[NTLUG:Discuss] What's up with this?

[Steve Baker]

"Carter B. Bennett" wrote:
> 
> Hi All,
> I have a Alpha 600Mhz PC running RH 6.0 for almost a year now, running good. We
> moved our computer room last weekend and ever sence then I am getting :
> 
> INIT: cannot execute "/sbin/mgetty"
> 
> about 7 to 10 times, then a line that says:
> 
> INIT: Id "0" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes.
> 
> Someone said it had something to do with the modem, so I powered down yanked
> the modem and rebooted the box and I'm still getting the sams thing.

I've seen that happen before when one of the RS-232 ports is set up
to allow dumb terminals to login to it...then someone connects up
something like a modem to it.  What happens is that on powerup,
Linux says:

  Hi - I'm linux version yadda yadda yadda
  login:

...the modem (or whatever) sees this and says:

  ERROR.

(or something similar).  Linux thinks this is a user ID and dutifully
says:

  Password:

...the modem says:

  ERROR.

Linux knows that there isn't a user "ERROR" with a password "ERROR" so it says:

  Bleaugh!  That's not the right password...
  login:

...and the modem says....

...and so on *FOREVER*.  This can do bad things to a running system if
it goes unnoticed - so the 'init/getty' setup has some safeguards that
kick in if too many 'respawns' of the 'getty' program happen in a short
period (and there is one respawn for every failed login).

So, I think whoever suggested that your modem was at fault was on the
right track...maybe it's some other serial port device.  A digital
camera?  Your mouse?  ....?

I suspect that *something* is plugged into the wrong serial port.

I *guess* you could have damaged your keyboard so it's sending crap
and the main console 'login' is what's messed up.  I kinda doubt that
because you'd have seen 'login/password' streaming up the screen for
a few seconds before it barfed.

I would unplug EVERYTHING from the back of the machine - and plug back
in the barest minimum it'll boot with.  No mouse, no modem - just
a keyboard and a monitor and a power cord.

If *that* doesn't boot - then I'm puzzled. If it does - then plug
back one thing at a time - rebooting at each stage until you see
what is causing the problem.

You *could* edit the /etc/inittab file to eliminate the 'login'
prompt from all your serial ports - but that's only covering
up for whatever your real problem is.  Moving machines doesn't
usually cause spontaneous changes to system files!

-- 
Steve Baker   HomeEmail: <sjbaker1 at airmail.net>
              WorkEmail: <sjbaker at link.com>
              HomePage : http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
              Projects : http://plib.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxaqfh.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxkart.sourceforge.net
                         http://prettypoly.sourceforge.net
                         http://freeglut.sourceforge.net