Re. http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2003/05/11/0011.html

Since moving my hard disk to a PCI controller card, and putting a CD-ROM and
DVD-ROM on the motherboard IDE controllers, I've also been getting the system
IDE light always on until first access.

My approach is just to ignore the light.  I can't see that it does any harm,
and it only comes on after a reboot (which rarely happens); as soon as I pop
the DVD tray in/out (even if there's no disk), the light goes out.

(I actually don't know if the CD drive will also kill the light.)


The light doesn't matter to me because the only drive that it generally
is relavent to is the DVD player; and when it's in use, I generally don't
care about the activity of the LED.  Most of the rest of the time, I
*know* the drive is empty so I know that the drive is inactive (or at
least not doing anything productive), and again don't much care what
the LED is saying.  (^&

My philosophy is that it's PC hardware, specifically with a VIA motherboard
chipset.  I'm not going to get my nose bent out of shape over a completely
non-functional (insofar as I'm concerned) feature is concerned.  I'm more
concerned that my DSL modem's acitivity lights lag behind actual acitivity
to the point that they only vaguely inform me that something has happened in
the past second or so.  (I miss a real modem, with TD/RD lights that have
instant feedback...)


(Speaking of DSL modems, I wish I had a little electronic switch that
I could open/close by controlling the DTR serial pin, say.  My modem often
loses synch (my ISP says that all DSL modems do this) and can't resynch
on its own, about once every week or three.  The only way to get it back
to life is to cycle the modem's power (!@#$ brain-damage inspired by
MS, no doubt).  For a non-hardwawre type, is there an inexpensive part
or switch that will let me do this?  The best any electronics places could
suggest was an X10 module which is overkill and way too much trouble, as
well as probably being 10 to 100 times more expensive than what I think I
really need...)


-- 
  "I probably don't know what I'm talking about."  http://www.olib.org/~rkr/