Editing Multivibrator (section)

===Initial power-up===
When the circuit is first powered up, neither transistor will be switched on. However, this means that at this stage they will both have high base voltages and therefore a tendency to switch on, and inevitable slight asymmetries will mean that one of the transistors is first to switch on. This will quickly put the circuit into one of the above states, and oscillation will ensue. In practice, oscillation always occurs for practical values of ''R'' and ''C''.

However, if the circuit is temporarily held with both bases high, for longer than it takes for both capacitors to charge fully, then the circuit will remain in this stable state, with both bases at 0.60 V, both collectors at 0 V, and both capacitors charged backwards to −0.60 V. This can occur at startup without external intervention, if ''R'' and ''C'' are both very small.