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linux4ever
n00b
n00b


Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 32

PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:01 am    Post subject: Serial (LOM) displays invalid characters when init kicks in Reply with quote

Hello everyone,

Since a few days I'm the proud owner of my first sparc system, however I have serious trouble getting everything up.

Atm, I can boot, but the LOM console more a less fails after init kicks in (all characters are invalid, however the amount of chars sent is still ok). At a certain moment during boot (just before net.lo is started) the console is normal again, but I can't log in (I'm unable to send characters to the console. However it's not a hardware problem since the LOM escape sequence still works).

I have set up sshd, so it's not a real problem, however it renders the whole LOM thing pretty useless, which might prove a problem when anything critical happens to the system.

Is this a bug in the kernel, baselayout or just some configuration option I've set wrong?

Would really appreciate if someone could help.

Some relevant data is following.


This is the log of the system startup:

Code:

lom>poweron
lom>
LOM event: +17h1m1s host power on

Sun Fire V100 (UltraSPARC-IIe 548MHz), No Keyboard
OpenBoot 4.0, 512 MB memory installed, Serial #52404849.
Ethernet address 0:3:ba:1f:a2:71, Host ID: 831fa271.



Can't read disk label.
Can't open disk label package
Boot device: disk  File and args:
SILO Version 1.4.14
boot:
Allocated 64 Megs of memory at 0x40000000 for kernel
Loaded kernel version 2.6.27

PROMLIB: Sun IEEE Boot Prom 'OBP 4.0.18 2002/05/23 18:22'
PROMLIB: Root node compatible: sun4u
Linux version 2.6.27-gentoo-r8-lowmem (root@livecd) (gcc version 4.1.2 (Gentoo 4.1.2p1.0.1)) #9 Thu Feb 19 17:40:16 CET 2009
console [earlyprom0] enabled
ARCH: SUN4U
Ethernet address: 00:03:ba:1f:a2:71
Kernel: Using 2 locked TLB entries for main kernel image.
Remapping the kernel... done.
OF stdout device is: /pci@1f,0/isa@7/serial@0,3f8
PROM: Built device tree with 45250 bytes of memory.
Top of RAM: 0xcfeb8000, Total RAM: 0x1fe26000
Memory hole size: 2816MB
[0000000200e00000-fffff80080400000] page_structs=131072 node=0 entry=3/0
[0000000200e00000-fffff80080800000] page_structs=131072 node=0 entry=4/0
[0000000200e00000-fffff80080c00000] page_structs=131072 node=0 entry=5/0
[0000000201500000-fffff80081000000] page_structs=131072 node=0 entry=6/0
Zone PFN ranges:
  Normal   0x00040000 -> 0x00067f5c
Movable zone start PFN for each node
early_node_map[5] active PFN ranges
    0: 0x00040000 -> 0x00048000
    0: 0x00060000 -> 0x000677ff
    0: 0x00067800 -> 0x00067f00
    0: 0x00067f40 -> 0x00067f50
    0: 0x00067f58 -> 0x00067f5c
Booting Linux...
Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 64180
Kernel command line: root=/dev/hdc4
PID hash table entries: 2048 (order: 11, 16384 bytes)
clocksource: mult[b40001] shift[16]
clockevent: mult[16c16bf] shift[32]
Console: colour dummy device 80x25
console handover: boot [earlyprom0] -> real [tty0]

 [ Console Switching Gap ]
 [ Due to control characters the scroolback doesn't work very good, first caharcter of every line is wrong in the following log ]

C   ide1: BM-DMA at 0x1fe02010228-0x1fe0201022f 2 29 rev 0xc3) .org> >               
bdc: ST340016A, ATA DISK drive                                                       
ldd: SR244W, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive                                                 
idc: UDMA/66 mode selected                                                           
idd: UDMA/33 mode selected                                                           
Ude0 at 0x1fe02010200-0x1fe02010207,0x1fe0201021a on irq 12                         
ade1 at 0x1fe02010210-0x1fe02010217,0x1fe0201020a on irq 12                         
adc: max request size: 128KiB                                                       
 dc: 78165360 sectors (40020 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=65535/16/63                   
 dc: cache flushes not supported                                                     
hhdc: hdc1 hdc2 hdc3 hdc4                                                           
hdd: ATAPI 24X CD-ROM drive, 128kB Cache                                             
hniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20                                                 
hoading iSCSI transport class v2.0-870.                                             
idac: device handler registered                                                     
ip_sw: device handler registered                                                     
hmc: device handler registered                                                       
hlua: device handler registered                                                     
hscsi: registered transport (tcp)                                                   
 river 'sd' needs updating - please use bus_type methods                             
hriver 'sr' needs updating - please use bus_type methods                             
UCSI Media Changer driver v0.25                                                     
Lriver 'ch' needs updating - please use bus_type methods                             
rcsi0 : scsi_debug, version 1.81 [20070104], dev_size_mb=8, opts=0x0                 
hcsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Linux    scsi_debug       0004 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5         
ed 0:0:0:0: [sda] 16384 512-byte hardware sectors (8 MB)                             
ad 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off                                               
id 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, supports DPO and FUUU   
D                                                                                   
Dd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 16384 512-byte hardware sectors (8 MB)                             
Sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off                                               
Dd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, supports DPO and FUUU   
s                                                                                   
ssda: unknown partition table                                                       
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk                                                 
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0                                         
snvctrl: I2C device not found.                                                       
A7s: unable to locate device                                                         
software Watchdog Timer: 0.07 initialized. soft_noboot=0 soft_margin=60 sec (nowww   
syout= 0)                                                                           
sprofile: using timer interrupt.                                                     
APv4 over IPv4 tunneling driver                                                     
 CP cubic registered                                                                 
snitializing XFRM netlink socket                                                     
sET: Registered protocol family 10                                                   
ePv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver                                                     
dET: Registered protocol family 17                                                   
SET: Registered protocol family 15                                                   
aET: Registered protocol family 5                                                   
oPC: Registered udp transport module.                                               
IPC: Registered tcp transport module.                                               
Tjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds                                       
IXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.                                 
NFS: Mounted root (ext3 filesystem) readonly.                                       
I?????????????????????????                                                           
N                                                                                   
N???????????????????????????????????                                                 
N??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????                 
R                                                                                   
R????????????????????????????                                                       
k????????????????????????????                                           ????????????
E????????????????????????????                                           ????????????
V????????????????????????????????????                                   ????????????
?????????????????????                                                   ????????????
 ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????            ????????????
??????????????????????????????????                                      ????????????
????????????????????????????????????                                    ????????????
 ?????????????????????????????????                                      ????????????
???????????????????????????????                                         ????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????                             
????????????????????????????????????????????                            ????????????
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????                  ????????????
?????????????????????????????                                                       
?????????????????????????                                               ????????????
???????????????????????????????                                                     
???????????????????????????????????????????????                                     
?????????????????????????????????                                       ????????????
?????????????????????????????????????????????                           ????????????
?????????????????????????????????                                       ????????????
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????          ????????????
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????                           
????????????????????????????????????                                    ????????????
???????????????????????????                                             ????????????
???????????????????????????????????                                     ????????????
????????????????????????????                                            ????????????
????????????????????????????????????????????                            ????????????
?????????????????????????????????                                                   
???????????????????????????                                             ????????????
?????????????????????????????????????????                               ????????????
?* Starting lo                                                            [ ok ]]]] 
?*   Bringing up lo                                                                 
?*     127.0.0.1/8                                                                   
?*   Adding routes                                                        [ ok ]]]] 
?*     127.0.0.0/8 ...                                                               
?* Initializing random number generator ...                               [ ok ]]]] 
?NIT: Entering runlevel: 3                                                [ ok ]]]] 
?* Setting user font ...                                                             
?utfont: PIO_FONT trying ...                                                         
 ..................                                                                 
 etfont: putfont: 256,8x16:  failed: -1                                             
 utfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented                                         
 utfont: PIO_FONT trying ...                                                         
 ..................                                                                 
 etfont: putfont: 256,8x16:  failed: -1                                             
Iutfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented                                         
 utfont: PIO_FONT trying ...                                                         
p..................                                                                 
.etfont: putfont: 256,8x16:  failed: -1                                             
sutfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented                                         
putfont: PIO_FONT trying ...                                                         
p..................                                                                 
.etfont: putfont: 256,8x16:  failed: -1                                             
sutfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented                                         
putfont: PIO_FONT trying ...                                                         
p..................                                                                 
.etfont: putfont: 256,8x16:  failed: -1                                             
sutfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented                                         
putfont: PIO_FONT trying ...                                                         
p..................                                                                 
.etfont: putfont: 256,8x16:  failed: -1                                             
sutfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented                                         
putfont: PIO_FONT trying ...                                                         
p..................                                                                 
.etfont: putfont: 256,8x16:  failed: -1                                             
sutfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented                                         
putfont: PIO_FONT trying ...                                                         
p..................                                                                 
.etfont: putfont: 256,8x16:  failed: -1                                             
sutfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented                                         
putfont: PIO_FONT trying ...                                                         
p..................                                                                 
.etfont: putfont: 256,8x16:  failed: -1                                             
sutfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented                                         
putfont: PIO_FONT trying ...                                                         
p..................                                                                 
.etfont: putfont: 256,8x16:  failed: -1                                             
sutfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented                                         
putfont: PIO_FONT trying ...                                                         
p..................                                                                 
.etfont: putfont: 256,8x16:  failed: -1                                             
sutfont: PIO_FONT: Function not implemented                                         
p* Failed to set user font                                                           
p* Starting eth0                                                          [ !! ]]]] 
.*   Bringing up eth0                                                               
s*     10.0.0.2/8
 *   Adding routes                                                        [ ok ]]]]
 *     default via 10.0.0.1 ...
 * Starting eth1                                                          [ ok ]]]]
 *   Configuration not set for eth1 - assuming DHCP
 *   Bringing up eth1
 *     dhcp
 *       Running dhcpcd ...
eth1: dhcpcd 4.0.7 starting
eth1: broadcasting for a lease
eth1: timed out
eth1: trying to use old lease in `/var/lib/dhcpcd/dhcpcd-eth1.lease'
eth1: checking 169.254.40.43 is available on attached networks
eth1: using IPv4LL address 169.254.40.43
 *       eth1 received address 169.254.40.43/16                           [ ok ]]]]
 * Mounting network filesystems ...
 * Starting sshd ...                                                      [ ok ]]]]
 * Starting local ...                                                     [ ok ]]]]
                                                                          [ ok ]]]]

This is server.unknown_domain (Linux sparc64 2.6.27-gentoo-r8-lowmem) 09:28:05

INIT: Id "s0" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes
INIT: Id "s1" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes


My /etc/inittab:

Code:

#                                                                           
# /etc/inittab:  This file describes how the INIT process should set up     
#                the system in a certain run-level.                         
#                                                                           
# Author:  Miquel van Smoorenburg, <miquels@cistron.nl>                     
# Modified by:  Patrick J. Volkerding, <volkerdi@ftp.cdrom.com>             
# Modified by:  Daniel Robbins, <drobbins@gentoo.org>                       
# Modified by:  Martin Schlemmer, <azarah@gentoo.org>                       
#                                                                           
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/sys-apps/sysvinit/files/inittab,v 1.5 2005/12/22 02:03:23 vapier Exp $                                                                 

# Default runlevel.
id:3:initdefault: 

# System initialization, mount local filesystems, etc.
si::sysinit:/sbin/rc sysinit                         

# Further system initialization, brings up the boot runlevel.
rc::bootwait:/sbin/rc boot                                   

l0:0:wait:/sbin/rc shutdown
l1:S1:wait:/sbin/rc single 
l2:2:wait:/sbin/rc nonetwork
l3:3:wait:/sbin/rc default 
l4:4:wait:/sbin/rc default 
l5:5:wait:/sbin/rc default 
l6:6:wait:/sbin/rc reboot   
#z6:6:respawn:/sbin/sulogin

# TERMINALS
c1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty1 linux
c2:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty2 linux
c3:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty3 linux
c4:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty4 linux
c5:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty5 linux
c6:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty6 linux

# SERIAL CONSOLES
s0:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 9600 ttyS0 vt100
s1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 9600 ttyS1 vt100

# What to do at the "Three Finger Salute".
ca:12345:ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -r now

# Used by /etc/init.d/xdm to control DM startup.
# Read the comments in /etc/init.d/xdm for more
# info. Do NOT remove, as this will start nothing
# extra at boot if /etc/init.d/xdm is not added
# to the "default" runlevel.
x:a:once:/etc/X11/startDM.sh


My /usr/src/linux/.config:

http://www.hofhom.nl/.config

My silo.conf:

Code:

partition = 1         # Boot partition (= root partition)
root = /dev/hdc4      # Root partition                   
timeout = 30          # Wait 3 seconds before booting the default section

image = /boot/linux
  label = gentoo   


My emerge --info:

Code:

Portage 2.1.6.4 (default/linux/sparc/2008.0, gcc-4.1.2, glibc-2.6.1-r0, 2.6.27-gentoo-r8-lowmem sparc64)                                                                 
=================================================================                   
System uname: Linux-2.6.27-gentoo-r8-lowmem-sparc64-sun4u-with-glibc2.0             
Timestamp of tree: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:30:01 +0000                                   
app-shells/bash:     3.2_p17-r1                                                     
dev-lang/python:     2.4.4-r13                                                       
dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r6                                                       
sys-apps/baselayout: 1.12.11.1                                                       
sys-apps/sandbox:    1.2.18.1-r2                                                     
sys-devel/autoconf:  2.61-r1                                                         
sys-devel/automake:  1.10.1                                                         
sys-devel/binutils:  2.18-r1                                                         
sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.4.0-r4                                                       
sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.24                                                         
virtual/os-headers:  2.6.23-r3                                                       
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="sparc"                                                             
CBUILD="sparc-unknown-linux-gnu"                                                     
CFLAGS="-O2 -mcpu=ultrasparc -pipe"                                                 
CHOST="sparc-unknown-linux-gnu"                                                     
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc"                                                               
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/udev/rules.d"         
CXXFLAGS="-O2 -mcpu=ultrasparc -pipe"                                               
DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"                                                     
FEATURES="distlocks fixpackages parallel-fetch protect-owned sandbox sfperms strict unmerge-orphans userfetch"                                                           
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://ftp.romnet.org./gentoo/ http://gentoo.intergenia.de. ftp://mirror.scarlet-internet.nl./pub/gentoo"                                                 
LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1"                                                                   
MAKEOPTS="-j2"                                                                       
PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"                                                       
PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local--exclude=/packages"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"
PORTDIR="/usr/portage"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
USE="acl apache2 bash-completion berkdb bzip2 calendar cli cracklib crypt ctype cupsdedicated dri fortran ftp gcc64 gdbm gpm iconv imap ipv6 isdnlog ldap midi mudflap mysql ncurses nls nptl nptlonly openmp pam pcre perl pppd python readline reflection samba sasl session sparc spl ssl sysfs tcpd unicode vhosts xmlreader xmlrpc xmlwriter xorg zip zlib" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mmap_emul mulaw multi null plugrate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfileauthz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="fbdev glint mach64 mga r128 radeon sunbw2 suncg14 suncg3         suncg6 sunffb sunleo tdfx voodoo"
Unset:  CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, FFLAGS, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY
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Malvineous
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 12:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Given the s0/s1 respawning too fast error, that must mean that the serial ports are disabled/inaccessible. Not being familiar with SPARC or LOM, how are you getting the boot messages off the box? If it's over a serial port, are you explicitly sending data over the serial port, or are you sending data to the "console" and the machine is routing the console over the serial port? It could be that the console routing is conflicting with direct serial port access, causing some of these strange issues.
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linux4ever
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 3:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Point is, I'm not familiar with SPARC and LOM either.

What I understand is that the LOM routes the normal console to a special serial port, however I'm not sure if this is the case.

What I figured:

C1 -> LOM (Serial port #1)
ttyS0 -> Serial port #2
ttyS1 -X

Which means I should disable the second serial port in my inittab.

However this doesn't explain in any way why my serial console is not working :(

Do people think I should report this on bugzilla?
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Malvineous
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't think you should report it on Bugzilla until you're 100% sure what the problem is. Most of the time things like this are configuration issues, not bugs.

If you disable both consoles on s0 and s1, does that change anything?
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linux4ever
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I disable s0 and s1 the

Code:

INIT: Id "s0" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes
INIT: Id "s1" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes


messages disappear, but the console is still the same (and thus unusable). However in this mode I notice a 3 second timeout between the '[ OK ]' of local and the login prompt. However I guess this is just the name-resolution that is still broken atm.

I guess this proves that LOM is indeed using the normal console (c1).
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Malvineous
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well given that you're running a getty on c1 but it's not appearing, the console isn't c1.

I've just noticed something though:
Code:
console handover: boot [earlyprom0] -> real [tty0]

Code:
# TERMINALS
c1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty1 linux
c2:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty2 linux
c3:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty3 linux
c4:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty4 linux
c5:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty5 linux
c6:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty6 linux

It looks like the console is being set to tty0, but you're not running a getty on tty0?
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linux4ever
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not saying I know something, but this is what I think:

1. The system console (where the kernel outputs it's data to) is tty0, the console that is reachable using alt-ctl-f1 (on a normal PC) is tty1

2. The console is appearing:

Code:

This is server.unknown_domain (Linux sparc64 2.6.27-gentoo-r8-lowmem) 09:28:05


(the 'login:' line is hiding behind the INIT messages in my initial log)

However I try setting up a console on tty0 as soon as my emerge finishes and let you know the result.

Thanks anyway.
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Malvineous
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well as far as I'm aware, on a normal PC the physical screen is tty0, and then tty1 is the first virtual console. When you press Alt+Ctrl+F2 it displays tty2 on tty0. If you echo a message to tty1 you won't see it until you press Alt+Ctrl+F1, but if you echo it to tty0 you'll see it regardless of which terminal you're on.

Since you're running over a serial connection I don't think the whole virtual terminals thing will work, so you might find you only have tty0.

If you can log in to the box, "echo hello0 > /dev/tty0; echo hello1 > /dev/tty1; echo helloS0 > /dev/ttyS0" will probably answer a few questions.
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, Both hello0 as hello1 are displayed at the LOM console (and HelloS0 not).

Also when I configure a console on tty0 it shows up, but is still unusable (doesn't accept any input).

So the tty1 -> tty0 mapping seems to work as usual.

This looks to me like a kernel or rc/init issue (not saying it has to be a bug).
BTW, could it be possible that the line doesn't accept input because some kind of control character is sent during the '????????' phase?
Also is it possible with portage 2.1 to set up rc logging?

Anyway, I really appreciate your help Malvineous.
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Malvineous
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No worries. Actually I recall having a similar issue with a virtual machine, I was trying to get a console appearing somewhere, and all I got was text output, but I couldn't type anything in. Unfortunately I don't recall what the issue was :-( (but I don't think it has anything to do with control characters.)

If the tty1 mapping works then one would think your configuration should be fine. What happens if you disable all the getties *except* the one on tty1? (Just in case it's defaulting to one of the others.) Presumably then "ps aux | grep getty" should show only one instance sitting on tty1. If you kill it, when it respawns do you see anything on the console?

You don't need to manually specify console=something on the command line? Probably not, otherwise you wouldn't see the boot messages. Hmm, tricky...
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linux4ever
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 3:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, it's indeed tty1 we are looking at. (disabled everything else)

When I kill it, nothing really happens, it just respawns:

Code:

This is server.unknown_domain (Linux sparc64 2.6.27-gentoo-r8-lowmem) 14:29:47

server login:

This is server.unknown_domain (Linux sparc64 2.6.27-gentoo-r8-lowmem) 14:31:21

server login:


I'm now doing a 'emerge -vaDN world' just to be sure everything is up to date and I will try the console boot parameter after that.
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Kethreveris
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:25 am    Post subject: Re: Serial consoles on SPARC Reply with quote

I do know Sun SPARC hardware, and here roughly how (A/E/I)LOM works;

- LOM is an intelligent, always on, (if A.C. is on), supervisor device.
- LOM has an external serial port that the SysAdmin can use as the console, as well as talk to LOM.
- LOM has an internal serial port that the SPARC processor can use as the console.
- Most recent LOMs have a network port that basically is a single port terminal server. (But not the V100 as I recall)
- Most Sun servers also have a plain serial port, (aka TTY-B), that you can use as the console if desired.

You have to be careful with LOM. Simply grabbing the console from LOM using the
"console" command, may get you a warning similar to this;

lom> console
Console in use, proceeding with read/only access
Use #. to return to LOM

So, if that happens, return to LOM and use "console -f" to force your access to be R/W.

Another suggestion is the try using the plain TTY-B port for your console. But, have both wired
and monitoring. The firmware, (OpenBoot), will still use TTY-A unless you purposefully change it to TTY-B.


P.S. The (A/E/I)LOM) works out to;
- Lights Out Manager, (without network port)
- ALOM, Advanced LOM, (generally with network port and a little more functions)
- ELOM, Embedded LOM, (built into system board, used mostly with x86/x64, runs Linux :-)
- ILOM, Integrated LOM, (plug in card to the system board, used mostly with x86/x64, runs Linux :-)

Sun has more varieties, but not relevant to this topic.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:36 am    Post subject: Re: Serial console garbage during boot Reply with quote

Now that I have the hopefully helpful comments posted, my turn.

I have the exact problem with garbage printed during boot. My config
is an x86 box though, (fit-PC). Here is the relevant sequence;

...
input: Sleep Button (CM) as /class/input/input2
ACPI: Sleep Button (CM) [SLPB]
Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 4 ports, IRQ sharing disabled
serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a NS16550A
��������������������
...
��������������������
INIT: version 2.86 booting

Gentoo Linux; http://www.gentoo.org/
...

Seems like when my serial chip is initialized, it changes the bit rate
on me. I have grub, kernel line and inittab set to 38,400bps.

Where is the default bit rate set for the driver?
Is that in the source code?

Under Solaris SPARC, (and possibly Solaris x86/x64), you would set that
in "/kernel/drv/DEVICE.conf". (With "DEVICE" replaced by the device driver name,
like "zs", which was the Zilog serial chip used in earlier Sun SPARC hardware.)
So when the device driver module loads, it loads it's configuration file and would
keep any bit rate I programmed.

If I have to change the bit rate, that's fine. But what do I change it to?
I thought 38,400bps was Linux's default bit rate.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:21 am    Post subject: Re: Serial console garbage during boot Reply with quote

Simple testing by changing the bit rate did not find
Linux's default bit rate. Here is the list I tried.

9600
19,200
38,400
57,600
115,200
230,400 (Grub entries did not take effect, but Inittab did work)

Did not try any others.
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Malvineous
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 11:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You might have to check how the kernel does console-over-serial on PC hardware, because that would have the same issue (and I've never seen garbage before) - the kernel outputs messages over the serial port *before* the hardware is initialised, and initialising it in the middle of the boot sequence doesn't produce garbage.

Maybe if you disable the kernel serial driver it won't try to reset the chip mid-boot, and will continue to use the internal console-over-serial code?
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