Dell Poweredge Possible keyboard/HDD conflict, immediately after install

malak · 11-25-2009, 09:08 PM

poweredge 1300 PIII 550 (1998-1999) w/786-896megs memory (trying to figure out if there's onboard base memory, the 786megs are pure memory sticks), HD 500gig seagate barracuda 7200.1, PATA controller, PS/2 keyboard, DVD burner

One of the system's problems is that its "case has been opened / system intrusion" warning cannot be made to go away in the BIOS -- the CMOS battery is "borderline" and but still works, so each time the system reboots, is powered down or loses power (funny, put aside ice storms, that does happen here once a year) I have to hit the F1 key. Changing the "Intrusion Detection" in the BIOS doesn't work, it still comes back.

I've had centos 4.7 and F11 on it with a different drive. I could not get the system to mount the 500 gig drive.

The current installation has had F9 on it; I had F11 on it with the 500 gig drive but I never got past the installation; during the first reboot the keyboard appeared to be non-responsive. The keyboard worked fine during the installation. I have also reproduced the problem with another keyboard known to work on another system, with the same result. Neither keyboard is USB.

I have done several reboots and have determined that the keyboard is powered up (changed the bios setting to have the num lock light on); if I do the timing correctly, the F2 key works to get into the BIOS setup, and the keyboard works fine there. Continuously holding the F1 gives a keyboard error; slowly hitting it eventually gets a beeping sound every time I hit any key, the keyboard buffer appears to have filled up. A Fedora 9 liveCD also works. A check in the CentOS 4.4 liveCD shows that the F1 key indeed does work properly.

I then did an installation from my old CentOS 5.1 cd's with the intention of doing all of the updates.

I have since tried a CentOS 4.4 liveCD I have sitting around, and it works just fine. Using the CentOS 4.4 liveCD I am able to mount the 500 gig drive; interestingly it shows up as 106megs, currently with 82megs free. A quick check in Anaconda confirms that it recognizes a drive with 476938MB, and the drive ID is ST3500630A

I have been told that there is probably an IRQ conflict between the two, due to the recentness of the HD being mixed with an older keyboard on an old motherboard.

The source of my suspicion that it's a conflict between the keyboard and the HD stems from the fact that up until a month or two ago when I changed back to the 500gig HD (purchased NEW in August 2008) and reformatted it from its Fedora 9 boot (it worked just fine) to Fedora 11 and had the problem listed earlier; initially I assumed that the fact that I could not mount it under F11, on a separate drive, was due to the fact that the two drives spin at different rates. When I formatted the 500gig drive under F11, I had the problem as described, and presumed that F11 may be too advanced for the Frankenstein construction and the 8-10 year difference in age between the drive and the rest of most of the system, hence my desire to try using the CentOS 5.1 setup (which as stated earlier would updated to 5.4 ASAP). However, the difficulty is identical.

CentOS 5 would probably be a better solution given the longer life left to the product -- I think there's still another 4-5 years or more left -- vs. having to update every 13 months or so (at this point I would feel obliged to install F12 now that it's out, putting things back out of sync, which was what I had wanted to do by bringing all my computers in line with F11 back in June, instead of going through installation cycles every 6 months or so on varying systems. It would be much more preferable to keep this system stable if only because it's such a large HD it would be a shame to have to keep on reformatting it, and I don't need to have up to date versions of OO.o etc. on it.

Does anyone have any clues how to address this so that I can get past the initial rebooting?

Thank you

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host
bridge (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP
bridge (rev 03)
00:02.0 PCI bridge: Digital Equipment Corporation DECchip 21152 (rev 03)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02)
00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
00:11.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone]
(rev 30)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage IIC AGP
(rev 7a)
02:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 07)
02:09.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! Game Port (rev 07)
02:0b.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AHA-2940U2/U2W / 7890/7891 (rev 01)

lsusb

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

Current Usage: Available
Length: Long
ID: 3
Characteristics:
5.0 V is provided
3.3 V is provided
PME signal is supported
Handle 0x0904
DMI type 9, 13 bytes.
System Slot Information
Designation: PCI4
Type: 32-bit PCI
Current Usage: Available
Length: Long
ID: 4
Characteristics:
5.0 V is provided
3.3 V is provided
PME signal is supported
Handle 0x0905
DMI type 9, 13 bytes.
System Slot Information
Designation: PCI5
Type: 32-bit PCI
Current Usage: In Use
Length: Long
ID: 5
Characteristics:
5.0 V is provided
3.3 V is provided
PME signal is supported
Handle 0x0906
DMI type 9, 13 bytes.
System Slot Information
Designation: ISA/PCI6
Type: 32-bit PCI
Current Usage: Available
Length: Long
ID: 6
Characteristics:
5.0 V is provided
3.3 V is provided
Opening is shared
PME signal is supported
Handle 0x0907
DMI type 9, 13 bytes.
System Slot Information
Designation: ISA/PCI6
Type: 16-bit ISA
Current Usage: Unknown
Length: Long
Characteristics:
5.0 V is provided
Opening is shared
Handle 0x0A00
DMI type 10, 8 bytes.
On Board Device Information
Type: SCSI Controller
Status: Enabled
Description: Adaptec 7890 Ultra2/Wide LVD SCSI
On Board Device Information
Type: Video
Status: Enabled
Description: ATI Rage IIC AGP Video
Handle 0x0C00
DMI type 12, 5 bytes.
System Configuration Options
Option 1: PSWD: Close to enable password
Option 2: CARDBIOS: Boot from BIOS Card
Option 3: ISA_CLR: Clear ISA Configuration on next reboot
Handle 0x0D00
DMI type 13, 22 bytes.
BIOS Language Information
Installable Languages: 1
en|US|iso8859-1
Currently Installed Language: en|US|iso8859-1
Handle 0x0E00
DMI type 14, 11 bytes.
Group Associations
Name: PCI6/ISA1
Items: 2
0x0906 (System Slots)
0x0907 (System Slots)
Handle 0x1000
DMI type 16, 15 bytes.
Physical Memory Array
Location: System Board Or Motherboard
Use: System Memory
Error Correction Type: Single-bit ECC
Maximum Capacity: 1 GB
Error Information Handle: No Error
Number Of Devices: 4
Handle 0x1100
DMI type 17, 21 bytes.
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x1000
Error Information Handle: No Error
Total Width: 72 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 256 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM_A
Bank Locator: Not Specified
Type: DRAM
Type Detail: Synchronous
Handle 0x1101
DMI type 17, 21 bytes.
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x1000
Error Information Handle: No Error
Total Width: 72 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 128 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM_B
Bank Locator: Not Specified
Type: DRAM
Type Detail: Synchronous
Handle 0x1102
DMI type 17, 21 bytes.
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x1000
Error Information Handle: No Error
Total Width: 72 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: No Module Installed
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM_C
Bank Locator: Not Specified
Type: DRAM
Type Detail: Synchronous
Handle 0x1103
DMI type 17, 21 bytes.
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x1000
Error Information Handle: No Error
Total Width: 72 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: No Module Installed
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM_D
Bank Locator: Not Specified
Type: DRAM
Type Detail: Synchronous
Handle 0x1200
DMI type 126, 23 bytes.
Inactive
Handle 0x1300
DMI type 19, 15 bytes.
Memory Array Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00000000000
Ending Address: 0x0000007FFFF
Range Size: 512 kB
Physical Array Handle: 0x1000
Partition Width: 0
Handle 0x1301
DMI type 19, 15 bytes.
Memory Array Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00000100000
Ending Address: 0x00017FFFFFF
Range Size: 383 MB
Physical Array Handle: 0x1000
Partition Width: 0
Handle 0x1400
DMI type 20, 19 bytes.
Memory Device Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00000000000
Ending Address: 0x0000007FFFF
Range Size: 512 kB
Physical Device Handle: 0x1100
Memory Array Mapped Address Handle: 0x1300
Partition Row Position: 1
Handle 0x1401
DMI type 20, 19 bytes.
Memory Device Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00010000000
Ending Address: 0x00017FFFFFF
Range Size: 128 MB
Physical Device Handle: 0x1101
Memory Array Mapped Address Handle: 0x1301
Partition Row Position: 1
Handle 0x1402
DMI type 126, 19 bytes.
Inactive
Handle 0x1403
DMI type 126, 19 bytes.
Inactive
Handle 0x1404
DMI type 20, 19 bytes.
Memory Device Mapped Address
Starting Address: 0x00000100000
Ending Address: 0x0000FFFFFFF
Range Size: 255 MB
Physical Device Handle: 0x1100
Memory Array Mapped Address Handle: 0x1301
Partition Row Position: 1
Handle 0x1800
DMI type 24, 5 bytes.
Hardware Security
Power-On Password Status: Enabled
Keyboard Password Status: Not Implemented
Administrator Password Status: Enabled
Front Panel Reset Status: Enabled
Handle 0x1900
DMI type 25, 9 bytes.
System Power Controls
Next Scheduled Power-on: *-* 00:00:00
Handle 0x1A00
DMI type 26, 20 bytes.
Voltage Probe
Description: 3.3V Voltage
Location: Motherboard
Status: OK
Maximum Value: 4.080 V
Minimum Value: 0.000 V
Resolution: 16.0 mV
Tolerance: Unknown
Accuracy: 1.00%
OEM-specific Information: 0x0000DC00
Handle 0x1A01
DMI type 26, 20 bytes.
Voltage Probe
Description: 5V Voltage
Location: Motherboard
Status: OK
Maximum Value: 6.757 V
Minimum Value: 0.000 V
Resolution: 26.5 mV
Tolerance: Unknown
Accuracy: 2.00%
OEM-specific Information: 0x0000DC01
Handle 0x1A02
DMI type 26, 20 bytes.
Voltage Probe
Description: 12V Voltage
Location: Motherboard
Status: OK
Maximum Value: 16.320 V
Minimum Value: 0.000 V
Resolution: 64.0 mV
Tolerance: Unknown
Accuracy: 2.00%
OEM-specific Information: 0x0000DC02
Handle 0x1A03
DMI type 26, 20 bytes.
Voltage Probe
Description: Core1 Voltage
Location: Processor Module
Status: OK
Maximum Value: 4.080 V
Minimum Value: 0.000 V
Resolution: 16.0 mV
Tolerance: Unknown
Accuracy: 1.00%
OEM-specific Information: 0x0000DC03
Handle 0x1A04
DMI type 126, 20 bytes.
Inactive
Handle 0x1A05
DMI type 26, 20 bytes.
Voltage Probe
Description: 1.5V Voltage
Location: Processor Module
Status: OK
Maximum Value: 2.040 V
Minimum Value: 0.000 V
Resolution: 8.0 mV
Tolerance: Unknown
Accuracy: 3.00%
OEM-specific Information: 0x0000DC0A
Handle 0x1B00
DMI type 27, 12 bytes.
Cooling Device
Type: Fan
Status: OK
OEM-specific Information: 0x0000DD00
Handle 0x1B01
DMI type 27, 12 bytes.
Cooling Device
Type: Power Supply Fan
Status: OK
OEM-specific Information: 0x0000DD01
Handle 0x1C00
DMI type 28, 20 bytes.
Temperature Probe
Description: CPU1 Internal Temperature
Location: Processor Module
Status: OK
Maximum Value: 127.0 deg C
Minimum Value 0.0 deg C
Resolution: 1.000 deg C
Tolerance: Unknown
Accuracy: Unknown
OEM-specific Information: 0x0000DC05
Handle 0x1C03
DMI type 28, 20 bytes.
Temperature Probe
Description: CPU2/Chipset Temperature
Location: Processor Module
Status: OK
Maximum Value: 127.0 deg C
Minimum Value 0.0 deg C
Resolution: 1.000 deg C
Tolerance: Unknown
Accuracy: Unknown
OEM-specific Information: 0x0000DC08
Handle 0x1C04
DMI type 28, 20 bytes.
Temperature Probe
Description: Hard Drive Temperature
Location: Disk
Status: OK
Maximum Value: 100.0 deg C
Minimum Value 0.0 deg C
Resolution: 1.000 deg C
Tolerance: Unknown
Accuracy: Unknown
OEM-specific Information: 0x0000DC09
Handle 0x1C05
DMI type 28, 20 bytes.
Temperature Probe
Description: LM79 Ambient Temperature
Location: Motherboard
Status: OK
Maximum Value: 127.0 deg C
Minimum Value 0.0 deg C
Resolution: 1.000 deg C
Tolerance: Unknown
Accuracy: Unknown
OEM-specific Information: 0x0000DC0B
Handle 0x2000
DMI type 32, 11 bytes.
System Boot Information
Status: No errors detected
Handle 0xD000
DMI type 208, 8 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
D0 08 00 D0 01 02 8E 00
Handle 0xD100
DMI type 209, 12 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
D1 0C 00 D1 78 03 07 03 04 0F 80 05
Handle 0xD200
DMI type 210, 12 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
D2 0C 00 D2 F8 03 04 03 06 80 04 05
Handle 0xD201
DMI type 210, 12 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
D2 0C 01 D2 F8 02 03 03 06 80 04 05
Handle 0xD400
DMI type 212, 147 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
D4 93 00 D4 70 00 71 00 00 10 2D 2E 42 00 11 FE
01 43 00 11 FE 00 01 00 11 F7 08 02 00 11 F7 00
51 00 26 3F 00 52 00 26 3F 40 53 00 26 3F 80 54
00 26 3F C0 0F 00 25 FC 00 10 00 25 FC 01 11 00
25 FC 02 12 00 25 FC 03 13 00 25 F3 00 14 00 25
F3 04 15 00 25 F3 08 16 00 25 F3 0C 07 00 25 CF
00 08 00 25 CF 10 09 00 25 CF 20 0A 00 25 CF 30
0B 00 25 BF 00 0C 00 25 BF 40 03 00 11 7F 80 04
00 11 7F 00 44 00 11 BF 40 45 00 11 BF 00 FF FF
00 00 00
Handle 0xD401
DMI type 212, 137 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
D4 89 01 D4 70 00 71 00 03 40 59 6D 28 00 59 3F
00 29 00 59 3F 40 2A 00 59 3F 80 2B 00 5A 00 00
2C 00 5B 00 00 24 00 58 F0 00 25 00 58 F0 09 26
00 58 F0 0A 27 00 58 F0 0B 58 00 78 FA 05 59 00
78 FA 00 5C 00 78 BF 40 5D 00 78 BF 00 04 80 78
F5 0A 01 A0 78 F5 00 1C 00 55 FB 04 1D 00 55 FB
00 19 00 55 E7 00 1A 00 55 E7 08 1B 00 55 E7 10
1E 00 55 FD 00 50 00 55 FD 02 00 C0 5C 00 0A 03
C0 67 00 05 FF FF 00 00 00
Handle 0xD402
DMI type 212, 27 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
D4 1B 02 D4 72 00 73 00 03 00 00 00 83 00 40 00
00 84 00 41 00 00 FF FF 00 00 00
Handle 0xD500
DMI type 213, 17 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
D5 11 00 D5 0E C0 07 00 00 00 70 00 71 00 01 38
3F
Handle 0xD600
DMI type 214, 21 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
D6 15 00 D6 06 C0 07 00 00 00 70 00 71 00 01 1D
24 00 10 2D 2E
Handle 0xD800
DMI type 216, 9 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
D8 09 00 D8 01 02 01 00 00
Strings:
ATI
Rage Pro V3_096
Handle 0xDC00
DMI type 220, 22 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DC 16 00 DC 20 F0 00 00 01 FC 00 00 00 00 2B F0
2C F0 00 00 00 00
Handle 0xDC01
DMI type 220, 22 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DC 16 01 DC 21 F0 00 00 02 FC 00 00 00 00 2D F0
2E F0 00 00 00 00
Handle 0xDC02
DMI type 220, 22 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DC 16 02 DC 22 F0 00 00 04 FC 00 00 00 00 2F F0
30 F0 00 00 00 00
Handle 0xDC03
DMI type 220, 22 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DC 16 03 DC 23 F0 00 00 08 FC 00 00 00 00 31 F0
32 F0 00 00 00 00
Handle 0xDC04
DMI type 220, 22 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DC 16 04 DC 24 F0 00 00 01 FD 00 00 00 00 33 F0
34 F0 00 00 00 00
Handle 0xDC05
DMI type 220, 22 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DC 16 05 DC 01 F1 00 00 10 FE 00 00 00 00 07 F1
08 F1 00 00 00 00
Handle 0xDC08
DMI type 220, 22 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DC 16 08 DC 00 F2 00 00 40 FF 00 00 00 00 05 F2
06 F2 00 00 00 00
Handle 0xDC09
DMI type 220, 22 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DC 16 09 DC 26 F0 00 00 04 FD 00 00 00 00 37 F0
38 F0 00 00 00 00
Handle 0xDC0A
DMI type 220, 22 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DC 16 0A DC 25 F0 00 00 02 FD 00 00 00 00 35 F0
36 F0 00 00 00 00
Handle 0xDC0B
DMI type 220, 22 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DC 16 0B DC 27 F0 00 00 10 FC 00 00 00 00 39 F0
00 00 00 00 00 00
Handle 0xDD00
DMI type 221, 19 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DD 13 00 DD 00 01 00 28 F0 40 FC 00 00 00 00 00
00 3B F0
Handle 0xDD01
DMI type 221, 19 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DD 13 01 DD 00 01 00 00 00 80 FC 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00
Handle 0xDE00
DMI type 222, 13 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DE 0D 00 DE 01 02 FF FF 00 00 00 00 00
Handle 0xDF00
DMI type 223, 61 bytes.
OEM-specific Type
Header And Data:
DF 3D 00 DF 0C 00 11 41 4D 5A 4F 52 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 01 11 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 02 11 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 03
11 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
Handle 0x7F00
DMI type 127, 4 bytes.
End Of Table

zhjim · 11-27-2009, 08:24 AM

Welcome to LQ.

I'm a bit intimidated by your long post

and a bit puzzled what your problem right now is. You described a lot.

One thing that I can address is the "Intrusion Detection" message from the BIOS:
Some BIOS have an option that negates every change to options. Does yours have one? Nother thing to try would be to load fail safe defaults and see what happens.

When it comes to the drive not being showed with the right size I'm a bit lost beside that maybe the bios can't handle such biggies (like you pointed out). If this is a IRQ thing with your keyboard see if you can find some thing in bios to alter IRQ's

My approach to this would to first get a clean BIOS, then see that you can get the harddisk to be reconed to it's full potential. Either with a live cd or during setup.

Hope this helps. To further get you going please write down some exact questions.

Cheers Zhjim

onebuck · 11-28-2009, 08:36 AM

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

First, you should place the long data or list(s) within vbcode tags # or quote. The tags are at the top of the reply window, # for code and the balloon at the left of # for quotes. By using the code tags it will make your post cleaner therefore easier to read.

Replace the button battery to get the intrusion settings cleared. The switch is a dual action unit which you can pull the actuator plunger outwards gently to disable the switch thus the warning while the case is open. Once you close the case then reenter the BIOS and then save settings to boot. The message should not be there once this is done.

While in the BIOS, look at the memory shown by the system.

I suggest that you get a LiveCD like 'SystemRescueCD' or 'UBCD' which have system diagnostics that can be used to aid in finding solutions to potential problems. Either one is good to have on hand to maintain the system or diagnose system problems.

If you boot either diagnostic Livecds then choose 'memtest86' to test your memory. Note what is recognized by the program.

For hdd, I would use the manufacture diagnostics first but then you could select from the varied tests on the LiveCD of choice.

The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

malak · 11-29-2009, 09:15 PM

Onebuck and zhjim:

I'll try your suggestions over the next couple of days and see what I can get ... a top command off of my CentOS live CD reports a nominal 904644k total plus 77584k of buffer memory.

Thank you both for your responses.

business_kid · 11-30-2009, 11:49 AM

I wouldn't bother worrying about 786 or 886 megs.

If the BIOS won't take settings a real possibility on a 10 year old box is that it simply has been rewritten too often. Another is low voltages, which can cause erratic hardware behaviour. With a 10 year old box, You'd need a memory like an elephant to remember when CHS etc. came in. LBA imposed size limits, and this may be the disk issue.

If this is your box, and you want to do this, fine. If it is a company machine it is certainly _past_ end of life, and this is proved by the fact that it still isn't going while you are have been farting about with it for some time, by the sound of it. Do Dell still support something from the last millenium? Please don't post half a mile of useless stuff (every line of lspci -vvvv). Keep output as concise as possible.

In my experience things of a certain age are best left undisturbed except when necessary. The first rule in hardware is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" You fixed it, and now it _is_ broke :-(.

HTH.