Ubuntu
ubiquity package

Difference between CMOS setup and result.

Asked by Alberto

Hello to the community!
My jalopy runs Lubuntu 16.04.2 LTS installed from a 0 errors Live session.
It's a very old machine, AMD Athlon XP 2800+ and K7VTA3 motherboard.
Recently I accessed CMOS in order to brush up my memory about setup (and to make a paper copy, why not?) and noticed a tiny, silly thing.
Parameter:
Bootup NumLock status
is set to on.
So, as I boot up the system Numlock is enabled and disabled a couple of time and when the procedure is finished it is disabled.
How do you explain this?
Shouldn't it be enabled, accordind to CMOS setup?
Does my Linux meddle with CMOS setup?

Many thanks, as always

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actionparsnip
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Best actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

If you run:

sudo apt-get install numlockx

Then you can add startup items to use the new command to set the state to on
http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2014/06/turn-on-numlock-ubuntu-14-04/

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

I'm not sure why the state would change during boot. That seems very odd. Do you have the latest BIOS?

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Alberto (alby-the-baldy) said : 		#3

Hello Andrew, nice to read you again.

Well, I'll tell you one more thing:
the same I wrote happens if a start a Live Xubuntu 16.04.2 LTS session and a Lubuntu 16.04.2 LTS one. Both DVDs have zero errors. I checked the ISO, too.
Having NumLock on or off at the end of the start up procedure is an infinitesimal problem, as you can imagine.
What worries me is there might be other similar problems affecting the computer.

This machine was built in 2003 and has been running Windows XP up to the end of Microsoft support. Probably it was assembled in order to run XP. The cpu name makes me wonder...
I don't now before 2006 but after that year the BIOS was never updated. I didn't even know it was to do. I guess it's a very delicate procedure.
Many thanks

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Alberto (alby-the-baldy) said : 		#4

Hello Andrew and hello Techies,
I just realized another weird behavior of my jalopy:
my sound card only works in a Xubuntu 16.04.2 LTS Live session.
It doesn't work in a Lubuntu 16.04.2 LTS Live session.
And it doesn't work in the HDD installed Lubuntu 16.04.2 LTS session.
Hope this can help you helping me.
Thanks

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Alberto (alby-the-baldy) said : 		#5

Hello,
do you think I'd better re-install the OS? Or what?
Thanks

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Alberto (alby-the-baldy) said : 		#6

I had an idea...! I could ask the motherboard maker. What do you think?
Thanks

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Alberto (alby-the-baldy) said : 		#7

About the sound card... I noticed that if I re-boot the system the card works properly.

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Alberto (alby-the-baldy) said : 		#8

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.

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Alberto (alby-the-baldy) said : 		#9

Just adding a comment...
I asked this question because I thought not getting what is setup in CMOS was a hint of something not working properly in the O.S.
Thanks