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<DIV ALIGN=center>Robert Pogson</DIV><BR>
<DIV ALIGN=center></DIV><BR>
<DIV ALIGN=center>robert.pogson@gmail.com</DIV><BR>
<DIV ALIGN=center></DIV><BR>
<DIV ALIGN=center>2007-10-23</DIV><BR>
<DIV ALIGN=center></DIV><BR>
<BR>
I was shocked that my system that has been reliable for years did not boot yesterday. It froze while displaying the grub menu. Several other symptoms:<BR>
<BR>
<UL>
<LI>SystemRescueCD was very jerky while booting. Long pauses at several points.<BR>
<BR>
<LI>software RAID arrays were not starting properly and I had to chroot to get into my system from SystemRescueCD. The /dev/mdx x values seemed random.<BR>
<BR>
<LI>removing the USB mouse before or during boot made things work. Pulling the mouse out unfreezes the GRUB menu.<BR>
<BR>
</UL>
<BR>
<BR>
By using the SystemRescueCD, I can see the software RAID /dev/mdx are confused when the USB mouse is in place during boot. I moved boot to an ext3 partition and this had no effect on the freezing but it did allow me to boot using the RescueCD after resyncing the RAID arrays. Using the RescueCD, I can boot disk1 or disk2 and see an error 17 with the mouse in place and normal booting with the mouse unplugged. I tried USB legacy support on and off in the BIOS setup. That made no difference.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
I have always used a PS/2 mouse with this system but a mouse failure caused me to use the USB mouse a couple of months back. This is the first shutdown period of the system since August. It serves as a GNU/Linux terminal server and is always heavily loaded with hundreds of processes. Memtest also is clean.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Beast:/home/pogson# uname -a<BR>
<BR>
Linux Beast 2.6.18-5-amd64 #1 SMP Sun Aug 12 20:31:42 UTC 2007 x86_64 GNU/Linux<BR>
<BR>
Beast:/home/pogson#<BR>
<BR>
Beast:/home/pogson# lspci<BR>
<BR>
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8T800Pro Host Bridge<BR>
<BR>
00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8T800Pro Host Bridge<BR>
<BR>
00:00.2 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8T800Pro Host Bridge<BR>
<BR>
00:00.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8T800Pro Host Bridge<BR>
<BR>
00:00.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8T800Pro Host Bridge<BR>
<BR>
00:00.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8T800Pro Host Bridge<BR>
<BR>
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI bridge [K8T800/K8T890 South]<BR>
<BR>
00:06.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)<BR>
<BR>
00:07.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)<BR>
<BR>
00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)<BR>
<BR>
00:0f.0 RAID bus controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VIA VT6420 SATA RAID Controller (rev 80)<BR>
<BR>
00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)<BR>
<BR>
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)<BR>
<BR>
00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)<BR>
<BR>
00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)<BR>
<BR>
00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)<BR>
<BR>
00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86)<BR>
<BR>
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South]<BR>
<BR>
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)<BR>
<BR>
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration<BR>
<BR>
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map<BR>
<BR>
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller<BR>
<BR>
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control<BR>
<BR>
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV5M64 [RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro] (rev 15)<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Beast:/home/pogson# apt-cache policy<BR>
<BR>
Package files:<BR>
<BR>
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status<BR>
<BR>
release a=now<BR>
<BR>
500 http://localhost etch/contrib Packages<BR>
<BR>
release v=4.0r1,o=Debian,a=stable,l=Debian,c=contrib<BR>
<BR>
origin localhost<BR>
<BR>
500 http://localhost etch/main Packages<BR>
<BR>
release v=4.0r1,o=Debian,a=stable,l=Debian,c=main<BR>
<BR>
origin localhost<BR>
<BR>
Pinned packages:<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
The mouse that triggered the problem is<BR>
<BR>
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000<BR>
<BR>
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000<BR>
<BR>
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000<BR>
<BR>
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000<BR>
<BR>
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1241:1177 Belkin F8E842-DL Mouse<BR>
<BR>
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
usbview shows:<BR>
<BR>
usbhid<BR>
<BR>
Speed: 1.5Mb/s (low)<BR>
<BR>
USB Version: 1.10<BR>
<BR>
Device Class: 00(>ifc )<BR>
<BR>
Device Subclass: 00<BR>
<BR>
Device Protocol: 00<BR>
<BR>
Maximum Default Endpoint Size: 8<BR>
<BR>
Number of Configurations: 1<BR>
<BR>
Vendor Id: 1241<BR>
<BR>
Product Id: 1177<BR>
<BR>
Revision Number: 2.70<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Config Number: 1<BR>
<BR>
Number of Interfaces: 1<BR>
<BR>
Attributes: a0<BR>
<BR>
MaxPower Needed: 100mA<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Interface Number: 0<BR>
<BR>
Name: usbhid<BR>
<BR>
Alternate Number: 0<BR>
<BR>
Class: 03(HID ) <BR>
<BR>
Sub Class: 1<BR>
<BR>
Protocol: 2<BR>
<BR>
Number of Endpoints: 1<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Endpoint Address: 81<BR>
<BR>
Direction: in<BR>
<BR>
Attribute: 3<BR>
<BR>
Type: Int.<BR>
<BR>
Max Packet Size: 8<BR>
<BR>
Interval: 10ms<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
pogson@Beast:~$ cat /etc/fstab;cat /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf<BR>
<BR>
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.<BR>
<BR>
#<BR>
<BR>
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass><BR>
<BR>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0<BR>
<BR>
/dev/md0 / jfs defaults,noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1<BR>
<BR>
/dev/md1 /home jfs defaults,noatime 0 2<BR>
<BR>
/dev/md2 /var jfs defaults,noatime 0 2<BR>
<BR>
/dev/hda1 /boot ext3 defaults 0 2<BR>
<BR>
/dev/hda2 none swap sw 0 0<BR>
<BR>
/dev/hdc2 none swap sw 0 0<BR>
<BR>
/dev/hdd /media/cdrom0 iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0<BR>
<BR>
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0<BR>
<BR>
#//c-machine/camerapics /home/pix smbfs ro,username=dene,password=""<BR>
<BR>
/var/run /var/chroot32/var/run none bind 0 0<BR>
<BR>
proc /var/chroot32/proc proc defaults 0 0<BR>
<BR>
/dev/sda2 /var/www/html/library/stacks squashfs ro,auto 0 0<BR>
<BR>
/dev/sda3 /var/www/html/ubuntu jfs ro,noauto,owner,quota 0 0<BR>
<BR>
/dev/sda4 /home/pogson/u jfs ro,auto,user 0 0<BR>
<BR>
/dev/sdb1 /media/usbdrive vfat rw,noauto,user 0 0<BR>
<BR>
DEVICE /dev/hda* /dev/hdc* /dev/.static/sda1 /dev/hda6 /dev/hdc6 /dev/.static/dev/sda1<BR>
<BR>
ARRAY /dev/md1 level=raid1 num-devices=2 UUID=2cc1f6ef:e83d6335:497bbf84:2cce1ce1<BR>
<BR>
devices=/dev/hda5,/dev/hdc5<BR>
<BR>
ARRAY /dev/md0 level=raid1 num-devices=2 UUID=c8f363ef:190e66a2:522ceb30:f9a9329f<BR>
<BR>
devices=/dev/hda3,/dev/hdc3<BR>
<BR>
ARRAY /dev/md2 level=raid1 num-devices=3 UUID=1cda7a7f:4037bf00:1e33a4b1:d17cb6d4<BR>
<BR>
devices=/dev/.static/dev/sda1,/dev/hdc6,/dev/hda6<BR>
<BR>
pogson@Beast:~$<BR>
<BR>
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--
A problem is an opportunity.
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