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Date:      Sat, 6 Mar 1999 19:00:05 -0500
From:      Lee Cremeans <lee@st-lcremean.tidalwave.net>
To:        Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, Sheldon Hearn <sheldonh@iafrica.com>
Cc:        hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: BIOS reboot question from Linux user
Message-ID:  <19990306190005.A85183@tidalwave.net>
In-Reply-To: <199903062324.PAA00691@dingo.cdrom.com>; from Mike Smith on Sat, Mar 06, 1999 at 03:24:50PM -0800
References:  <33057.920541508@axl.noc.iafrica.com> <199903062324.PAA00691@dingo.cdrom.com>

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On Sat, Mar 06, 1999 at 03:24:50PM -0800, Mike Smith wrote:
> > 
> > Hi folks,
> > 
> > The following question is cluttering up the GNATS database (misc/5552):
> > 
> > | I found out today that the Linux parameter of append reboot=bios
> > | (which passes the reboot=bios) is unavailable under FreeBSD.  Is this
> > | correct?  The keyboard fix in the kernel does not fix my problem, and
> > | the machine still does not reboot.
> > |
> > | Is there a way to tell the machine to reboot via the bios?
> > 
> > I don't understand what this chap's talking about and wondered if anyone
> > here with an understanding of how the referenced Linux option works.
> > 
> > Does reboot(8) use the BIOS code for rebooting?
> 
> No.
> 
> There are arguments for and against trying; currently the only systems 
> that would benefit from such an option are those with broken hardware.

To clarify, FreeBSD first tries to reset the computer using the keyboard
controller (which is the original AT-compatible way of doing it). Some
machines, however, don't have the RST# line from the CPU connected to the
controller. In this case, FreeBSD resets the machine by unmapping all of
memory space, which triple-faults the processor, putting it into the
SHUTDOWN state. The chipset on the motherboard is supposed to convert this
to a hard reset, and if it doesn't, well, it's bogus -- you're not fully
AT-compatible if this doesn't work.

All this is in /sys/i386/i386/vm_machdep.c if you want a look. 

-- 
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lee Cremeans -- Manassas, VA, USA  (WakkyMouse on DALnet and WTnet)|  
|    lcremean@tidalwave.net| http://st-lcremean.tidalwave.net/~lee   |



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