On Tue, 2007-03-06 at 09:52 -0800, Gareth Howlett wrote: > Gareth Howlett wrote: > > > > > > We've got a number of computers sitting around the office that don't > > detect PS/2 peripherals when plugged-in. If they were plugged-in > during > > boot they work just fine, but if they were plugged-in after boot they > don't. > > > > 1) Anyone here ever heard of this before? > > > > 2) Is there anything I can do about it (force a kernel > re-detect?) > > > > > > > > I've checked the BIOS settings and I'm using FC4 (2.6.12-1.1447). > Dmesg > > and /var/log/messages don't display anything relevant (in the > after-boot > > case). > > > First of all, most (all) PS/2 devices are not designed to be > hotplugged. Depending on the BIOS, it may disable the PS/2 mouse > connection if there is not a mouse plugged in at boot. There may be > a BIOS setting for this. But if I remember correctly, this is a > choice of off or auto. > > Depending on your hardware, you may also be running the risk of > destroying the PS/2 device or motherboard circuitry. > > Mikkel > -- > > Its likely that you have blown the ps2 ports by hot plugging. The bios > will > only report whats plugged into them durring the post test, so if you > plug in > a mouse or key board after the post test has finished the biosdoes not > see > them > > -- > > > They aren't blown... just unresponsive until after reboot. I had > imagined it was much like Mikkel said but I wanted to confirm my > suspicions. It's really too bad there isn't a way to ask BIOS to search > again. Anyway, no big deal - I figure we've got two options... > > - Live with it. > > - Find a PS/2 adapter which always shows a peripheral connected (I know > they exist for monitor connections). Third option, edit /etc/sysconfig/kudzu and set "SAFE=yes". This disables PS/2 probes (and some other stuff). It's worth a try, anyway. Fourth option, use USB keyboards and mice to get around the issue. Make sure you have "legacy" USB support turned on in the BIOS. > And a note for next time - make sure we have enough PS/2 ports and base > our KVM on it as well. If you can, that'll work. We have 1400 servers so that's not an option with us. The kudzu poke fixes a lot of our issues, the USB stuff fixes even more and is the only way to get around Windows booting without PS/2 peripherals plugged in. Our crash carts use USB keyboards and mice along with the USB-PS/2 adapters that come with them. Our rule is "try the PS/2 stuff first, then try the USB". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Principal Engineer rstevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - - VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com - - - - Never put off 'til tommorrow what you can forget altogether! - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
