[OpenIndiana-discuss] System halts on boot when there is no keyboard

[Robin Axelsson]

On 2011-04-10 16:47, Nikola M. wrote:
> On 04/ 9/11 01:24 PM, Robin Axelsson wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I just discovered that the system simply won't boot when there is no
>> keyboard present, all I see is a dead boot splash without the rolling
>> orange sausage.
>>
>> The intention of the system is to run it as a headless file server but
>> I had to attach a keyboard to take care of regular HTSF errors that
>> occurred in the BIOS. After a few BIOS updates the errors still occur
>> but I don't need a keyboard to reset the system and try again until
>> the BIOS can proceed without HTSF errors.
>>
>> I also noticed that as soon as I insert the keyboard to the PS/2 port
>> the orange sausage starts to roll and the system boots up, so it is as
>> if the system is just sitting there waiting for a keyboard to say
>> "Hello".
>>
>> This looks like a bug to me but is there a way to circumvent this and
>> still be able to use a keyboard whenever I plug one in on the PS/2
>> port while it's booted up and running (X)?
> I guess system should boot without  keyboard and if it is getting to
> that after starting X (sausage) that might be feature bug. And might be
> reported.
> I was always thinking about that thing as of progress or as a snake but
> I suppose it is a matter of perspective.
>
> On the other hand, you probably will not log in from X on local graphics
> X console, so you might disable graphical gdm as service from loading
> and see how it behaves.
> $pfexec svcadm disable svc:/application/graphical-login/gdm
>
> All that, providing that BIOS on your machine allows it to even start
> booting without keyboard attached. Try setting Errors: None, All Errors:
> All, but disk/key in BIOS settings, that might do it for most normal x86
> PC bioses I have seen.
>
>
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>
I'll give it a try. Ken Mays (who replied directly to me and not to the 
list) has told me that this is a known issue and should be fixed in 
build 148b. This update can be retrieved from the 
http://pkg.openindiana.org/dev-il/ repository. It would be interesting 
to know how it differs from the ordinary /dev repo.

But I find it hard to see how BIOS has anything to do with it. I do get 
past the BIOS_post and the GRUB bootloader. If the BIOS would object I 
suppose I would get a No Keyboard BIOS_post error and a halt in the BIOS 
and not while OpenIndiana is booting up.