B2600 - monitor goes blank after boot!

[Andrew Cunningham]

We are having a strange problem after moving a new B2600 to another office ( that will require a new network setup of IP etc). After the boot sequence, and when the CDE login should appear, the monitor just goes blank (black). I know this monitor should work fine as
1) It is exactly the same monitor as has been used with this system before
2) If an attempt is made to drive the monitor at an unsupported resolution the monitor displays an informational message telling you.
Is it just that the network setup is so "wrong" that X cannot start a CDE screen?

[Joseph C. Denman]

I have never had that type of problem before, not to say that is not the problem. I would boot into single user and make the necessary network fixes. Then, try again.

...jcd...

[Andrew Cunningham]

My thoughts exactly. I got the user to go to single user mode and do an /sbin/set_parms to reset IP et al. to a sensible setup for that network, and he says the screen stills goes blank after boot and seeing the "wait for CDE login" on the screen.
The user has tried 3 monitors , all of which can handle 1280x1024 @75 Hz .

[Joseph C. Denman]

Now it sounds like a name resolution issue. Check the following.

1. /etc/hosts file (make the entry for this host is correct.

2. Check /etc/nsswitch.conf (make sure files is checked before dns)

3. /ect/resolv.conf (Make sure domain and nameservers are correctly stated.

...jcd...

[Andrew Cunningham]

Interestingly he is MISSING nsswitch.conf. hosts.conf and resolv.conf look fine.

[Joseph C. Denman]

The file is /etc/hosts not /etc/hosts.conf

However, if /etc/hosts is missing, that could sure be your problem!!!

...jcd...

[Andrew Cunningham]

Typo!
/etc/hosts is there and looks fine.
I think the problem must be something to do with the missing nsswitch.conf
One thing , the machine takes about 25 minutes to start up and "hangs" on starting the mail daemon for about 15 minutes.
Another basic question... how does one get access to things like vi from single user mode. I am making the poor guy create the missing file by "cat >" and typing.

[Joseph C. Denman]

Mount your filesystems

mount -a (will mount all the filesystems)

You can then use vi.

However, if there is no nsswitch.conf or resolv.conf, the system will use /etc/hosts.

If the hosts file is correct, name resolution may not be your problem,but theses files do need to be fixed.

Let us know the outcome.

...jcd...

[Shyjith P K]

For vi problem you can give the following command
#export TERM=hp

[Alex Glennie]

Just in case this is not hostname resolution .......

is dtlogin running locally ?if no run it -> /sbin/init.d/dtlogin.rc start

if yes init 2 and run /usr/bin/X11/X : 0 does this work if yes not likely to be H/W, mouse not connected or graphics device files or Xserver related.

so also check neither /usr/dt/config/Xservers nor /etc/dt/config/Xservers has the last line telling the Xserver to start locally #'d out, if it does remove the # and then run init 3.

If none of the above ... dr_dt output along with /var/dt/Xerrors maybe useful ?

[Andrew Cunningham]

Problem solved!
Although I had run /sbin/set_parms netwrk and answered the questions correctly, the rc.config.d/netconf file had not been updated correctly with the "new" IP and router, although the /etc/hosts file HAD been updated by the set_parms script.

Once the IP and gateway IP's were made consistent between netconf and hosts files the machine booted into CDE correctly.

Many thanks for all the help. These forums are a fabulous resource with lots of knowledgeable and helpful people!