Internal Serial PC Watchdog Timer Description

This is a small circuit board that mounts inside the PC and monitors a PC for hardware/software lock-ups. It provides a solution to reboot PC file servers, telecom, security, kiosk, video surveillance, digital signage and industrial systems that occasionally lock up but must be available on a continuous basis. Increase your system availabilty and protect against unexpected downtime or blue screens (BSOD).

The Serial PC Watchdog timer ships with utility programs for control & "tickling" of the board. Sample source code and libraries are also provided in Visual "C" and Visual Basic to allow users to write their own applications to configure or "tickle" the board. Use the CD image download below to see the samples provided along with all the programmer's documentation. The Serial PC Watchdog works with Win 2K XP Vista Win7 Win 8 Server2003 Server2008  (32 & 64 Bit Versions on all). It also has LINUX support.

This device has been tested with USB to Serial devices based on the FTDI and the Prolific chip. It should work fine with other versions also. The board does ship with a 6 foot DB-9M to DB-9F cable.

Features

• Acts as a pass-through serial port with standard PC DB-9 connectors. Allows you to keep a MODEM or other serial device connected.
• Monitors the PC serial port for control line activity (TxD, DTR, & RTS) from the PC.
• Monitors the Ring Indicator (RI) line from a MODEM on the serial port for excessive rings without an answer.
• Can be used right from the box without any support programs if you already have constant serial port activity.
• Time-out delays available from 5 seconds to 2 hours
• Also has a Command Mode that allows a user program to exert additional control over the PC Watchdog.
• Two externally visible LEDs show status of PC Watchdog.
• Has an on-board temperature sensor that can be read by user program.
• PC Watchdog can also reset the PC on an over-temp condition such as a fan failure.
• On-board buzzer sounds at reset and over-temp condition.
• PC Watchdog has second relay that a user can control via software
• Programmable power-on delay to allow the PC to complete its initialization sequence.
• Can occupy an empty slot in PC cabinet.
• Gets its +5V power from standard disk drive connector.
• Comes with Reset Cable and 6 foot DB-9 M-F serial cable.
• Support for PCs without a motherboard reset header available with: ATX-Reset-Adapter

The Internal and External Serial PC Watchdogs now have full Windows DLL support with the new Universal DLL released in April of 2010. They are also fully supported with the included Config and Tickle programs for all versions of Windows that support Net Framework 2.0 and higher.