vmware cause keyboard lockup?

VistA · Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2002 2:22 am Post subject: vmware cause keyboard lockup?

i have found that when I am running win2k under vmware (this is the only os i've run under vmware, so i don't know this is an issue with others) and vmware does some action that requires lots of disk access/cpu time my keyboard will lockup. The keyboard will behave like it is not plugged in (the LED's will freeze in the state that they were in before the lockup). I have also noticed that when this lockup happens, my dialup connection will stop sending/reciving packets. The like does not drop, but traffic stops moving across it.

c_kuzmanic · Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2002 2:49 am Post subject:

Are you using a usb keyboard or regular PS/2 ?

VistA · Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2002 4:18 am Post subject:

my keboard is PS/2. I thought that my usb mouse might be affecting things (i have found that if I do not have a mouse pluggedin the PS/2 port the kernel spits AT Keyboard Timeout errors at me when booting. Once the USB mods got loaded things work fine though) but i now have my mouse pluged into PS/2 via adapter.

Carlo · Developer Joined: 12 Aug 2002 Posts: 3356

I can't help you with your problem, but I have another keyboard problem, which seems to have something to do with vmware, too. Sometimes when I press down a keyboard button outside the vm, I get only a single char, instead of the same one repeatedly. I can fix this by rechecking the keyboard repeat checkbox in the kde control center, but it's annoying to this once a day or so.

Carlo

c_kuzmanic · Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2002 8:22 pm Post subject:

What I would do is to just try to use another, really simple ps/2 keyboard and see if the probs persist. Does the current keyboard you are using feature any custom buttons, volume controls ,etc. ? This could be part of the problem.

Also, under "Devices" disconnect /dev/rtc and see if that improves anything. The realtime clock affects polling of hardware, vmware can act funky with rtc connected, especially some with some versions of windows.

Is your windows 2000 installation up-to-date? Make sure you have the latest service packs installed, this has probably nothing to do with the problem but it is a wise thing to do anyway.

VistA · Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2002 12:12 am Post subject:

the keyboard i'm using is a really simple ps/2 kbd. It lacks all of those fancy extra buttons. As to the rtc, I is not connected and never has been. (the win2k install is up to date too)

c_kuzmanic · Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2002 2:25 am Post subject:

VistA · Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2002 3:43 am Post subject:

i'm using gentoo-sources 2.4.19 r10, the AT timeout errors have happened with every kernel that i've ever used with any distro.

cat /proc/interrupts:

krt · Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2003 6:23 pm Post subject:

VistA · Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 4:16 am Post subject:

vmware just locked up my keyboard again, but i noticed that my music was still playing (which is stored on a different machine, accessed over my network) so i went to another box and ssh'ed in. one thing that caught my eye was the output of ps -A:

VistA · Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2003 9:28 pm Post subject:

For others that might have this problem in the future, and for myself after I forget in 6 weeks, the keyboard lockup problems seem to have been caused by using a kernel with the preempt patches enabled. I recompiled my kernel (gentoo-sources 2.4.19) without the preempt option and things have run just fine for a week.

edsuom

For what it's worth, this problem occurs on my Gentoo 1.4 system (Kernel 2.4.23, VMware 4.0.2) about a year after the last post above. The /usr/bin/kbdrate and KDE control panel suggestions both work, so I'm not complaining too much.

Carlo · Developer Joined: 12 Aug 2002 Posts: 3356

Thanks for pushing this thread - lost it somehow.

@krt: The problem is gone, since I'm using KDE 3.2.

Carlo
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