[olug] My console has fallen and it can't get up

[dbw]

Yer I actually tried this too, it was one of the first things I tried.
However the system is ATX architecture and hot plugging keyboards 
and mice isn't the same as it was back in the AT days.

update: still waiting on serial cables I ordered...  :o(

Thanks everyone!

-Derek

At Wednesday, 14 February 2001, you wrote:

>Have you tried leaving a keyboard connected directly to the system or
>connecting the system to a different port on the KVM?
>
>It's not that we don't trust you about it being a hardware problem.
We want
>to suggest any conceivable solution based on the problem you related.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: dbw [mailto:lug at robotz.com]
>Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2001 11:13 AM
>To: olug at bstc.net
>Subject: Re: [olug] My console has fallen and it can't get up
>
>At Tuesday, 13 February 2001, you wrote:
>>Just a suggestion, but it might be the keyboard.  Sometimes when
>a piece of
>>equipment is going bad it will work for limited periods of time.  Try
>>another keyboard and see if it works.
>>
>>Bill
>>
>
>I would like to respectfully stress with euphemism the point that
>this isn’t a hardware problem with my keyboard.  Mentioned in various
>follow-up posts are other hardware issues that are also not the problem
>with this particular system.
>
>I didn’t feel it was necessary to elaborate on how I tested these
>things and came to the conclusion before. I thought it would be enough
>that I simply said, “This is not a problem with the keyboard or 
hardware
>related”.  Now I will elaborate on this issue of hardware so that
>we may put any further hardware related suggestions to rest.
>
>1. Tried two different keyboards, same result
>2. The mouse is also dead on the machine when this occurs
>3. System is on a KVM switch serving several other PC servers and
>the keyboard works fine on those other systems.
>4. Not CPU/hardware/heat related because the services on the machine
>continue to run, such as the ipchains and bind.  These services 
continue
>running and working correctly even though the console is frozen and
>I cannot login to the box; such as I mentioned in the first post.
>If the CPU overheated and the system locked-up, then these services
>would also be inactive.
>5. I can ping the server and if a remote login service is enabled,
>I can access it and login that way as well.
>6. Monitor is also connected to KVM switch serving several other severs
>7. There is the usual harddrive activity and blinking of the unit
>lights such as the case if the box is running correctly.
>8. Other testing, etc. brings me to the conclusion that this is not
>a hardware related issue; unless the issue is so very obscure and
>only affects mingetty on Linux.  This box previously had OpenBSD
>install on it and there were no problems with the console locking
>up in this manner, so maybe that point could be #9 on the list.
>
>If I enabled a remote login service, such as rlogin, then I would
>be able to access this machine while the console is frozen.  For
>some reason, the keyboard and mouse do nothing when I try to login
>directly from the console, yet if I have a remote login service running
>I am able to access the machine, authenticate, and use a working
>shell via this method.  However, I do not wish to enable rlogin,
>telnet, ssh, or any remote login service on this unit for security
>reasons. (See previous posts for more details)
>
>Connecting the machine to another via serial cable will work the
>best for me.  Hopefully I will be able to, at minimum, do a shutdown
>–r and restart the server when this “console freeze” issue occurs
>in the future.  I appreciate the example on how to put a getty on
>a serial line from Dave.  I’ve ordered a serial cable and when that
>arrives I am going to attempt connection by way of this method.
>I may have further questions if I am unable to get this to work 
correctly.
>
>This console freeze issue does however intrigue me.  I have seen
>this before on another Linux system but only once.  On this particular
>system it seems to happen about once a week now, which is quite 
frequent.
>It without a doubt compromises my uptime and serves as an inconvenience,

>yet the server is technically still functional and serving its duty
>in accomplishing the work that it is supposed to do.
>
>The serial cable solution is a short-term fix that will allow me
>to gain access to the machine without compromising security.  Yet,
>it would be interesting to learn what is really causing this problem.
>I wonder if it is some issue with mingetty?
>
>Thank you,
>
>-Derek
>
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