3B2-310 disk drive questions

[Art Gentry]

In article <4986 at daffy.cs.wisc.edu> dart at cat33.cs.wisc.edu (UPL stuff) writes:
>In article <1953 at novavax.UUCP> rwright at novavax.UUCP (Ronald K. Wright) writes:
>		[ Description of various hardware failures ]
>>
>>Oh one other question now that I have your attention, how do you boot
>>this thing from floppy?  I cannot find that in my set of the fm's.
>>Perhaps I do not have them all.
>>-- 
>	Could someone please post an answer to this seemingly easy question.  
>We have here a couple of sick 3b2/310s.  Evidently, /etc/getty got trashed.
>The system boots normally, but init complains "/etc/getty respawning too
>rapidly ...".  Evidently, all that needs to be done is install a sane
>/etc/getty and/or  /etc/gettydefs.  But how does one do this?  We
>have the original core pack disks, which are presumably bootable.  The
>fine manual describes how to boot the system from firmware mode.  
>However, it does not describe how to get into firmware mode from a dead
>start.  I've tried typing the firmware password at all possible times,
>including after pressing the reset button in back, but no response.  I
>have disconnected the battery to make sure that no-one changed the firmware
>password while I wasn't looking.

What I suspect you really have is a port(s) that is connected to something
that is winking DTR and/or CD leads.  What the "respawing too rapidly" is
telling you, is getty is setting up on the port, the device is dropping,
getty is setting up on the port, the device is dropping, ad nauseum.....

To answer your other question, to get to firmware from a dead start, there
are two meathods, depending on what your current operational state is.
1) If you are up and running, then log on as root, change to root's home
   directory (/) and enter /etc/shutdown -i5 -g0 -y  This will cause the
   machine to do an orderly shutdown and then restart, coming up in 
   firmware mode.

2) If you are not running, but can get the machine to powerup, ie. go into
   self diagnostic mode,  when the SELF CHECK prompt shows up, reach around
   back of the machine and hit the RESET button.  This will also cause the
   machine to drop into firmware mode.

Once in firmware, to re-load your ESSENTIAL UTILITIES, put DISK 1 in the
diskette drive, enter your MCP password, at the "program to run" prompt
enter 'unix', and at the device prompt enter the number for the floppy
drive.  The bare-bones unix system from the floppy will then boot and
give you options for doing a full install, partial install, dual disk
upgrade or release upgrade.  Choice the option as appropriate.

However, before I'd go thru all that pain, I'd edit /etc/inittab and
'off' the port that is having the respawn problem (change 'respawn' to
'off' for the appropriate port), then at your shell prompt enter 'init Q',
this will force init to re-read the inittab file and act upon any changes.
I'm willing to bet that will fix your respawn problem.  Then you need to
go find out what is wrong with that particular terminal/modem/whatever.


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| R. Arthur Gentry  Gentry and Associates  Excelsior Springs, MO   64024 |
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