Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 00:18:09 -0700 From: "Philip J. Koenig" <pjklist@ekahuna.com> To: "Corey Snow" <corey@snowpoint.com> Cc: Questions@FreeBSD.ORG, djf2 <djf2@danu.ili.net>, Aaron Burke <aburke@nullplusone.com> Subject: Serial console does not work at >9600 bps, other issues Message-ID: <20020623071809831.AAA714@empty1.ekahuna.com@pc02.ekahuna.com> In-Reply-To: <3D0F3858.24497.18675BCE@localhost> References: <Pine.BSI.4.05L.10206172028350.8674-100000@danu.ili.net>
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On 18 Jun 2002, at 13:40, Corey Snow boldly uttered: > On 17 Jun 2002, at 20:35, djf2 wrote: > > > On Mon, 17 Jun 2002, Philip J. Koenig wrote: > > > > > I see another factor, looking through the handbook - if you're trying > > > to get a login prompt, you have to tell the getty on that port what > > > speed you want, ie in the /etc/ttys file. Did you do that? (Handbook > > > section 15.6.4.4) > > > > > > > > > Phil > > > > > > > Yup. I can access the console just fine at 9600 baud. I'm just > > trying to increase that speed. The documentation makes it seem like its > > possible, but I have yet to get the serial port to use any other speed. > > > > I've been having the same problem. I tried everything I could think > of. The only other thing I can think of to try is to use a different > terminal program. However, since I can use ssh to get into the box, I > don't worry too much about a 9600 baud serial console. It's > irritating, but not hugely so. > > I suppose it could also be related to the ancient motherboard my > headless box runs on. It's an old 486 DX2/66 and may not do well at > higher COM port speeds. I finally got the serial console working on the 2 boxes that had been laughing at me. This is why it made me crazy: #1: The Intel L440GX+ SMP board has its COM1 and COM2 connectors REVERSED. For some incredibly dumb reason, COM1 comes out of the right-hand connector, and COM2 out of the left-hand connector. #2: The /boot.config option "-D" DOES NOT WORK. I had been using this instead of "-h" in the hopes that if the only active console was not working, I could use the other one. Well I have discovered on 2 different boxes that all I get if I set this option is a single "\" character at the beginning of the boot process, then nothing until the getty runs and gives a login prompt. "-h" works fine to toggle the serial console on from the default vga console. FWIW, the "-P" option also works fine, determining which console to make active depending on whether a keyboard is installed at boot time. #3: As Corey Snow observed, despite going through all the recommended steps, the serial console refuses to budge from 9600 bps. I only tried making a modest change to 19200, which resulted in nothing but garbage during the boot sequence, until the getty launched with the login prompt, which appeared to run fine at 19200. Going back to 9600 on my terminal gave me normal output. I used as my latest reference for configuring the serial console one of the excellent (although temporarily not being updated) documents from www.mostgraveconcern.com/freebsd. I have found those 'cheatsheets' to be invaluable on many occasions. Clearly the prescribed procedure must have worked at one time, because those documents are based on his personal experience. I suspect sometime during the 4.x release cycle, the code got broken. The only issue I take with the abovementioned document on the serial console is his un-notated usage of "disklabel -B wd0" which is A) older syntax for ATA disks and B) not recommended according to disklabel docs unless you have a "dangerously dedicated" disk. In my case I specified my FreeBSD slice, rather than the whole disk. (I usually install a small MSDOS slice as the first partition.) Hope it helps, and always interested in other datapoints. Phil -- Philip J. Koenig pjklist@ekahuna.com Electric Kahuna Systems -- Computers & Communications for the New Millenium To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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