No console output after boot [solved]

jonathanross

Hi,

I'm a big fan of Gentoo and have been trying to install it on a Netra T1. I've been through the SPARC install docs twice fully but still get this following error, it seems so simple but I can't get round it.

I can turn off the ttys to stop them respawing in inittab but it hangs like this at the end of the boot process with the default install docs:

nixnut · Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 7:43 pm Post subject:

Moved from Installing Gentoo to Gentoo on Sparc.
Sparc, so will probably find more response here.
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jonathanross · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 10:09 am Post subject:

I have tried everything my poor noobie brain can think of but still I get failed keymap and virtual console errors and it hangs on boot.

:oops:

Netra T1 with kernel-2.4.31-sparc-r2

Any help massively appreciated.

Jon

jonathanross · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 12:05 pm Post subject:

Progress update ....

I've narrowed down all of the possible errors causing this as well as recompiling the kernel with a few more built-in modules which didn't help.

## The problem is now known --> It's a console output error. Keymap and VC errors were a red herring. ##

I've managed to get the network up and running and can now get in over SSH and the whole system seems fine except :

Connecting via the LOM means it boots perfectly except there is no prompt after "No more processes in this INIT level". This is the case for both the single user mode and runlevel 3.

Can anyone please help with why the Netra T1 (sparc64 sun4u TI UltraSparc IIi ) won't output to console with a prompt after booting correctly ?

Ironically I need to use this box on a terminal server ! It's not that great not seeing any output after booting !!!!

Thanks again,

Jon

jonathanross · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 4:06 pm Post subject:

SOLVED

I've finally sussed how the terminals work via the LOM during the boot process and solved this headache.

The console on a headless box seems to jump from standard LOM (like a monitor output) over to serial zero (S0) as soon as the OS is booted, effectively dropping all input and output.

Messing with the inittab and fixing the ttys for s0 and s1 (tried ./MAKEDEV ttys0) fixed this problem.

I now get the full boot process output and the spawned tty login prompt at the end via the console allowing input and output so I can hook her up to a terminal server happily.

Hopefully this doc will assist someone in the future.

Thank you everyone for your help

Jon

linnov · n00b Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 6

can you post your inittab I am having the same problem with a sun box

FreddieD · n00b Joined: 16 Nov 2005 Posts: 1

In /etc/inittab, for me on my ultra5 it was as easy as uncommenting the s0 line:

Sunthief · Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:26 am Post subject:

Thank you sooo much for that information, i was banging my head against the wall for hours trying to figure that out!! Good job!!