What does the pause/ break key do on keyboards?

Question

Or Sys Rq for that matter?

Answer 1

Sys Rq was originally put there by IBM. It was intended to launch some recovery program that they never implemented.

Pause/Break, as far as I know, only stop a program from continuing in DOS. This would probably be the "Break" function, as it "breaks" the program from continuing.

Answer 2

pause/break button is rarely used these days, but back in the old DOS days, and really even with modern PCs, you can use it to pause a program from running, typically.

when your computer is booting up, you can use the pause button to pause your computer from booting, up until the windows logo comes up, that is. i use this often to find out what the configuration of a computer is. most of the time, the info flies by so quickly that i can't read fast enough before it disappears.

you can also use it in some windows based programs. pause would actually pause the program. some games support that key as well. with the OS, you can press and hold the windows button on your keyboard and press the pause to get your system properties window.

i've only come across sys request key for a program just once and it was using a as/400 green screen. i'm not aware of any other programs that uses those keys, but i'm guessing all these keys trace back to old DOS days. Unix environments also uses these keys, but i forget what they are used for.

Answer 3

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Just kidding. When PCs were just DOS, the button was used to stop more text from apperaing on the screen.

Now, people use it to stop the action in mordern games.

look here for Sys RQ:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SysRq

I hope this helps.

Answer 4

Hey......How u Doin.......

Well......As it says......It "Pauses/Breaks" operations.......in DOS......or when booting.........try this out:

When u press the power button to boot up.......before windows starts....don't u get some loading screens................when still in those screens....press it (u have "only", few seconds) and ur PC Will stop!!!!.............. to continue.......press Enter......it will wait for u to do somethin!!!

For instance, u need it if u want to boot from a CD .....and you r booting.....not restarting.......OMG how i need it!!!!

Hey.......Hope this helps a bit.......
Bye

Answer 5

Try checking to see if it is disabled in the bios.