Dell OptiPlex 745 reboot problem -- BIOS update went poorly
Johnathan Hegge
johnathan.hegge at bluecoat.com
Mon Sep 8 19:51:02 UTC 2008
> > -------- Forwarded Message --------
> > From: Bjørn Tore Sund <bjorn.sund at it.uib.no>
> > Reply-To: Community assistance, encouragement, and advice for using
> > Fedora. <fedora-list at redhat.com>
> > To: fedora-list at redhat.com
> > Subject: Re: Dell OptiPlex 745 reboot problem -- BIOS update went
> > poorly
> > Date: Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:51:54 +0200
> >
> > Changing the subject like that is normally a very good way to make sure I
> > won't spot your reply...
Yes, my bad.
> >
> > > Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:51:59 -0500
> > > From: Johnathan Hegge <johnathan.hegge at bluecoat.com>
> > > Subject: Re: Dell OptiPlex 745 reboot problem -- BIOS update went poorly
> > > To: fedora-list at redhat.com
> > > Message-ID: <1220651519.3856.9.camel at ios.internal.cacheflow.com>
> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Got tons of Dell Optiplex 7XX, had that exact problem. Solution is
> > > > two-step:
> > > > 1. Flash up the bios. The ones they're shipped with suck bigtime.
> > > > 2. Add the kernel parameter "reboot=bios" to all kernel lines in
> > > > /boot/grub/menu.lst
> > > >
> > > > Solved it for us.
> > > >
> > > > -BT
> > >
> > > Ugh, I was having the same problem with my 745. So, I drug out a USB
> > > floppy and applied the latest BIOS -- going from 2.3.1 to 2.6.2 from
> > > Dell. Whoops.
> > >
> > > Starting up looks fine, all services showed OK. Gets to local, X starts
> > > and the box freezes at the spinning dots with a frozen mouse. Can't
> > > break with Ctrl-Alt-Del or Ctrl-Backspace.
> > >
> > > Hard power, restart, interactive init. Allow all, but skip local. X
> > > starts fine.
> > >
> > > rc.local contains:
> > <NOTHING>
> >
> > 1. Did you apply the reboot=bios setting as well?
> > 2. Did you try more than once, with the new bios?
> >
> > What you're describing sounds more like a fluke, or at least a problem
> > unrelated to the bios update. There's nothing in your rc.local, thus
> > nothing there which should make a difference. Reapply the most recent bios,
> > set the kernel boot parameter, and give it a few more tries to check.
> >
Thanks for the ideas.
1. reboot=bios does indeed let the box reboot (if not already frozen),
cool.
2. I tried several times with the same result. I reapplied the BIOS
(BTW, are you using 2.6.2 as well?).
I tried a few things to gain insight. Looking at inittab for a clue as
to what happens after rc.local, I see that I need to look /etc/event.d.
I see the prefdm script. Looks as though that just ends up launching
gdm. So, I figured the problem at least relates more to that --
somewhere in the transition from rhgb to gdm.
I booted to run level 3, ran gdm (as root) and X/gdm comes up fine. I
rebooted after this successful boot and the 745 still freezes if I allow
it to boot straight to run level 5.
SELinux is disabled.
I acquired a second 745 without the x1300 ATI card, applied the BIOS fix
and will continue installing F9 to compare.
I just noticed the memtest suggestion in another email, I'll try that
tonight.
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