bugGNU GRUB - Bugs: bug #14620, no countdown even if timeout is set

 
 

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bug #14620: no countdown even if timeout is set

Submitter:  giancarlo storti gajani <gstortig>
Submitted:  Thu 22 Sep 2005 09:17:37 PM UTC
   
 
Category:  Booting Severity:  Major
Priority:  5 - Normal Item Group:  None
Status:  None Privacy:  Public
Assigned to:  None Originator Name: 
Open/Closed:  Closed Release:  None
Release:  0.96-r2 (gentoo) Reproducibility:  Every Time
Planned Release:  None

Jump to the original submission

Sat 15 Dec 2007 09:04:15 PM UTC, comment #7: 

We've moved to GRUB 2 as a development platform. Please can you check if this bug still applies there, and if it does, reopen it?

Thanks

Robert Millan <robertmh>
Group administrator
Sun 07 Oct 2007 11:42:59 AM UTC, comment #6: 

Timeout never counted down on my system, even if timeout was set in the "menu.lst" configuration file of grub. The effect was that at boot time the menu of grub would flash shortly and then immediately boot the default entry of the menu.

The reason for this behaviour is my attached wireless usb-keyboard and mouse (on notebook amd i686 32bit). When not plugged in, timeout will count down properly. This behaviour can always be reproduced.
My operating systems are windows xp and ubuntu (previously 5, now 7) with grub as bootloader.

Workarounds which worked for me are:

a) If you dont want to press a key during reboot:
Set the default options (with or without savedefault), so that the default operating system will boot immediately. To boot an different os from the default you have to press keys during boot time. When repeatedly pressing the cursor-keys, the boot progress will halt at the grub menu and one use the menu freely as usual.

b) If you want to make a choice at every boot:
Use a separator entry in menu.lst to halt boot progress. Grub will not boot until a different menu entry is selected. An example for such a separator entry in menu.lst:
default 3
... # the entries for linux come here
# this is the 3rd menu entry (starting from 0)
title This the separator
rootnoverify   (hd0,10)
# Note that my harddisk has no partition 10!
... # the entries for windows come here

Hope this helps other people with similar problems. What I am experiencing is not a bug of grub, but a problem related to Bios and external devices. Nonetheless I think this information belongs here, because it is currently omitted from the documentation.

fred novar <frred>
Fri 10 Mar 2006 05:26:59 AM UTC, comment #5: 

I had the same problem, and after reading about the possible role of the BIOS and characters leftover in buffers, I unplugged my keyboard and rebooted the computer. Suprise ! the countown DID count down and boot the default entry ! :) Iafter that, I connected another keyboard, and restarted the computer. Surprise again, the countdown showed up again and worked perfectly. Conclusion? in my case, maybe a faulty keyboard or combination of faulty keyboard / broken bios... Hope it helps !

Gilles <djails>
Fri 20 Jan 2006 06:32:12 PM UTC, comment #4: 

---

I recently changed the power supply of my computer..... I know it might seem strange, but now everithing works fine !


giancarlo storti gajani <gstortig>
Fri 23 Sep 2005 03:45:25 PM UTC, comment #3: 


yes... using exactly the grub.conf above.... (but also tried changing it in various ways with no results....)

I could try proving it is the BIOS fault (but thta could take me some time... It is one of the computer I manage, and it is not in my immediate vicinity, every time I reboot it (from a remote ssh) I have to wait for somebody to go and press enter to have it booted)

To check the BIOS I think I could try modifying grub myself and seeing what is in the keyboard buffer when it starts... without touching the keyboard, obviously... If you think there are simpler ways to check BIOS let me know please

giancarlo storti gajani <gstortig>
Fri 23 Sep 2005 03:18:00 PM UTC, comment #2: 

Only if you prove that it is really due to the BIOS. Are you sure that your GRUB installation uses the config file you modified?

Yoshinori K. Okuji <okuji>
Group administrator
Fri 23 Sep 2005 02:48:21 PM UTC, comment #1: 


found a reference "on the net" (searching for "grub" + "countdown") where somebody with the same problem (unfortunately lost the reference, and can't find it now) said that the problem was actually with the BIOS. It seems that some BIOS + keyboard combinations leave symbols in the buffer, so that countdown is reset just as if a key was pressed....

Could it be an idea to add a new grub command, something like:

skipsymbols n

where n is a positive integer, default skipsymbols 0, meaning that n char in the buffer should be ignored before actualy reading the keyboard ?


giancarlo storti gajani <gstortig>
Thu 22 Sep 2005 09:17:37 PM UTC, original submission:  

gentoo x86 system (Intel P4)

Even if "timeout" and "default" options are set, boot waits for "enter" to be pressed in order to boot.

My grub.conf is:

------------------------------------------

default 0
timeout 30

title Gentoo Linux MOST RECENT
#:0 <-- type: 0 => linux, 1 => windows, 2 => other
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 vmalloc=256m

title Gentoo Linux PREVIOUS
#:0 <-- type: 0 => linux, 1 => windows, 2 => other
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz.old root=/dev/hda3 vmalloc=256m

title Change the colors
        #:2 <-- type: 0 => linux, 1 => windows, 2 => other
        color light-green/brown blink-red/blue
title Change the colors2
        #:2 <-- type: 0 => linux, 1 => windows, 2 => other
        color magenta/blue black/magenta

-----------------------------------------

this question has already been submited for a redhat system, reply was that that version of grub was "to much modified" with respect to the original to be considered (hope the gentoo release version does not fall in the same caegory)


giancarlo storti gajani <gstortig>

 

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    Follow 3 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2007-12-15 robertmh Open/ClosedOpen Closed
    2006-03-10 djails Carbon-Copy- Added -email is unavailable-
    2005-09-22 gstortig Carbon-Copy- Added -email is unavailable-

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