New pSeries 610 - cannot login - no Installation Assistant 2

[aixmurderer]

I have posted this in the RAID5 question as well, but for visibility I am reposting it here. Sorry about the duplication.

To add to my problems I cannot log in to the system, I select the console on the terminal, it starts the subsystems and goes straight to a "console login:" prompt, it skips the Installation Assistant bit. I cannot log in, it doesn't even prompt for a password when entering a username.

Booted into maintenance mode and ran install_assist(?) to configure root passwd, users, date, etc., rebooted, back to the same problem.

Next I tried re-installing from CD, same as above, it skips the Installation Assistant bit and goes straight to a console login prompt.

Any ideas? IBM Certified Specialist - MQSeries
IBM Certified Specialist - AIX 5 pSeries System Administration

 

[aixqueen]

Well just my two cents...
install_assist and welcome and other programs such as this in inittab can cause a hang of a terminal............for several reasons...one it tries to run graphics on the console, and if it is not set up correctly it can gack....or if it tries to run it on an ascii terminal....well you know..

So generally when you are having problems we comment those lines out in the inittab with a : in front of them instead of a # and see if they work. It is just to see if that fixes the problem and points you in one direction.

What kind of console do you have? perhaps the graphics card drivers were not loaded...or the keyboard is not the correct one...? If all the graphics drivers are not loaded, it can gack as well.. or the X11 filesets.......for the GXT130P there were like 4 filesets required
GXT130P Graphics Adapter (#2830)
Required Filesets
devices.pci.2b102005.X11
devices.pci.2b102005.rte
devices.pci.2b101a05.X11
devices.pci.2b101a05.rte
Optional Diagnostics Fileset
devices.pci.2b102005.diag

If it is an ascii terminal perhaps you can add clocal to runtime and login parameters at the end of the string ,clocal If it is a bad cable it may let the signals go through?
Or it may be a setting if it is IBM3151 or IBM3153?
Or you can try an ascii console if you have a graphics one to see if it comes up and allows you to log in?

Just some random thoughts......that may assist you.

If it is an ascii console perhaps you do not have it set at 9600, 8 , 1 N or some other setting or a cable problem. The issue is whether you can log in from any other terminal or is it just the console that is giving you grief?
This will turn graphics off on the console only:

cp /usr/dt/config/Xservers /etc/dt/config/Xservers
chmod 755 /etc/dt/config/Xservers
vi /etc/dt/config/Xservers
put a # in front of last line
# :0 local local@console ..

Is there anything in the errpt? ( I know I know service mode)

Good luck...and as I said...my two cents only

 

[Yegolev]

You said you were getting invalid .toc from the CDROM? Perhaps that could be contributing to this issue?

 

[aixmurderer]

Thanks to you all for the advice, finally sorted.

Aixqueen, the "clocal to runtime" in the tty settings did the trick in the end, thanks a lot. One bit I had to do was to change the update database to "yes", afterwards did a reboot and all went sweet.

The network interface issue went away as well, possibly one can't vary it on in maintenance mode. IBM Certified Specialist - MQSeries
IBM Certified Specialist - AIX 5 pSeries System Administration

 

[Guest_imported]

I have the same problem with a InfoWindowsII 3153 console
the solution was the right RS232 converter DB9 -> DB25
P/N 40H6328
EC NO D74838

by
Gilles Eppinger

 

[BARBID]

I seem to have the exact same problem that aixmurderer had. I am unable to get past the "Console login" prompt, after the machine booted up. I used the diagnostic tool to get into the shell prompt and then used smit to enable the console for login. However I was unable to add the ",clocal" to the runtime of the console's tty because I got the "device is busy" error.

Note that I am new to AIX/p Series and am totally confused by why such a simple thing as a login into the system is so difficult. We just got our box yesterday and I am stuck at Console login for the past 24 hours.

 

[aixqueen]

The last item in smit on that menu is to change in the database only yes or no...and you change to yes to avoid the device busy.......which then allows you to save it and reboot and it takes effect.

clocal is used when the cable, interposer, settings on the terminal as in flow control are not exactly correct. It sometimes works to correct a wrong setting...as it allows the machine to respond to any key not just the ones set up. It may not work in your case.. The correct solution is to find the problem....but it can assist in getting you up etc..

As I said The problem is usually the cable...or not correct hardware flow control...
Perhaps you have a wrong cable and interposer for the console?

Or do not have it set at 9600 8 1 N?

Commenting out
The install assistant thing and the welcome thing (commenting it out of inittab with a colon ) is used because if you have an ascii terminal, and try to run graphic programs on it, it will gack...or hang....

Maybe these clues will help. Perhaps you can tell us what console you have? and you have checked the keyboard and settings and interposer? Hope that helps?

 

[BARBID]

This is in response to aixqueen's questions: I am just using hyperterminal on Windows. BTW: I also tried minicom on my Linux laptop. I get the same problem on both. My settings for both are 9600-N-1. I didn't check flow control. But note that the terminals are showing all the output from the box properly and also they are accepting the input properly.

I am beginning to wonder if the problem has anything to do with the console/tty setting at all. Basically what is happening is that when the system comes up, I get the prompt:
Console login:

and when I try "root" it gets back to the same prompt (no prompting for password). Entering any other user name gets me a simple prompt:

login:

and it stays there. Trying "root" again gets me back to the "Console login" prompt. I don't know if aixmurderer had the exact same symptoms. There is something simple that is wrong, it looks like.

Just FYI: the box is a pSeries 640 B28 with AIX 5L pre-installed. There were no instructions about how to log in for the first time. I was able to get to the shell prompt thru the diagnostic tool and add myself as a user with administrative capability. After rebooting I was unable to log in with the new user name I had just added.

I have a feeling that if I could look at the log that might tell me something about why I cannot log in. Where do they store the log output for log-ins?

Note also that this particular system doesn't have the path /usr/dt/config/ or /etc/dt/config/ that you had mentioned. I don't know if I still need to mess with the Xservers file.

 

[BARBID]

Found the problem: it was the cable! I couldn't believe it. I could see the prompt on my terminal screen and was able to type in text which the computer could read (apparently as it was echoing it to the screen). Anyway the IBM technician put in his own cable and it worked! For none of the other machines such as the Sun Netras do we have such cable problems when using simple ASCII terminals.