[buug] boot without keyboard?

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Claude Rubinson (cmsclaud at arches.uga.edu):

> Hey all, I'm hoping that someone might be able to help me out with an
> annoying problem with a Compaq workstation.  The machine's BIOS refuses to
> boot the computer if it doesn't detect a keyboard (if I recall correctly,
> it gives a 386 error). I'm wondering there's a way around that?

It's a limitation of the motherboard hardware, and obviously has nothing
to do with Unix.  So, this question really belongs on a hardware mailing
list or newsgroup, rather than a Unix one, but I'll give you the same
answer you'd get there:

You'll need on that machine at boot time either a keyboard or something
with the electrical presence of a keyboard, such as a KVM box.  Or else
a different motherboard.

Obviously the problem cannot be solved in software, since it occurs
before anything but firmware is loaded.

-- 
Cheers,   "Why is the alphabet in that order?  Is it because of that song?"
Rick Moen                                              -- Steven Wright
rick at linuxmafia.com