Re: POST problems with Debian and Asus P3B-F

From: John-Paul Stewart (jpstewart_at_sympatico.ca)
Date: 01/25/04 

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 17:39:51 -0500

Darrin Wegge wrote:
>
> I am using an Asus P3B-F motherboard with an PII 400 MHz cpu and I am
> finding a very perplexing problem.
>
> When I try to switch between 3 terminals using a OmniCube 4-port, the Linux
> box gets fouled up and won't power down properly. I then try to power it
> back up and it will power but not POST.

If it is failing to POST, it not a software problem. The system is
failing long before the operating system takes over. You have a
hardware problem.

> I am using a ViewSonic a75f monitor
> and the other two boxes are running Windows98 and 2000.
>
> If I then take the Linux box and isolate it with its own monitor (Viewsonic
> 15E) , keyboard mouse etc it works fine - runs like a champ. But if I
> connect back to the OmniCube, it gets all hoarked up again.

So that motherboard doesn't like that KVM switch. Possibly the system
isn't seeing the keyboard and is failing to POST as a result. Look for
a BIOS option to disable that behaviour. Most systems will have "halt
on all errors", "halt on no errors" settings (possibly with a few other
values) in the BIOS.

> Is there something about Linux that can't work with these OmniCube 4-port
> boxes or could it be the motherboard?

Like I said before: if it is failing to POST it is *not* Linux. Since
it works with a keyboard directly attached, I'd say it's the interaction
between the motherboard and the KVM switch at fault. Possibly the cheap
KVM switch doesn't emulate a keyboard properly and the BIOS halts as a
result.

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