Re: PROBLEM: floppy motor spins when floppy module not installed

[Måns Rullgård]

"Richard B. Johnson" <root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> On Fri, 12 Dec 2003, [iso-8859-1] Måns Rullgård wrote:
>
>> "Richard B. Johnson" <root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>>
>> > It is not a broken BIOS! The BIOS timer that ticks 18.206 times
>> > per second has an ISR that, in addition to keeping time, turns
>> > OFF the FDC motor after two seconds of inactivity.

IMHO a ridiculous design, as is most of the PC.

>> > This ISR is taken away by Linux. Therefore Linux must turn off
>> > that motor! It is a Linux bug, not a BIOS bug. Linux took control
>> > away from the BIOS during boot.
>>
>> OK, but why doesn't it affect all machines?
>>
> If you leave the FDC software in the kernel, the FDC software
> sets up everything and turns off the motor. If you have the
> FDC as a module, you have nothing in there to turn off the
> motor until you install the module.

I'm running 2.6.0-test11 on a machine with modular floppy driver,
without any spinning motors.  I think it boots from floppy before HD,
but I'm not certain (can't check right now).

-- 
Måns Rullgård
mru@xxxxxx

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