windows server restart

hanging on "hit F1 to continue"

[wingslevel]

I have windows boxes and encountered a problem for the first time the other day. I needed to restart a box and it just wouldn't come back up. I had to have a tech from my isp go check on it - seems the sart-up hung and was waiting for a "hit F1 to continue".

Obviously this is not a good thing for remote server operation.

Anybody know a way to either shorten the boot process and force the box to start, or maybe some way to get it to automatically start in safe mode if the boot process exceeds x minutes?

[jtara]

"Hit F1 to continue" isn't a Windows message, as far as I know. It's a common message from the BIOS, and can occur when there is some sort of problem, such as a corrupted CMOS memory.

There are several ways to deal with this:

- First and foremost, this often is reporting a real problem. Pay attention! Best not to ignore.

- High-end servers have a remote-control module or card (or option), which allows you to view and interact with the BIOS startup. In most cases, you can even remotely update the BIOS, install an OS (if somebody inserts the CD/DVD) etc. These cards have their own Ethernet interface. There are also external boxes that will do this for one to several servers ("remote KVM switch") but they are quite costly.

- You may have a BIOS setting to tell your BIOS that you have no keyboard, so that it will not do a keyboard test, and will not issue "press F1 to continue" messages.

- You can buy a "keyboard/mouse emulator", which you plug into the keyboard and mouse ports, and will satisfy the BIOS and OS that there is a keyboard and mouse present, even though there is not. (Of course, you can always just plug in an old keyboard and mouse.) I know, it doesn't make sense to get a "press F1 to continue" error because you have no keyboard...

- It can also be useful to build your own "VGA emulator". I don't think these are readily available commercially. Sorry, I forget which pins to jumper on the connector. But it's a simple matter of jumpering two pins on a VGA connector and plugging it in.