> I ran into a VERY strange problem. I have an AMD 486DX4/100 on
> an MG motherboard. The problem is that Linux refuses to boot
> without a monitor connected. LILO loads up the kernel, but it
> hangs after "booting the kernel..." until I connect a monitor.
> With a monitor connected the system boots up fine.
Sounds like the old PCI PnP motherboard problem to me...
> I tested with two different S3 Trio64 PCI video adapters and I
> compiled the kernel without console support and with serial
> console enabled, but it still won't boot.
For reference, some PnP motherboards ask a PnP video subsystem to
check what type of monitor is connected as part of their PCI
initialisation, and some video cards hang when asked to do so if no
monitor is connected.
The only cure I know of for that is to change the video card.
> It won't boot without a video card either. Judging by the beeps
> and sounds the box makes LILO still loads the kernel. I'm going
> to try it with a Trident ISA card later and see if that helps.
That's usually rather easier to fix - go into your ROM BIOS setup,
find the option determining what errors to stop on, and change it to
"None". The default is usually "All except keyboard", and the machine
will lock up if it can't find a video card on that setting.
> Anyone got any advice?
Best wishes from Riley.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| There is something frustrating about the quality and speed of Linux |
| development, ie., the quality is too high and the speed is too high, |
| in other words, I can implement this XXXX feature, but I bet someone |
| else has already done so and is just about to release their patch. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* ftp://ftp.MemAlpha.cx/pub/rhw/Linux
* http://www.MemAlpha.cx/kernel.versions.html
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