Dead keyboards after boot with no keyboard

[Ceri Davies]

On Mon, Apr 14, 2003 at 12:29:52PM +0100, Wayne Pascoe wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> We have a problem with not being able to plug a keyboard into our
> machines if they are booted without keyboards.
> 
> We don't have a KVM in our colo, and when our machines are booted, they
> don't have keyboards plugged in.
> 
> However, when we have a problem with a machine, we need to plug a
> keyboard in. This is not recognised at all, and we have to powercycle
> the machine, with no way of trying to shut down cleanly.
> 
> Is there a fix to this ?

Get a laptop, and go in via the serial console.

Once a machine is booted without a keyboard then the BIOS won't pick it
up if you do plug one in (unless it's USB), so FreeBSD won't find it either.
Some people have even mentioned that you stand a chance of frying the
motherboard by plugging a keyboard in at this stage too (although it's
probably just a small risk).

Ceri
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