Abstract: An automatic loading apparatus for a processing system for restarting an application program upon sensing a software failure. The application program periodically executes at least one portion of a reset code which addresses a peripheral device controller. The peripheral device controller times the frequency of the access by the processing system to determine whether the application program is executing successfully. If the application program does not access the peripheral control device within the normal period of execution for the reset code then this is an indication of a failure of the software to execute in the right sequence or a halt to the processing of the application program. Upon a failure indication, the peripheral control device disconnects power to the processing system and then reconnects power to enable an auto-boot to reload the application program and restart the software execution.