RE: Console Locking Up

["Tornio, Stephen W" <swtornio@ou.edu>]

While I can't dispute the behavior of a KVM for other people, I've been
using an Omniview SE with Win2k, OpenBSD 2.6 & 2.7, and BeOS without any
problems -- in fact, my uptime on OpenBSD can be measured by length of time
from the last release.  My current setup is 1 OpenBSD 2.7 always in X, 1
OpenBSD 2,7 always in console, and 2 Win2k boxes.  I use an Intellimouse
Explorer with the USB-PS2 adapter, and a regular PS2 keyboard.  I realize
this doesn't solve anyone's problem, but I hate to see a good KVM unfairly
maligned :)

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Wingate [mailto:srwingat@gte.net]
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2000 12:07 AM
To: Joe Votour; tony@themail.com
Cc: misc@openbsd.org
Subject: RE: Console Locking Up



I'm inclined to believe it is the KVM also. If you search thru the archives
for this topic almost everyone mentions that they have a KVM swith in the
mix, usually a lower end one.
I currently have Win2K Pro, Mandrake 7.1/Win98 dualboot and OpenBSD 2.7 all
on a Belkin OmniView SE (FD104). I have had my OpenBSD box lock up so many
times I replaced my NICs and even swapped motherboard and cpu's. In my case
I was initially able to solve it by running xdm on OpenBSD. However now it
seems the console locks then the NICs stop responding to remote sessions
soon afterwards.
You might try using xdm; giving the OpenBSD box it's own mouse; or taking it
off the KVM altogether. If the last one solves it, and I believe it will,
you'll have your answer.



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-misc@openbsd.org [mailto:owner-misc@openbsd.org]On Behalf Of
Joe Votour
Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2000 10:57 AM
To: tony@themail.com
Cc: misc@openbsd.org
Subject: Re: Console Locking Up


Tony,

Actually, I'd be willing to bet that it is the KVM switch, as I've had
very similar problems with them.  When I was doing networking setup for
my company's booth at E3 this year, we had a bunch of PC's in the back
running various game servers, connected via a KVM switch (one made by
Belkin that handles up to 8 connections).  I had many Windows PC's and
an OpenBSD PC (running OpenBSD 2.6), and although all of the Windows
PC's were fine (running Windows 98 and NT 4.0), the OpenBSD machine
would mysteriously lock up on the console.  It was still accepting SSH
connections, but the console was dead, and resetting the switch didn't
do anything.

At home, I have four PC's, and decided to get a KVM switch.  Here at
home I have three OpenBSD 2.7 machines, and one Linux/Windows 98 (dual
boot) PC.  In this case, things were fine when I stuck to the console
only, but as soon as I ran X Windows on the Linux box, the OpenBSD
boxes wouldn't take input on the console.

I returned the darn switch and decided to run my OpenBSD boxes headless
(although I'd love to have a KVM switch, as things would be MUCH
easier).  I haven't tried FreeBSD on a KVM switch, so I can't comment
on that, but that's my experience.

Joe

On Sat, 02 Sep 2000, you wrote:

> > I'm running OpenBSD 2.6-STABLE, and I'm experiencing wierd console
> locking problems. If I a) login via console and don't interact with
> the system through the console, I find it locks up, or if I don't
> login for a long time, the console stops responding. The system still
> works (ie ssh, ftp, dns -- its my router/firewall system), it's just
> the console locking I have a problem with. The machine itself is a
> Dell OptiPlex GXi (Pentium 166 with 64 megs of ram), and it is on a
> KVM switch. I seriously doubt it's the kvm switch thats the problem,
> because I also have a linux and FreeBSD box connected to it, and no
> problems there. If anyone has a solution or maybe an idea, please
> email me back.
>
> --------------------------------
> Tony Lambiris [tony@themail.com]
> OpenBSD: Because I care. [www.openbsd.org]
> --------------------------------
> __________________________________________________________________
> Make A Buck Or Two @ TheMail.com - Free Internet Email
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