[Sunhelp] got a question of my own 8-)

[Bill Bradford]

I've got a strange situation involving a SS5/170 and a power switch.

My SS5/170 (aka sunhelp.org) has a picky power switch.

When I dont have a keyboard plugged in, the power switch doesent work.  At
all.

If I toggle th epower switch to the "on" position, and then let it fall back
to "neutral", then plug in a type 4 keyboard, the system powers up.

If I plug in a type 5, and hit ctrl-alt-<POWER key>, the system powers up
or powers down as needed.

If I have a keyboard connected, and turn the power switch off, the system
turns off.

Basically, the power switch works fine if I have a keyboard connected, but
doesent if I dont have one attached.  Since the machine is a headless
server, with a laptop and a serial connection for a console, its kinda
difficult to have a keyboard around just in case I need to hard-boot
the box.  In fact, I have to plug in a type 4 and then UNPLUG it as 
quickly as possible, so that the machine will use the serial console
("No keyboard attached" etc).

Its not a motherboard problem, since this is the 2nd motherboard I've had
in this machine (first was an /85), and the old board did the same thing.
Maybe a funky power supply?  Any ideas?  Right now this is just a nuisance,
but I'd like to eventually make it work properly.  It wasnt a pain at ALL
when the machine was a desktop workstation (since the type5 was handier to
reach than the power switch), but now as a headless server its a pain.

Thanks.

Bill

-- 
Bill Bradford * mrbill at sunhelp.org * http://www.sunhelp.org
------------------------------------------------------------
>From a Sun Microsystems bug report (#4102680):
"Workaround: don't pound on the mouse like a wild monkey."