Compaq Proliant 1850R- Redhat: Switch KVM/Remove Keyboard = Lockup

[Gypsy Rogers]

OK, this is a very strange issue and I only know what is
going on because of Trial and error. This is the SECOND
Compaq Proliant 1850R running Redhat that has had this
problem.

The first one was in a separate Data Center and used a
different KVM so I know it's an issue with 1850's running
Redhat since we have not seen this on the 1850's we have
running FreeBSD or Windows and since it's happened in two
separate environments with more then one box. (We are
distributed across 3 data centers and have about 8 Proliant
1850's running in our networks).

Here is what happens.... 

These machines work normally for an extended period of time
(many months) without any real problem, then with seemingly
no cause or warning it's behavior changes in that every
time the KVM is switched off of that machine it locks up. 

I suspect the keyboard port goes bad in some way that
Redhat doesn't handle well, because I've tested all the
ports the KVM is connected to and found through trial and
error that putting a dedicated keyboard on the machine or
removing the keyboard all together will stop it from having
this problem. 

The catch is that we really don't have space in our cage
for an extra keyboard (full floor to ceiling) and not being
able to console to the machine limits our ability to
support it in emergency situations.

So, I'm looking for a more comprehensive answer. I can not
say for sure it won't happen on any other OS but Linux
Redhat 8 and Redhat Enterprise are the only OS's I've seen
it act like this on.

So, if anyone has any clue I'm happy to hear it... I've
found nothing searching the knowledge base and HP's tech
support was helpless on this issue.

This has been cross posted to the HP support forums as well
so if you read both I'm sorry for the double.


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Gypsy Rogers
Senior Network Administrator
Digital North
http://www.DigitalNorth.net