X Terminal login problem

[Frank Fitch_1]

I have an HP9000 server which provides boot services to several HP Xterminals. One of the X terminals has recently quit displaying the login (username/password) panel after reboot of the terminal. The X terminal successfully establishes connection to the boot server, downloads alot of configuration stuff and then pops up a gray panel on the X term monitor, but no login panel. The bootserver and X terminals are all located in a manufacturing facility, two states away from me and have been in place and functional for several years now. I don't know very much about X terminals. I have logged in to the boot server and checked for system changes related to xterminals (find / -newer ...) with no startling revelations. The plant assures me that nothing has changed with the X terminal setup. We have discussed the local configuration and it sounds okay to me, but might not be. Any ideas on what might cause an X terminal to successfully go through the network boot process clear up to the point of actually displaying the login panel? Thanks... Frank

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Hi Frank:

This is almost always a hostname resolution problem. I suspect that you have a bad DNS entry or a DNS server is down.

[Sanjay_6]

Hi Frank,

your boot server is not relaying the networking information to the xterminal. Check the networking information configured on your boot server for the workstation in question.

Hope this helps.

regds

[Bill McNAMARA_1 · Accepted solution]

you could be perhaps configuring XDMCP direct or indirect.

If this is the xterm I'm thinking of that is...
try pressing F12 and checking the Xterm config...

Later,
Bill

[Printaporn_1]

Hi,
you said "an HP9000 server which provides boot services to several HP Xterminals"
Does other Xterminal Okey ?
if yes , you can do
#remsh getconfig
and compare the configuration.

[Steve Steel]

Hi

Please run

remsh xterminal_name get log

This will show you the diagnostic log of the Xterminal and should indicate a problem.

Steve Steel

[Alex Glennie]

Frank ,

1. Are these HP xterminals ... entria's or envizex's ? whay version of enware are you using.
2. Next since the xterminal has booted we can assume networking may be OK ..it needed to contact the server to get it's directives files etc. Have you checked on the server that a window manager/XDMCP is running ?

for CDE check if dtlogin is running
for vue " " vuelogin ?

If they're not that's your problem : either config the xterminal to braodcast and pick an alternate host running XDMCP fyi to start CDE manually try /usr/init.d/dtlogin start.

/var/dt/Xerrors contents ?

remsh xterminal_name get log would also be worth trying or at the grey mesh screen hold the F12 key down and go into the diagnostics section of the config gui and look at the logs there ?

If CDE this sounds like it could be font problems ..... maybe worth checking the font path of the xterminal : remsh xterminalname get config | grep -i font ?

If log and Xerrors have font errors try this :

1 - The font server needs to be configured to include the CDE
fonts in its catalog

EDIT: /etc/X11/fs/config

Append ",/usr/dt/config/xfonts/C" to the end of the
"catalogue = ..." line

EDIT: /etc/rc.config.d/xfs

Set the following variable: "RUN_X_FONT_SERVER=1"

EXECUTE: /sbin/init.d/xfs start

If the font-server is already running, kill it and
restart it.

2 - Force CDE to add the font-server to the X-Server font-path
by editing the Xsetup file. (NOTE: This steps REQUIRES
the IP address of the CDE session server. You can get
this information by running: nslookup `hostname`.)

COPY: /usr/dt/config/Xsetup to /etc/dt/config/Xsetup
EDIT: /etc/dt/config/Xsetup

Add the following line to /etc/dt/config/Xsetup replacing
"IPADDRESS" with the IP address of the server as returned
from "nslookup `hostname`":

$XDIR/xset fp+ tcp/IPADDRESS:7000 1>/dev/null

Add the tcp/IPADDRESS:7000 to the xterminals font path (head) and then reboot the xterminal

[Frank Fitch_1]

Wow !!! As a first time poster, I'm impressed at all the responses. I now have several things to check on. I have been playing phone tag with my buddy in the plant. I'll reply again, once we figure out what's causing us the heartburn. I'll post the fix and assign appropriate points. Thanks, everyone..... Frank

[Steve Labar]

As Bill noted earlier. There is a login option "none". We do it here on purpose sometimes, but its not very productive if you want to use the X-term for independant logins. Check your
X-term setup by press & hold F12
Under the Server tab, verify what your login is. You are probably looking for XDMCP direct.

Good Luck.

Steve

[Krishna Prasad]

We had the exact problem this week.

When you get the gray screen....I bet you can ping the xterminal's ip.

The problem is that that x-terminal doen't not have a reverse lookup. We made sure it did. Then the problem was resolved.

To verify this
turn off the x-terminal
change the ip of an xterminal that is working and give it the bad ip. If it does the same thing you know the problem is tied to the ip not the xterminal/hardware etc.

[Frank Fitch_1]

Thanks Everyone !!! The problem was related to the XDMCP setting and is now resolved !!! I appreciate all your postings and have learned much about X terminals from every posting, which will surely be of use in the future.

In particular the "remsh xterm-name get config" is appreciated. Our Xterms sit on the plant floor. The ability to pull xterminal configuration settings from good/bad xterms for sake of electronic comparison, sure beats the alternative of sending someone to the xterm with paper and pencil (no telephone at the xterms). Thanks bunches....... Frank