Unable to login on console - please help

[TimSNL]

Hello linux masters.

I am runnung linux 7.0 Kernel 2.2.16-22.
I can login via telnet and serial terminals but not directly on the console.
After the bootup is finished, the login does not come up on the console. Keys pressed echo onto the screen, including control codes for arrow keys etc. There seems to be no virtual screens to switch to either.
After booting in single user mode I am able to login on the console ok.

I am not able to upgrade this server because it has some old software that won't run on any higher version of linux.

I have no idea where to start looking for this fix.
Your advice is greatly appriceated.

Thanks
Tim

 

[unixfreak]

What parameters is passed onto the kernel at startup? Look for the 'console' one.

Cheers

 

[thedaver]

what is the output of
'ps ax | grep -i tty'


Surfinbox.com Business Internet Services - National Dialup, DSL, T-1 and more.

http://www.surfinbox.com/business/

 

[mrregan]

what are the contents of /etc/inittab?

 

[TimSNL]

Thankyou for your questions, i hope we can get to the bottom of this.

unixfreak:
Where do I look to find out what parameters are passed into the kernel at startup?

thedaver:

# ps ax | grep -i tty
  PID TTY      STAT   TIME COMMAND
 1023 ttyS1    S      0:15 /etc/best/checkups/client/CHECKUPS -f/etc/best/checku
#

mrregan:

#
# inittab       This file describes how the INIT process should set up
#               the system in a certain run-level.
#
# Author:       Miquel van Smoorenburg, <miquels@drinkel.nl.mugnet.org>
#               Modified for RHS Linux by Marc Ewing and Donnie Barnes
#

# Default runlevel. The runlevels used by RHS are:
#   0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
#   1 - Single user mode
#   2 - Multiuser, without NFS (The same as 3, if you do not have networking)
#   3 - Full multiuser mode
#   4 - unused
#   5 - X11
#   6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
# 
id:3:initdefault:

# System initialization.
si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit

l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 0
l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 1
l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 3
l4:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 4
l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 5
l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 6

# Things to run in every runlevel.
ud::once:/sbin/update

# Trap CTRL-ALT-DELETE
ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

# When our UPS tells us power has failed, assume we have a few minutes
# of power left.  Schedule a shutdown for 2 minutes from now.
# This does, of course, assume you have powerd installed and your
# UPS connected and working correctly.  
pf::powerfail:/sbin/shutdown -f -h +2 "Power Failure; System Shutting Down"

# If power was restored before the shutdown kicked in, cancel it.
pr:12345:powerokwait:/sbin/shutdown -c "Power Restored; Shutdown Cancelled"


# Run gettys in standard runlevels
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

# Run xdm in runlevel 5
# xdm is now a separate service
x:5:respawn:/etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon
S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty ttyC7 DT19200 vt220
S1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mgetty -D -a -x 0 ttyS0 vt220

 

[TimSNL]

Someone please help me with this problem.
I don't know what to do next
[flush]

 

[unixfreak]

What's the output of 'cat /proc/cmdline'?

What happens if you type '/sbin/mingetty tty1'

Cheers

 

[TimSNL]

# cat /proc/cmdline
auto BOOT_IMAGE=Not-Windoze ro root=301 BOOT_FILE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.16-22
# /sbin/mingetty tty1
#

Nothing happened on the console when I typed /sbin/mingetty tty1
Still just echos the keyboard the same as before.

 

[mrregan]

Does the /var/log/messages show any error during the reboot process?

 

[TimSNL]

/var/log/messages does not report any errors during bootup process. I can email you the messages file if you need it.

 

[unixfreak]

It seems a bit like the kernel hasn't got support for virtual consoles or something?!?

Cheers

 

[mrregan]

what happens if you change the inittab entry to id:5:initdefault and reboot, does the xwindow come up?

 

[unixfreak]

Or simpler: just type init 5

What happens if you do 'echo "test" > /dev/tty1'?

P.S. If you go to /dev do you have subdirectories like tts, disk etc.?

Cheers