. Would this have damage my motherboard/BOIS/CMOS/Hard drive or files, etc?

Sorry for all the questions, I don't mean to ask so much, if someone can explain to me how the mechanics of holding down the power button works I'll greatly appreciated it, sorry for my awkward tone and many thanks in advance.

Currently I'm using windows 7, 64 bit.
 
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t53186

t53186

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While typically not the preferred method you can shutdown and do other operations with the power button. All the various power button features can be accessed through Control Panel>Hardware and sound>Power Options>System Settings.

No you will not harm any components by using the power button.
 
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Heironious

Heironious

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Now, what can happen if you DO power it down ungracefully by using the hold for 6 seconds or reset button methods? If the system happens to be in the middle of writing data, in particular the Registry, the system will corrupt whatever it's writing, and if in an unfavorable state (bad luck), may corrupt the hard drive itself. What this means is that next time it goes to boot, it may not recognize the hard drive or won't be able to boot successfully and you will have to likelly reinstall the OS and possibly lose all the data that was on that hard drive (if you were unwise enough to back it up). Yes, I have had this happen in the course of working on computers for the last 20 years.

Taken from http://forums.cnet.com/7726-7591_102-5200646.html
 
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X79

X79

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Deep Blue

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It's not the "turning off" the computer that I'm worried about, but holding the power button for like 20 secs, when the computer finishes shutting down, and still continue to hold onto the button, and for some reason it reboots up, while in the booting phase it reboots again, and then I finally let go of the button.

It gives me a feeling if I keep on holding the power button it will continuously command the PC to keep on trying to reboot over and over again, kind of like pressing a character key on the keyboard to spam letters, etc. Does anyone know if this is normal or my power button is faulty or could any of my computer hardware or HDD had been damage/corrupted. My computer rebooted when it was still starting up, this happened before the windows log in screen was up.
 
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Deep Blue

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I wun do that again, I just want to check will my computer be ok if I've earlier been holding down the power button the whole time and it "restarted" my computer when it was still booting up(it rebooted before the windows log in screen appeared). I'm most concern about is the reboot when my computer was still starting up, just worried could it have corrupt my computer system/hardware or damaged my HDD/files. Sorry I don't mean to sound like a worry freak, it's just I have OCD in life and some social disorder.
 
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Deep Blue

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Sorry I forgot to mention the reason why I was holding down the power button was b/c after my computer crashed and rebooted the monitor display won't work. I wasn't sure what to do so I press and hold onto the power button until it shuts down.
 
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orthokid

orthokid

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I would like to know what kind of computer have and if you have the abilities to open it and access the motherboard inside
 
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orthokid

orthokid

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Ok, go in and clean the WHOLE motherboard, there are videos on how to do it. It looks like your build is older, so dust has built up. If any thing in the dust is conductive it could short the motherboard. Anything related to the connection of the power button that can short it will mess it up.
 
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Deep Blue

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I just did an test earlier with my experiment PC. I notice if I hard boot the computer(by holding the power button) when the windows logo loading screen is up during the HDD boot up process, the next time it starts up it'll show a message saying something like "computer was shut down improperly while it was starting up, etc" and gives you which mode to start up from.

I never saw this message after when I was holding down the power button that caused my "main" computer to reboot during the start up process, which means this reboot happened before the windows logo loading screen was up. I assume the reboot accident only happened when my computer was performing a POST. Not sure am I making any sense.
 
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Deep Blue

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Thanks, I'll be sure to check out some videos on youtube.
 
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