Confusing syslog message

[rewtme]

One of our many B180 workstations running 10.20 out in the field is spitting out the following message in syslog that I can't make any sense of:

vmunix: ps2: TBNE set after command byte ack timeout

The only thing I can think of is that "ps2" is relating to the mouse, but I am not positive who the user on the machine is so I can't call them up to see if the mouse is plugged in properly. Or it may have nothing to do with the mouse.

This is not a vital system and there is no pressure to fix this error anytime soon, it's just generating Remedy tickets once every hour and kind of a pain. I just wanted to see if anyone had seen this error before and knew what it meant.

Thanks.

[Jeff Schussele]

Hi,

Although I cannot find anything definitive, I suspect that indeed it is related to the mouse. Because when the mouse is in stream mode it sends data in Three Byte (TB) reports.

So I would suspect a bad or failing mouse or port.
As the ack timeout sure sounds like something's not responding.
Although the keyboard will report as a PS2 device too, mind you.

As to whom it might be, doesn't the login names give you any clue? If this is a workstation the user logged into console could be the only user using the KB/mouse.

HTH,
Jeff

[Darren Prior]

Hi,

If you're seeing these messages once an hour I'd have thought that the user would be noticing some problems! eg X/VUE locking up.

Some things that you could check:

* does this workstation have the mouse plugged in directly, or via a extension lead or perhaps a switchbox?

* are your Xserver patches up to date?

* does the user have any applications that are unique to this workstation?

regards,

Darren.

[Keely Jackson]

Hi

Why not broadcast a message to the machine with wall if you don't know the user and get them to check the mouse if thats what it appears to be.

Cheers
Keely

[doug hosking]

HP-UX incorrectly calculated ps2 timeout values in 10.20. I'm not sure if this is why you're seeing this message, but it seems quite likely. It doesn't look like this was ever patched. Mutter "JAGad40185" to your HP support person if you pursue it with them for any reason.

[Cheryl Griffin]

These messages can be reported by any ps2 device (keyboards, mouse)and is strictly hardware related.
# ioscan

Look for a device:
# ll /dev/ps2*

This is a hardware issue with a device not responding. Check dmesg as well for more info.
# dmesg

Cheryl