No response at system console, even after successful reboot

[Burvil Chang]

I have an RP2405 that I can login to remotely, but since the attention light on the system is orange, I wanted to login to the console to see what's wrong. Unfortunately, we never got the MP LAN console connected, so that's not an option.

1. I checked /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log - nothing unusual.
2. Tried a couple different cables and
3. reinitializing the terminal (power off terminal, hold down d key, power on terminal, let go and press enter), and nothing.
4. Hard boot the system - came back up, but still nothing at the console.

Anyone have any suggestions other than getting the system/hardware replaced?

[A. Clay Stephenson]

At this point, you have not narrowed the problem at all. It could be your terminal; it could be your cable; it could be the GSP card. It could even be something as trivial as an improper baud rate setting on the terminal.

[Burvil Chang]

It could be your terminal;
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We haven't had any issues with this terminal before. Even if there were, wouldn't my ability to reset the terminal to the default settings be a sign that things are OK with the terminal itself? After I reset the terminal, REMOTE was the only one that had an asterisk, and I was able to toggle it with the F4 key.

it could be your cable;
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I don't think so. I just two other cables - same thing.


it could be the GSP card.
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So are you saying it may have to be replaced?


It could even be something as trivial as an improper baud rate setting on the terminal.
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I haven't changed the baud rate setting on the terminal. Moreover, wouldn't setting it to the default settings as I did take care of this?

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Bear in mind that the ability to reset the terminal really tells you nothing about the functionality of the serial line driver/receiver. I've known many flavors of terminals with blown driver/receiver chips that would pass all the logical tests but would not communicate with another serial device. I wasn't so concerned about the cable actually being bad; that's rather rare. I was much more concerned that the cable was wrong ---- and 2 identical wrong serial cables don't make a right. As for resetting the terminal to default restoring the correct baudrate, wordlength, and stop bits (9600 N81) --- I don't have a clue because you haven't identified the terminal type. I this were me, I would move the terminal and cable to a different box and see if it works; if so then that is a very good indication that the GSP card is bad. I also assume that you have entered "Ctrl-B" because the problem might be a functional GSP but a non-functional UNIX console which would be a logical rather than hardware problem.

[Michael Bluemm_1]

Hi Burvil,
I'm sorry to tell you, that there is only 1 solution: you have to pull off the powercord and wait for one or two minutes, then give electricity back and boot. You'll see - it works.
Bye, Michael

[tkc · Accepted solution]

Try ctrl-b on the console terminal to see if you can get to the GSP>. If you can't, try reset the GSP port. There is a GSP reset button next to the scsi port.

[Burvil Chang]

Since this system is no longer under warranty and just now no longer routes outside a network (security feature :)), we're replacing this as we speak. So this can be closed.