[rescue] U60 Serial Console Question

[Phil Stracchino]

Brian Deloria wrote:
> Got an Ultra 60 that crashed over the weekend, left a fatal error FATAL
> after rebooting.  Basically meaning it's the video / cpu / motherboard, more
> likely the cpu/motherboard.  ran a `prtdiag` to see if it was complaining
> about anything, and it wasn't.
> 
> At this point I'm looking to catch the specific crash information, and
> according to what I've read I need to have a serial console connection
> active.  We normally boot the machine with a monitor and keyboard and from
> what I've read if you boot with a framebuffer you can't get console output
> persee.
> 
> At any rate, I'm unsure of the port that I should be connecting to, the
> second thing that I'm unsure of is whether or not it will output the next
> time that it crashes.  At any rate any input would be appreciated, I'd
> prefer to avoid rebooting etc.

Attach a serial cable (null-modem, iirc) to /dev/ttya, protocol is
normally 9600-N-8-1, use tip or dip on the other end.  You'll have to
boot the machine headless for it to work though.  If OpenBoot detects
that a keyboard or monitor is present, it'll use them in preference.

(That can be changed, but you can't do it on the fly while the machine
is running.)


-- 
 It's not the years, it's the mileage.
 Phil Stracchino              phil.stracchino at speakeasy.net
 Renaissance Man, Unix generalist, Perl hacker, Free Stater
 Landline: 603-429-0220                Mobile: 603-320-5438