In message <20051015075803.GA1723@apb-laptoy.apb.alt.za>, Alan Barrett writes:
>On Fri, 14 Oct 2005, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
>> I am *trying* to set the boot timeout on my CF card.  Here is the exact 
>> command I used, on a laptop with a PCMCIA adapter:
>> 
>>  installboot -v -o timeout=5,console=com0,speed=19200 /dev/rwd1a /usr/mdec/b
>bootxx_ffsv1
>> 
>> But the boot timeout is always 0 when I boot.  Trying the command from 
>> the Soekris, in single-user mode, doesn't help.
>
>The i386 boot timeout is implemented by repeatedly calling the BIOS
>"delay n microseconds" function, and some BIOSes get it wrong.
>Try setting a huge delay (it's a 32-bit integer) and see how
>fast it counts down.
>
Good call.  I set it to 500; not sure what that comes to in seconds, 
but it gives me a chance to react.  I'll probably up it to 100.

		--Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb