Power switch not working

[Ronald F. Guilmette]

So, um, I just "upgraded" my main system. Maybe that is too weak a word.
I cannibalized the drives and most of the add-in cards out of my old
system and put them into a new system I built which has a new case,
new motherboard, new CPU, new memory, and a new video card.

So far everything seems to be mostly peachy, but there are a few
oddities. Specifically, vlc has stopped working (which probably has
something to do with dri/dri2 and my new video card and my new
xorg.conf file) and the Google home page isn't showing the usual
list of things along the top when I view it in firefox anymore
(but strangely, still does when I view it in opera).

I'll be attending to those thing, but for now I'd just like to know
why, when I do "shutdown -h now" and then let the system come down to
the point where it says "Press any key to reboot" pressing the power
switch at that point no longer causes the system to actually power down.
If fact it does nothing.

I'm guessing that this relates to some BIOS setting that I need to diddle,
but which one? Something to do with ACPI?

I'm ignorant about this stuff. Guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.


Regards,
rfg

P.S. I *did* hook up the case power switch correctly. It does do the
Right Thing when I'm just in the BIOS. But running FreeBSD seems to
cause it (the case power switch) to be ignored.
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[Polytropon]

On Sat, 06 Apr 2013 20:51:58 -0700, Ronald F. Guilmette wrote:
> I'll be attending to those thing, but for now I'd just like to know
> why, when I do "shutdown -h now" and then let the system come down to
> the point where it says "Press any key to reboot" pressing the power
> switch at that point no longer causes the system to actually power down.
> If fact it does nothing.

This is to be expected. When you press the power switch, a
signal will be sent to the OS which causes a "custom action",
which in most cases is to shutdown the system and then power
it off. This is what "shutdown -p now" does.

When you use "shutdown -h now" the system will be shut down.
When you _then_ press the button, there's nothing left to
act. Your only choice is to hold the button for about 4 seconds
which will cause a "hardware switch-off".

Just a question: Why don't you simply press the button from
out of a "safe" system state (e. g. when you've logged out)?
It will cause the "ACPI message system" to tell the OS to
shut down and power off - which you seem to intend.

For example, I've programmed Ctrl+Alt+Moon on my Sun USB keyboard
to exactly perform that action. But I can press the button
at any time to have the same operation performed.

> I'm guessing that this relates to some BIOS setting that I need to diddle,
> but which one? Something to do with ACPI?

Usually the BIOS settings are okay for the normal case: to
send the "shutdown + poweroff signal". However, you can select
the other variant, "immediately power off" ("forced power off")
in the CMOS setup. Pressing the button, even with a running OS,
will then switch the machine off, no matter in which state it is.

> I'm ignorant about this stuff. Guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.

In the past, this kind of operation has been performed via APM.
When APM has been fully supported, it was abolished and replaced
by ACPI. At the time ACPI is fully working, standard-compliant
and supported among all the many vendors, it will be obsoleted
by something different, probably UEFI, and the fun restarts. :-)

> P.S. I *did* hook up the case power switch correctly. It does do the
> Right Thing when I'm just in the BIOS.

This is also to be expected: In the BIOS, and _any_ stage prior
to loading the OS, there will be only one thing the button can
do: power the system off immediately.

> But running FreeBSD seems to
> cause it (the case power switch) to be ignored.

Check the BIOS settings, the switch should be programmed to
something like "soft power-off", it's "the other thing" to
whatever caption has been chosen for "immediately power
off" (forced by the 4 second press).

When in FreeBSD, pressing the button should shutdown the
system and then power it off. Allow this process few seconds
to work. You can easily examine if it's working properly
when you have a look at the system messages on ttyv0.

I cannot remember the correct messages because I'm too lazy
to press this switch when Ctrl+Alt+Moon is so much more
comfortable - thank you, Sun Microsystems. :-)

If this does _not_ happen, the BIOS setting makes the button
send the wrong "message" (maybe "sleep" or some other strange
ACPI stuff).



--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...

[Robert Huff]

Polytropon writes:
> > But running FreeBSD seems to
> > cause it (the case power switch) to be ignored.
>
> Check the BIOS settings, the switch should be programmed to
> something like "soft power-off", it's "the other thing" to
> whatever caption has been chosen for "immediately power
> off" (forced by the 4 second press).

Also make sure you are running the latest BIOS update, and that
this is not a known issue for the motherboard.
(I have a FreeBSD-only system that cannot do "shutdown -r"
correctly. If I ever figure out a way to flash the BIOS from within
FreeBSD ....)

Respectfully,


Robert Huff

[Warren Block]

On Sat, 6 Apr 2013, Ronald F. Guilmette wrote:

> I'll be attending to those thing, but for now I'd just like to know
> why, when I do "shutdown -h now" and then let the system come down to
> the point where it says "Press any key to reboot" pressing the power
> switch at that point no longer causes the system to actually power down.
> If fact it does nothing.

Others have talked about the power button, but the other option is to
use "shutdown -p now".

[Al Plant]

Polytropon wrote:

> On Sat, 06 Apr 2013 20:51:58 -0700, Ronald F. Guilmette wrote:
>> I'll be attending to those thing, but for now I'd just like to know
>> why, when I do "shutdown -h now" and then let the system come down to
>> the point where it says "Press any key to reboot" pressing the power
>> switch at that point no longer causes the system to actually power down.
>> If fact it does nothing.
>

>> But running FreeBSD seems to
>> cause it (the case power switch) to be ignored.
>
> Check the BIOS settings, the switch should be programmed to
> something like "soft power-off", it's "the other thing" to
> whatever caption has been chosen for "immediately power
> off" (forced by the 4 second press).
>

> When in FreeBSD, pressing the button should shutdown the
> system and then power it off. Allow this process few seconds
> to work. You can easily examine if it's working properly
> when you have a look at the system messages on ttyv0.
>
> I cannot remember the correct messages because I'm too lazy
> to press this switch when Ctrl+Alt+Moon is so much more
> comfortable - thank you, Sun Microsystems. :-)
>
> If this does _not_ happen, the BIOS setting makes the button
> send the wrong "message" (maybe "sleep" or some other strange
> ACPI stuff).
>
>
>

##########


Aloha .. Poly and Ron,

FYI:

I have a box with FreeBSD 10.* on it for testing networks and gateways.
It fails to shutdown by pressing the power button after the 4 seconds
the screen fills with junk codes and the only way to turn the unit off
is by the power switch on the power supply or pulling the plug. With
FreeBSD 8 or below on this box you could shutdown from the 4 second
power switch function as expected.

I wouldn't use this box in a production setting.

~Al Plant - Honolulu, Hawaii - Phone: 808-284-2740
+ http://hawaiidakine.com + http://freebsdinfo.org +
+ http://aloha50.net - Supporting - FreeBSD 7.2 - 8.0 - 9* +
< email: n...@hdk5.net >
"All that's really worth doing is what we do for others."- Lewis Carrol

[Ronald F. Guilmette]

In message <20130407060507....@edvax.de>,

Polytropon <fre...@edvax.de> wrote:

>This is what "shutdown -p now" does.

It's times like these than make me want to go off to some dark place and
hang my head in shame.

I confess that I wasn't ever aware of the -p option for shutdown until now.
I can't really explain why. Probably the last time I looked at that man
page for shutdown(8) was also the first time I ever looked at it, and may
well have been so long ago that it predated the very existance of the -p
option.

Anyway, thanks.

>For example, I've programmed Ctrl+Alt+Moon on my Sun USB keyboard...

Sun keyboards have moon keys??

(I hope and trust that I'm not the only one who finds this fact rather
comical. Perhaps that's why Sun put the key there (?))

>In the past, this kind of operation has been performed via APM.
>When APM has been fully supported, it was abolished and replaced
>by ACPI. At the time ACPI is fully working, standard-compliant
>and supported among all the many vendors, it will be obsoleted
>by something different, probably UEFI, and the fun restarts. :-)

Yea.

ISA -> PCI -> PCIe -> PCIe2.x -> PCIe3.x ...

DRAM -> SDRAM -> DDR -> DDR2 -> DDR3 ...

ATX 20 pin -> ATX 24 pin ...

Somebody is always coming up with something new that will inevitably force
me to spend money, buing new hardware, despite all my resistance.


Regards,
rfg

[Polytropon]

On Tue, 09 Apr 2013 02:49:49 -0700, Ronald F. Guilmette wrote:
>
> In message <20130407060507....@edvax.de>,
> Polytropon <fre...@edvax.de> wrote:
>
> >This is what "shutdown -p now" does.
>
> It's times like these than make me want to go off to some dark place and
> hang my head in shame.

No need to do so. In AT times, before ATX was common, there
was no way to power off the machine as it had a mechanical
power switch (a _real_ switch), so using -h was the way to
go.

> >For example, I've programmed Ctrl+Alt+Moon on my Sun USB keyboard...
>
> Sun keyboards have moon keys??

The moon key is on the top right, and only present on the type
6 and 7 keyboards. Pervious models had a (I) key (power key)
in that location.

http://stuartconnections.com/products/Computers/Peripherals/Keyboard_and_Mouse_Combos/Sun_320-1366-03/DSC09864w.jpg

http://i.stack.imgur.com/D8RsW.jpg

http://www.lemis.com/grog/Photos/20120509/big/Keyboard-1.jpeg

For comparison:

http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/387/suntype5cks2.jpg

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19683-01/806-4743/images/keyboard_a.tif.gif

The original function of the (I) power key has been to switch
the computer on and off. Today I'm using it for session logout,
and for power off (with Ctrl and Alt, just to reduce the change
of accidental system shutdown).

> (I hope and trust that I'm not the only one who finds this fact rather
> comical. Perhaps that's why Sun put the key there (?))

Now that Sun doesn't exist anymore, there's the word "Oracle"
on top of the keyboard. The moon is more associated with the
uncertainity of a mysterious oracle than the sun. :-)

> >In the past, this kind of operation has been performed via APM.
> >When APM has been fully supported, it was abolished and replaced
> >by ACPI. At the time ACPI is fully working, standard-compliant
> >and supported among all the many vendors, it will be obsoleted
> >by something different, probably UEFI, and the fun restarts. :-)
>
> Yea.
>
> ISA -> PCI -> PCIe -> PCIe2.x -> PCIe3.x ...
>
> DRAM -> SDRAM -> DDR -> DDR2 -> DDR3 ...
>
> ATX 20 pin -> ATX 24 pin ...
>
> Somebody is always coming up with something new that will inevitably force
> me to spend money, buing new hardware, despite all my resistance.

I cannot wait to participate in this wonderful experience
that keeps the "throw away society" alive (and enable us
to buy cheaper and more powerful stuff, on the other hand).
How will I be going to have a video feed from a VCR when
I cannot plug in my fully working and excellently supported
PCI TV card (with video input) anywhere? It's hard to keep
doing "the same" over the period of time the equipment will
work. Okay, no problem if you need to to "something new"
(which requires more power, more storage or faster speed),
but if that's not the case, the wheel keeps being reinvented.
What has been old will be new, except it comes in shiny new
marketing mumbo-jumbo to convince us. :-)

--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...

[Robert Huff]

Polytropon writes:

> > Somebody is always coming up with something new that will
> > inevitably force me to spend money, buing new hardware, despite
> > all my resistance.
>
> I cannot wait to participate in this wonderful experience
> that keeps the "throw away society" alive (and enable us
> to buy cheaper and more powerful stuff, on the other hand).
> How will I be going to have a video feed from a VCR when
> I cannot plug in my fully working and excellently supported
> PCI TV card (with video input) anywhere?

"... a VCR ..."? How ... Devonian. :-)

> It's hard to keep
> doing "the same" over the period of time the equipment will
> work. Okay, no problem if you need to to "something new"
> (which requires more power, more storage or faster speed),
> but if that's not the case, the wheel keeps being reinvented.
> What has been old will be new, except it comes in shiny new
> marketing mumbo-jumbo to convince us. :-)

There are still graphics cards out there that also function as
TV tuner/input/output. But it is increasingly a niche market, just
like external modems (or modems in general), and probably few are
being made for something as ... experienced ... as plain PCI.
I might even have one stuck in my old parts stash ....



Robert Huff