Strange o2 behavior without keyboard/mouse

[stormy]

Does anyone have an explanation for this? I've installed barrier on my o2 through sgug, as normal I've got it working perfectly. When using barrier I usually go into the PROM and type: "setenv nogfxkbd 1" to disable the requirement of needing a keyboard/mouse plugged in for the machine to work. This always works fine on my Octane(s)

But on the o2? WEIRD behavior. If I boot without the mouse/keyboard in the entire system boots SUPER SLOW. It takes ages for the 'system coming up' prom message to appear, then when IRIX is loading it's slow as molasses, seriously 10mins to load, then it fails to make it to the login screen and I have to force shutdown.

Soon as I plug the keyboard/mouse back in, all is perfectly fine again?!

Normally "setenv nogfxkbd 1" works fine! Has anyone else tried this on an o2?

 

[jenna64bit]

It's really weird to me it's PROM too, so it's not Barrier freaking out.

 

[flexion]

I'm using barrier too, but never tested it on the O2. Maybe she'll be happy if you plug in an old KVM adapter to simulate the presence of a keyboard.

 

[stormy]

Just to be clear (I thought this distinction might need clarification) I probably shouldn't have mentioned barrier, it's just the reason I want to disable the keyboard in the prom. So whether I have barrier or not, by entering that prom variable and booting without any input devices causes this effect.

I think you guys know that of course. Just for clarity.

The KVM adaptor to 'pretend' to be a keyboard could be a good idea, cheers @flexion

You know it's not the only weird thing: my O2 doesn't like my PS2 laser Logitech mouse either, it works only 50% of the time. So I use my original SGI ball mouse. This rolled in with the whole sound bug I have (where the internal speaker output becomes 'locked' and stops working till the next day) not sure it it is related but it's so buggy!! I read o2's were buggy machines but I had no idea.

Edit: I just remembered on one of my attempted boots without keyboard/mouse, in the boot consoles it came up with something like: error with mouse input 0x040 (or something similar) like it thought it had a mouse but was getting strange data.

My idea for fixing: I think the first thing I should do is replace the NVRAM. Clear the ENV's and have a fresh prom. I've ordered one of the coin cell replacements from Glitch works. Fingers crossed.

Edit: I don't know if either of you have the time but if you guys could try that prom variable with your o2's and let me know if it causes this on your systems it might be helpful.

 

[flexion]

I've pulled out my O2 and compared boot times with and without keyboard/mouse plugged in.
she definitely boots faster with peripherals plugged in! like 1:30 vs. 3:00.

With the "dummy" KVM dongle she boots as fast as with keyboard plugged in

There is no barrier installed on this O2.

 

[stormy]

I've pulled out my O2 and compared boot times with and without keyboard/mouse plugged in.
she definitely boots faster with peripherals plugged in! like 1:30 vs. 3:00.

With the "dummy" KVM dongle she boots as fast as with keyboard plugged in

There is no barrier installed on this O2.

Thank you for checking, at least the behavior doesn't seem to be a fault in my system. That's good to know. I ordered the same KVM cable as you, thanks for the suggestion & photo!

 

[stormy]

@flexion I got the KVM adapter in the post today and can confirm my o2 boots beautifully with it, I now can run it without kb/mouse using barrier! Very happy, cheers for the advice.

 

[johnnym]

I've pulled out my O2 and compared boot times with and without keyboard/mouse plugged in.
she definitely boots faster with peripherals plugged in! like 1:30 vs. 3:00.

I assume it switches to serial console (@ 9600 Baud) then, but are there so many boot messages for IRIX, that this could double the boot times?

 

[flexion]

I assume it switches to serial console (@ 9600 Baud) then, but are there so many boot messages for IRIX, that this could double the boot times?

hmm ..but why is it only slower on the O2? I don't notice a difference in boot time on Indigo2, Octane, Tezro etc. when there's no KB plugged in.
is the default console baud rate on O2 set to a lower value than Indigo2? (I rarely use my O2, it's just a R5k)

 

[johnnym]

No, I think they're all fixed to 9600 Baud by default. I usually only use OpenBSD on mine and always via serial console during boot, so I can't really tell if they behave differently when using the glass console.

I know of a system that does, when using the serial console, but it's not an SGI machine, it's a rp2470 and it requires me to constantly hit the enter key to continue the Linux boot, otherwise it stops right there. Doesn't happen when using the console via telnet IIRC. Maybe some quirk of the GSP.

 

[stormy]

@johnnym it's a bit more 'weird' than a baud-rate issue as far as I can tell. I think the system is constantly looking for a mouse - or - it's getting weird random data from either the keyboard/mouse port when they're not populated, causing the system to stall. Because it's not *just* slower, I observed the weird console message on mine which said something like 'mouse data error 0x400' and also mine took so long the graphical login prompt couldn't even come up, like the CPU was being swamped with something. The fact that mine was even slower than flexion's is probably because I've only got 180mhz r5k and as a result it was struggling / bugging out even more than his.