init respawning too rapidly

[Richard Woolley]

the backup media server seemed to have crashed and stayed down, the service guard packages switched, it didnt respond to a ping. So when some colleagues went down to switch the machine back on (presuming it was dead), they found that they could still log on to the local console with the message
"init respawning too rapidly"
being printed to local console all the time.

[Frank Slootweg]

Besides saying *that* something is respawning too rapidly, it also says *what* is respawning too rapidly, i.e. it prints *two* lines for each error.

The second line should point to what (in /etc/inittab) is respawning too rapidly.

[S.K. Chan]

A few possibilities on why you're seeing this error ..
1- Existence of an unknown/unused file in /etc/rc.config.d
2- Problems with your kernel parameter.
3- The /etc/inittab file corrupted or messed up.

Since 1 is the most common I suggest you take a look in /etc/rc.config.d to see if you can spot any file or script that's not suppose to be there.

[Chris Vail]

Even with that message being printed a gazillion times a minute, you should still be able to login to the console and poke around. Its an annoyance, but can be done.


Chris

[T. M. Louah]

Moreover, you can always boot single user mode by interrupting boot process & type hpux -is at ISL prompt.
Now mount /usr & /var, then start by making a bkup copy of the /etc/inittab. Then move /usr/newconfig/etc/inittab into /etc and type init q to have system re-ead /etc/inittab.
Test the machine to see if this solves problem.
Cheers,
T??

[Richard Woolley]

files in /etc/rc.config.d seem fine.

/etc/inittab seems ok.

I do not know what error messages were printed to the console as i was not there when my colleagues "glanced" at the console then decided to switch it off which didnt allow me tmie to poke around and find out what exactly was going on, so now im stuck with log files :(

the only thing i have is the following entries taken from /var/adm/conslog.opts

FORMATTER FILTER CLASS !*
FORMATTER FILTER CLASS DISASTER
FORMATTER FILTER TIME_FROM 09:17:28.000000 02/19/2003


....any ideas please?

[Kent Ostby]

Mark --

I've troubleshot this problem on several occassions.

The first thing to try after booting into single user mode is to mount /usr and mount /var as noted.

If not, the way to troubleshoot if you have a problem in /etc/rc.config.d is as follows:

#1) Check for files that have name like ".bak" etc and move them to another directory.

#2) check the last time that the system booted okay from /etc/shutdownlog:

tail /etc/shutdownlog and ignore your current boot attempts.

Once you've established when that was, do the following:

cd /etc/rc.config.d
ll -t | more
Make note of any files that have been modified since your last good reboot.

For each file type the following:

. ./

Any file that returns ANY output needs to be moved (if its not a file that should be there) OR fixed (if it is).

Common errors are leaving off a quotation mark while adding data to a file in /etc/rc.config.d or putting a script file in /etc/rc.config.d, but the above WILL help you eliminate those issues.

[Frank Slootweg]

If you can not see the (init) messages because the console has been switched off, then why don't you switch it on again?

The content of /var/adm/conslog.opts is normal. They are not messages, but configuration settings for nettl(1M).

Which of the given advice have you followed and what were the results?

[Rory R Hammond]

look at /etc/inittab.
Look at what items have :respawn:
If you have a match. turn off the culprit.

[KO kwang tae]

check your /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 yourhostname

remove this line