Re: hard crash despite UPS
I disconnected the serial cable from the UPS to the PC, and apt-get
remove apcupsd. Now when I pull the UPS plug from the wall the
computer keeps going. Progress, though of course it no longer has a
way of knowing the power has failed.
When the system was on with the cable connected the green LED on the
UPS was off. It went back on as Linux shutdown. With the cable
disconnected, the LED stays one. This tends to support theory #2
below.
I'm not quite sure what to do with this theory. APC says the port
needs to be set for 2400 bps with FLOW XON/XOFF. setserial stores
some configuration, namely /var/lib/setserial/autoserial.conf (I have
no /etc/serial.conf)
/dev/ttyS1 uart 16550A port 0x02f8 irq 3 baud_base 115200 spd_normal skip_test
setserial seems to have no XON related options, and, as I understand
it, doesn't actually set the hardware. /proc/isapnp shows my
modem (which uses a serial port) and sound card, but I don't see
anything for the serial ports themselves. How do I configure them?
(lspci also doesn't show serial ports).
On Wed, Jan 22, 2003 at 04:27:35PM -0800, Ross Boylan wrote:
> My UPS, an APC BackUPS 650, seems ineffective under Linux. Originally
> I thought this was because it could not cope with the load, but it
> works OK under MS-Windows.
>
> That is, when I pull the cord from the wall under Windows I get an
> alert the UPS is on battery. When I do the same under Linux, the
> system powers off immediately (not a controlled shutdown).
>
> I use the apcupsd on a woody system with 2.4.19 kernel. Suspecting a
> configuration problem, I reviewed my settings with APC tech support,
> but this didn't help. I also tried disabling the demon before pulling
> the plug; this didn't help. I think this kills the theory that it is
> a problem with apcupsd.
>
> I do notice that I get the error message
> LSR safety check engaged
> on ttyS1 whenever I run the apcupsd demon (as well as on system start
> up). I see in the newsgroups this is a sign that something is wrong
> with the serial driver, but I'm not sure what. ttyS1 is where the UPS
> communicates.
>
>
> Hmm, I suppose a further test would be to disconnect the serial cable
> and see if this makes a difference.
>
> Anyway, I'm at a bit of a loss to track this problem down, and would
> appreciate any assistance. Some theories, none compelling, that occur
> to me:
>
> 1) Something else is watching ttyS1 and causing the shutdown. (What?)
>
> 2) The UPS detects that communication has failed and shuts down. The
> problem with this theory is that the UPS uses simple (dumb) signalling:
> messages only go from the UPS to the computer. So there doesn't seem
> to be anyway the UPS would even know there was a problem.
>
> 3) The system draws more power under Linux than Windows 2000, and this
> is just enough to put the battery over the edge. This assumes
> something else is weakening the battery, because it nominally clearly
> has enough juice. However, my utility power is pretty poor, and this
> could strain the system.
>
> 4) apcupsd is still hanging around despite /etc/init.d/apcupsd stop,
> and it's still the culprit. (I can try removing the package).
>
> Some possibly relevant log entries (gaps indicate omissions):
> Jan 22 14:25:48 wheat kernel: Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with MANY_PORTS SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI ISAPNP enabled
> Jan 22 14:25:48 wheat kernel: ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
> Jan 22 14:25:48 wheat kernel: ttyS02 at 0x03e8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
> Jan 22 14:25:48 wheat kernel: ttyS01 at port 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
>
> Jan 22 14:25:48 wheat kernel: eth0: Setting 100mbps full-duplex based on auto-negotiated partner ability 41e1.
> Jan 22 14:25:48 wheat kernel: ttyS1: LSR safety check engaged!
> Jan 22 14:25:48 wheat last message repeated 2 times
>
> Jan 22 14:25:49 wheat kernel: ttyS1: LSR safety check engaged!
> Jan 22 14:25:49 wheat apcupsd[396]: apcupsd 3.8.5 (4 January 2002)
> debian startup succeeded
>
> There are no log entries from the time of the crash.
>
> genpower was on my system, but I removed it.
> acpid is installed
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