Server won't shutdown

[Jokejuice]

I am not a Unix admin in the least nor do I pretend to be one. I have inherited a system running SCO V5. Yesterday there were print server problems, a tape drive issue over night, and now I tried to reboot the system and recieved the following errors
Error 14905 Alarm call
Eror 14936 Alarm call
Apparently the shutdown then became a hung process.

Any suggestions would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks

 

[Jokejuice]

OK so I am guessing that a "hard reboot" of the system is the first step at this point.

 

[stanhubble]

yep...but be prepared these are just probably symptoms of another underlying problem.

 

[Jokejuice]

Yeah, I figured that was the case, but I had to try it. And of course it didn't solve anything except the shutdown problem. I need to find a book on this system, but they don't have any here. It's hard to believe since they have had the system since 97.

 

[itfellow]

Hey Jokejuice, I feel your pain. I'm in the exact same boat you are: inherited an SCO 5.0 server and I have limited experience with Unix. I've been wading through the web for documentation on things. I stumbled across something that might be helpful to you:

from the link

http://www.aplawrence.com/SCOFAQ/FAQ_scotec1alarmcall.html

***
Why do I get "Alarm Call" messages at startup boot or shutdown?
The /etc/rc[0-2] script scripts use the "prc_sync" command to execute the scripts in the /etc/rc[0-2].d directories. By default, these are run with an argument of "120", which tells prc_sync that the scripts are expected to finish in 2 minutes or less. This time out is managed by prc_sync setting OS level "alarms" ( man S alarm). It is the failure of the script to complete in the allotted time that causes the alarm not to be shut off, and that's when you see "Alarm Call" on the screen.

You can find out what scripts did not complete by examining the "prc_sync" log file in /etc/rc0.d/messages and /etc/rc2.d/messages.
***

This is a good site for SCO info. Here is the link to aplawrence's FAQ indices:

http://www.aplawrence.com/faq.html

Good luck.

 

[Jokejuice]

Thanks itfellow, for the information.
Somehow I ended up having multiple problems at the same time that were unrelated. Basically, after the hard reboot, the system would shut down fine. Then I found a Dot MAtrix Printer was shot, as well as a print server. Once all of these things were replace everything went well. I learned alot about SCO Unix at the same time. So although stressful at first, I chalk it uo to a good learning experience.

 

[edfair]

As you search for stuff here you'll run across a lot of solutions from a user pcunix. That was Tony Lawrence of the website you referenced.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.