hpterm and dtterm prompt not appearing!

[Samuel Mathew]

Here is a simple problem that i am facing. When I log in as root I can get the hpterm and dtterm window with # prompt. But if I login as a normal user the window comes up, but no .$ prompt. This is HP UX 10.20.
What could be the issue? I am sure some of you must have come across this issue? The only change I did recently was changed the primary dns server to another machine and retired the old dns server. I couldn't see any connection between this and that. I edited resolv.conf file in /etc to look at the new dns server and it is all working fine. Only I have this problem with the terminal prompt coming up.
Thanks for the help in advance. If needed I can upload the .profile file for the user

[RAC_1]

what does the syslog.log says?

[Steven E. Protter]

Its probably permissions and a lack of the .dtprofile and related files.

Check the DISPLAY variable.

The clue however is as Anil says its in syslog.log

Act on that error message and you will be fine.

SEP

[Alex Glennie · Accepted solution]

There's a known problem in which the ksh environment hangs when the
user's $HOME directory is NFS mounted. This hanging behavior can be manifested
into the inability to display a prompt in a terminal window. If this cap fits
try setting the user's HISTFILE environment variable to point
to a locally mounted directory such as /tmp/.sh_hist.$LOGNAME.

if not details on users shell, CDE patch level and whether this problem reoccurs if the user attempts to start a new dtterm
terminal window from the CDE front panel would be handy.

Are users $HOME's NFS mounted or is NIS involved ?

[Steve Steel]

Hi


Make for the users a .Xdefaults file in the home directory

/home/steves >ll .Xdefaults
-rw-rw-r-- 1 steves crc 930 Jun 25 13:35 .Xdefaults


Insert this line

*loginShell: true

Look in .dt for startlog

Steve Steel

[Samuel Mathew]

I am attaching the syslog.log file
THis problem started after defining a new dns server. I don't know if it has any relationship at all.
Yes, the $HOME is nfs mounted from another system. It was working all along fine. The problem just started now.
I didnt understand this line in syslog.log
"Jul 23 12:58:35 leroy automountd[622]: gethostbyname failed for .DtDirDataType"
leroy is the hostname of this machine
Is. DtDirDataType something significant
Help appreciated
Sam

[Samuel Mathew]

Sorry, the syslog file is attached here.

[Alex Glennie]

Tried my suggestions yet ? the gethostbyname failed error smells of networking problem wrt DNS most likely .... did the time stamp coincide with a user attempting to start a dtterm or hpterm client or perhaps the CDE's filemanager was the culprit ?

I'd try creating a local history file and setting /etc/nsswitch.conf to use files prior to DNS ... does the problem re-occur/messages dissapear ?

[Pelephone System]

Hi

You can Try to enable inside the file .dtprofile the parameter DTSOUREPROFILE=true .
this parameter will enable the .profile to run at login time .

[Samuel Mathew]

Thanks very much for the numerous response. Alex G's solution worked. I put in the local HISTFILE variable and it worked straight away. What I don't understand is that why it didn't have any problem earlier. I don't find the connection between this and the DNS.
There is one other issue with this. One particular machine uses an application called, 'esprit' for wire edm work and cannot post its result. The user thinks again this is connected to DNS change. If by any chance any of you have any experience and have any thoughts I would appreciate.
I have assigned the points for the great help
Regards

[Bill Hassell]

To eliminate DNS problems, change the fallback file (/etc/nsswitch.conf) to:


hosts: files [NOTFOUND=continue UNAVAIL=continue TRYAGAIN=continue] dns

and then populate the /etc/hosts file with clients that will connect to your system. If everything works OK, you have DNS issues. One of the most common is lack of reverse-lookup records (ask IP address, get hostname) and for email, lack of MX (mail delivery) records. The program nsquery is very useful (better than nslookup) in testing DNS.

As far as NFS $HOME, this has always been problematic. Difficulties in contacting the NFS server, getting appropriate filelocks (important for .sh_history) and timeouts due to network and NFS server problems.