The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> After a power cut, my headless server -debian testing 2.6ish - wont
> reboot without keyboard input..comes up with a floppy error.
>
> I tried telling the BIOS it had no floppies, but it still does it..is
> this a Linux issue or a BIOS type issue..?
>
> Cant remember at what stage it asks for keyboard input, cos it doesn't
> have a monitor on it mostly..
>
> Its an athlon board of some sort.
>
> Dmesg doesn't show any errors..

I normally look in /var/log/messages ; the lines both before and after the
last one showing the (attempted) reboot. I would show it to you, but the
last one I would have fell off the 5 week cliff.

I also infer you need a larger UPS since your current one seems to have been
unable to do a controlled shutdown of your system.

--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ PGP-Key: 9A2FC99A Registered Machine 241939.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
^^-^^ 12:45:01 up 77 days, 14 min, 3 users, load average: 4.43, 4.41, 4.30

The Natural Philosopher writes:
> After a power cut, my headless server -debian testing 2.6ish - wont
> reboot without keyboard input..comes up with a floppy error.

> I tried telling the BIOS it had no floppies, but it still does it..is
> this a Linux issue or a BIOS type issue..?

It would be helpful to have more detail (such as exact error messages...)
but 10:1 this is a BIOS problem.

I have an old Aptiva that I use for a router (no keyboard or monitor).
Worked fine for months and then suddenly decided it couldn't boot without a
mouse (nothing relevant in the BIOS config). It now has a mouse taped to
the case.
--
John Hasler
john@dhh.gt.org
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, WI USA

Jean-David Beyer wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> After a power cut, my headless server -debian testing 2.6ish - wont
>> reboot without keyboard input..comes up with a floppy error.
>>
>> I tried telling the BIOS it had no floppies, but it still does it..is
>> this a Linux issue or a BIOS type issue..?
>>
>> Cant remember at what stage it asks for keyboard input, cos it doesn't
>> have a monitor on it mostly..
>>
>> Its an athlon board of some sort.
>>
>> Dmesg doesn't show any errors..
>
> I normally look in /var/log/messages ; the lines both before and after the
> last one showing the (attempted) reboot. I would show it to you, but the
> last one I would have fell off the 5 week cliff.
>
> I also infer you need a larger UPS since your current one seems to have been
> unable to do a controlled shutdown of your system.
>
What UPS?
:-)

power cuts are not hugely common, and since the machine is no hugely
loaded, nor has a 24x7 requirement, and was built from free donated bits
plus a new DVD drive, a UPS is a bit of an extravagance..

John Hasler wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher writes:
>> After a power cut, my headless server -debian testing 2.6ish - wont
>> reboot without keyboard input..comes up with a floppy error.
>
>> I tried telling the BIOS it had no floppies, but it still does it..is
>> this a Linux issue or a BIOS type issue..?
>
> It would be helpful to have more detail (such as exact error messages...)
> but 10:1 this is a BIOS problem.
>

Yep. Could well be its losing its battery backed configs..


> I have an old Aptiva that I use for a router (no keyboard or monitor).
> Worked fine for months and then suddenly decided it couldn't boot without a
> mouse (nothing relevant in the BIOS config). It now has a mouse taped to
> the case.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> I tried telling the BIOS it had no floppies, but it still does it..is
> this a Linux issue or a BIOS type issue..?

You may also need to tell the BIOS that it has no floppy drive controller. This
may be under a different menu heading (I can't remember without rebooting), and
will probably read something like:

Onboard FDD controller: Disabled

You also need to remove the floppy disk from the boot sequence:

Your BIOS settings contain the following settings:

Floppy Drive A: Not Installed
Onboard FDD controller: Disabled
Boot Device Order: CDROM Hard Drive

(Or something like that)

Regards,

Mark.

--
Mark Hobley
393 Quinton Road West
QUINTON
Birmingham
B32 1QE

Telephone: (0121) 247 1596
International: 0044 121 247 1596

Email: markhobley at hotpop dot donottypethisbit com

http://markhobley.yi.org/

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> Jean-David Beyer wrote:
>> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>> After a power cut, my headless server -debian testing 2.6ish - wont
>>> reboot without keyboard input..comes up with a floppy error.
>>>
>>> I tried telling the BIOS it had no floppies, but it still does it..is
>>> this a Linux issue or a BIOS type issue..?
>>>
>>> Cant remember at what stage it asks for keyboard input, cos it doesn't
>>> have a monitor on it mostly..
>>>
>>> Its an athlon board of some sort.
>>>
>>> Dmesg doesn't show any errors..
>>
>> I normally look in /var/log/messages ; the lines both before and after
>> the
>> last one showing the (attempted) reboot. I would show it to you, but the
>> last one I would have fell off the 5 week cliff.
>>
>> I also infer you need a larger UPS since your current one seems to
>> have been
>> unable to do a controlled shutdown of your system.
>>
> What UPS?
> :-)
>
> power cuts are not hugely common, and since the machine is no hugely
> loaded, nor has a 24x7 requirement, and was built from free donated bits
> plus a new DVD drive, a UPS is a bit of an extravagance..

I assumed, wrongly, I perceive, that since it was a server, the server's
clients would be upset by any downtime, and that to satisfy their perceived
needs, you needed to be up all the time -- except possibly for scheduled
downtime for maintenance, for example.

I imagine different power suppliers deliver different grades of service.
Around here, say once or twice a year, I get long power failures (those
lasting over an hour). OTOH I get frequent power failures, often in clusters
of about 1 to 3 seconds, enough to make incandescent lights flicker. My
house has all new wiring from the street to my computers. The power company
replaced the all the pole transformers and the wires from the transformers
to the houses around here. Last year, I replaced the old power panel with a
new 200 amp, 220 volt "two phase" one. For my big computer there is a 20 Amp
circuit supplying just the outlet where its UPS is plugged in. For my other
computer, there is another 20 Amp circuit supplying just the outlet where
the UPS for my other computer and the UPS for my Verizon FiOS fibre-optic to
copper box is plugged in. Each of these is on the opposite "phase" of the
power in the power panel. So I do not imagine these power problems are local
to my neighborhood.

I do not believe my machine can withstand a three-second power interruption.
So I hope your power is better than mine, and that your server's clients do
not mind when they are down long enough to fix the problem.

--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ PGP-Key: 9A2FC99A Registered Machine 241939.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
^^-^^ 11:30:01 up 77 days, 22:59, 3 users, load average: 4.48, 4.31, 4.17

On Fri, 04 May 2007, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.setup, in article
<1178294784.99699.0@iris.uk.clara.net>, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

>After a power cut, my headless server -debian testing 2.6ish - wont
>reboot without keyboard input..comes up with a floppy error.

Agree with the others - BIOS issue. Question to you - whose BIOS?

>I tried telling the BIOS it had no floppies, but it still does it..is
>this a Linux issue or a BIOS type issue..?

BIOS issue (POST or Power On Self Test hardware checks - can I talk to
the peripherals that are recorded as being here) - long before the Linux
kernel is loaded - even before the boot loader.

>Cant remember at what stage it asks for keyboard input, cos it doesn't
>have a monitor on it mostly..

If you mean input from a human, the only points where there would be a
chance is at the BIOS password if set, boot loader if a default is not
set, boot loader if a password has been set, and finally at a login
prompt. The unattended keyboard check (can I talk to the keyboard)
occurs somewhere after the RAM test if enabled, and _usually_ before
floppy or hard drive checks. This is a BIOS dependent things, as a
keyboard failure was a show stopper, while a drive failure merely
brought up 'Cassette Basic' on the original PC.

>Its an athlon board of some sort.

BIOS manufacturer and version?

>Dmesg doesn't show any errors..

Because Linux hasn't even been loaded yet.

Old guy

Jean-David Beyer wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> Jean-David Beyer wrote:
>>> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>> After a power cut, my headless server -debian testing 2.6ish - wont
>>>> reboot without keyboard input..comes up with a floppy error.
>>>>
>>>> I tried telling the BIOS it had no floppies, but it still does it..is
>>>> this a Linux issue or a BIOS type issue..?
>>>>
>>>> Cant remember at what stage it asks for keyboard input, cos it doesn't
>>>> have a monitor on it mostly..
>>>>
>>>> Its an athlon board of some sort.
>>>>
>>>> Dmesg doesn't show any errors..
>>> I normally look in /var/log/messages ; the lines both before and after
>>> the
>>> last one showing the (attempted) reboot. I would show it to you, but the
>>> last one I would have fell off the 5 week cliff.
>>>
>>> I also infer you need a larger UPS since your current one seems to
>>> have been
>>> unable to do a controlled shutdown of your system.
>>>
>> What UPS?
>> :-)
>>
>> power cuts are not hugely common, and since the machine is no hugely
>> loaded, nor has a 24x7 requirement, and was built from free donated bits
>> plus a new DVD drive, a UPS is a bit of an extravagance..
>
> I assumed, wrongly, I perceive, that since it was a server, the server's
> clients would be upset by any downtime, and that to satisfy their perceived
> needs, you needed to be up all the time -- except possibly for scheduled
> downtime for maintenance, for example.
>
Well I use it as a files server so I can share files and printers wih my
wife's old Mac, and its recently taken up a positin to go online as a
web server for a very small site that so far has juts 700 people
looking at it on an irregular basis..an its a place my wife can showcase
websites she is developing for clients..so no one is paying anything for
its use..its just a development and utility platform.

> I imagine different power suppliers deliver different grades of service.
> Around here, say once or twice a year, I get long power failures (those
> lasting over an hour). OTOH I get frequent power failures, often in clusters
> of about 1 to 3 seconds, enough to make incandescent lights flicker.

Yup. That's a tree branch across the line, or the wires clashing
together. That's what got it into this state...I have it on 'no auto
reboot' since when we do get an outage, chances are the power goes up
and down several times before its cleared.

My
> house has all new wiring from the street to my computers. The power company
> replaced the all the pole transformers and the wires from the transformers
> to the houses around here. Last year, I replaced the old power panel with a
> new 200 amp, 220 volt "two phase" one. For my big computer there is a 20 Amp
> circuit supplying just the outlet where its UPS is plugged in. For my other
> computer, there is another 20 Amp circuit supplying just the outlet where
> the UPS for my other computer and the UPS for my Verizon FiOS fibre-optic to
> copper box is plugged in. Each of these is on the opposite "phase" of the
> power in the power panel. So I do not imagine these power problems are local
> to my neighborhood.
>
> I do not believe my machine can withstand a three-second power interruption.
> So I hope your power is better than mine, and that your server's clients do
> not mind when they are down long enough to fix the problem.
>
Nah. I am more irritaed on having to wait for the lights to stop
flashing, then 'press enter' to get it to carry on booting..