what in the unix is this and...? 2

jbay · Mar 1, 2000

hi...my names james, and thanks for your help and time with this...i'm at the console monitor and it says this in 2 lines;1st line "INIT: Command is respawning too rapidly. Check for possible errors. 2nd line "id: 14 "getty tty14 9600P # HR/Admin Support"....1st, what does this say in lay terms and what does this mean? 2nd, how do i fix it and get to my prompt as before this? 3rd where and how do i check for errors?..,lastly, HELP ME before i go nuts...thank you so much...mahalos...james 
 
i am so new to unix its sad...books help to an extent...whatever step by step you can offer me to resolve this and space clearing problems, overall system optimizing would be tremendously appreciated james bay <a href=mailto:rgscom@aol.com>rgscom@aol.com</a> <a href= > </a> please bare with me with regard to my questions...i'm trying to comprehend the vast concepts as they apply to computers in general and at times forget the KISS philosophy and i do so appreciate your insights/step by step guidance and overall your generosi

AndyBo · Mar 2, 2000

Stick with it James - you're doing OK

Now, the problem you're seeing is related to a login terminal. The "getty" program is responsible for displaying the "login" prompt on terminals. (I think it stands for "Get tty" - ie, get something from the teletype terminal.) 
 
The way getty works is that it displays the login prompt to the terminal. When a user types in a login name and presses <Return>, getty sends this to the "login" program which then asks for the user's password, logs the user in, etc. getty then disappears into the background until all other processes on the terminal die. It then pops back into life, waiting for a user to log in. 
 
This is known as "respawning". 
 
The "init" process looks after the getty process (as well as everything else

and is responsible for making sure the respawning takes place. The message you're seeing is from init, and it's complaining that it's having to respawn the getty process on port "tty14" too often. 
 
This usually means that, for some reason, tty14 has become disconnected from it's serial port. 
 
You need to do two things: 
 
1) Disable the "getty" process temporarily. To do this, edit the file "/etc/inittab". You'll need to be logged in as "root" to do this. Look for the line containing "tty14" and comment it out by entering a "#" character as the first character on the line. (Before editing inittab, take a copy of it just in case of any problems. eg "cp /etc/inittab /etc/inittab.orig".) 
 
    Save the change to inittab and drop back to the shell. Type the command "telinit q". If you get "command not found", try "/etc/telinit q". If it's still not found, "/sbin/init q". What these commands will do is tell the init process to re-read /etc/inittab and process the entries. It will spot that tty14 is commented out, and stop respawning getty to that port. 
 
2) Identify which screen is tty14 and fix the problem with it

(From the message, which contains a comment from inittab, I'm guessing it's in the HR department...) This could be as simple as reconnecting a loose RS-232 cable, or it may be that the terminal is dead. 
 
3) Once you've fixed the problem with tty14, copy "/etc/inittab.orig" back to "/etc/inittab" and run the telinit command again. 
 
Hope this helps

jbay · Mar 2, 2000

i'm stickin' with no doubt, its the only i will learn this...but man am i in a world of hurt or what right now...as we speak...i type something at the console terminal and all that comes back on the terminal display are 'x's, thats it, just 'x's...not only that but my prompt has changed to'#' verse what it was before which was RoyalGrd>...the screen will not clear when i type 'cls'...space errors gallor...slow output....arrrrggghhhh!!!...what do i do...? really i'm not a bone head i just play one when dealing with an os that i've never dealt with before and am now responsible for...again any and all help on optimizing this system would greatly be appreciated...mahalos...james james bay <a href=mailto:rgscom@aol.com>rgscom@aol.com</a> <a href= > </a> please bare with me with regard to my questions...i'm trying to comprehend the vast concepts as they apply to computers in general and at times forget the KISS philosophy and i do so appreciate your insights/step by step guidance and overall your generosi

AndyBo · Mar 3, 2000

It sounds like your system console has somehow been set to the wrong baud rate. The "x"'s that you're seeing when you type are a result of this. (At least, this is something that's happened to me before.) 
 
Go into the terminal settings on the terminal itself, and try changing the baud rate to 9600, 19200, and 38400. One of these should work. Don't forget to save the terminal settings after you change them

The fact your prompt has changed is a different problem. Do you have a file called "/.profile"? This is the script that will be executed when "root" logs in. Kind of like a personal "autoexec.bat" for root. 
 
This file is held in the user's home directory, and executed each time they log in. It sounds like your root .profile has ben moved somewhere, or removed. 
 
It's usually in the user's .profile that their prompt is changed. Log in to root and try typing: 
 
PS1="RoyalGrd> " 
export PS1 
 
This should set your prompt back to what it was before, and would probably have been held in your root ".profile". 
 
A missing .profile would also explain not being able to find "cls". The usual command under Unix for clearing a screen is "clear". It sounds like someone has created a "cls" script that runs "clear" to clear the screen, and that this has been created in a non-standard place. ie, "/usr/local/bin". 
 
Try the following command: 
 
find / -name cls -print 
 
This will locate the "missing" cls script. You will need to add the directory that contains the script back into your $PATH environment variable, like so: 
 
PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin 
 
Where "/usr/local/bin" is the directory that contains "cls". Put this into "/.profile" to make this change permanent for "root". 
 
If the find command doesn't find a "cls" command, then it was probably set up as a shell alias, or function. Again, this would have been held in "/.profile". 
 
Sorry for rambling on, but, as always, hope this helps

jbay · Mar 3, 2000

by no means is it rambling and if so as robert plant screamed many years ago and is still echoed 'ramble on'...anyways i read what your saying but still not able to grasp/comprehend what it is, the concepts of it all...i'm trying to gain the fundamental basics and all of this unix os, as it is brand new to me and am now the sysadm for my small (thank god)network at the office...i'm here to build an NT based one but just been told that wont happen for awhile due to budget and to concentrate on optimizing and trouble shooting the one existing unix 5 version 3.2 that is up and barely crawling...i do appreciate a great deal the fact that you take the time from your busy schedule to assist me andybo...so a gracious thanks to you and of course a most humble thanks to those others that are as generous...so ramble on...mahalos...james 
james bay <a href=mailto:rgscom@aol.com>rgscom@aol.com</a> <a href= > </a> please bare with me with regard to my questions...i'm trying to comprehend the vast concepts as they apply to computers in general and at times forget the KISS philosophy and i do so appreciate your insights/step by step guidance and overall your generosi

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what in the unix is this and...? 2

jbay

Technical User

AndyBo

MIS

jbay

Technical User

AndyBo

MIS

jbay

Technical User

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