Method and system for shutting down and restarting a computer system

A method for shutting down a computer system having a removable processor board, comprising:

• generating a processor interrupt in response to an activation of a mechanical switch;
• switching the processor from a first operating mode to a second operating mode in response to the processor interrupt;
• determining a cause of the processor interrupt;
• switching the processor from the second operating mode to the first operating mode;
• and
• notifying a software component executing within the first operating mode to shut down;
• wherein said notifying includes a message to the software component.

A method for restarting a computer system having a processor and a memory, comprising:

• periodically storing system performance information in a memory;
• generating a processor interrupt in response to a system anomaly, said processor interrupt is a system management interrupt;
• switching the processor from a first operating mode to a second operating mode in response to the processor interrupt, said first operating mode is a protected mode and said second operating mode is a system management mode;
• determining whether to restart the computer system based on the performance information;
• and
• restarting the computer system if so determined.