ITEM: CG7617L
console output for CPC is scrolling.
ENV: 7015 model r30, AIX 4.1.4.
desc: console scrn is scrolling and as it scrolls when he hits keys,
the transmit and receive lights on the modem attached to the cpc
are flashing.
act: asked jason to conference in sysconfg to make sure this is
just a coincidence since i asked if systemguard was running and
he said no.
while on hold, had him run ps -ef | grep mirrord. it was active,
therefore systemguard was active. still on hold.
started going thru systemguard setup menus.
found in mpcfg -df that the bump console entry, \#3, was zero
indicating it was disabled. had him run mpcfg -cf 3 1.
next: he is going to check to make sure this solved the problem.
wocb.
Response:
act: customer called back. he moved the modem back to the s2 port
and now has dial in access. the modem session behaves normally.
however, if he tries to access the system the last line of output
scrolls instead of the whole screen. baud mismatch?
i am under the impression that systemguard has baud rate for
console locked at 9600 but he says he has his set to 38400.
he is going to set the modem and console back down to
9600 and see if that alleviates the problem.
next: wocb. however, left ron b. v/mail for his input and verification
of a few questions.
Response:
act: called customer back. changing baud rates didnt help.
ron seemed to think this was related to modem description file
being used. he has USRobotics Courier modem.
he says also that when he dials in, he gets the cpc menus fine
but when he selects option 0 to connect to cpu, any of the machines
he tries, he gets the normal "press esc sequence to get back to
cpc menus, but no system login.
the console scrn only starts scrolling when he presses any key on
kybd.
next: researching...
Response:
Act: The questions to ask are: 1. Is the R30 in Runtime or one of the
SystemGuard-controlled phases? 2. If the system is in Runtime (AIX
running), is there a getty on the S2 port? 3. Can the user login to
other (non-SMP) systems attached to the CPC? Does scrolling occur when
he tries to login there, too? 4. Has the user double-checked his
SystemGuard flags?
Response:
act: ron called me back. advised that if the system is in run-time AIX
and not in svc mode or standby, system guard should not be a factor
here and neither would the modem description file.
he theorizes that we may have a getty out on the 2nd serial port
or the cpc is not configured correctly.
Response:
act: called customer back. he stated that no, aix login is fine, this
problem is only when they try to access via the cpc. once the
modem is plugged in, the cpc menus begin to scroll. but if they
dial into the modem they are able to access the cpc menus fine.
next: conferenced in tu from sysconfg. he is taking ownership.
Response:
ACTION: Spoke to Paul L, who informed me that he left a message for
customer earlier this afternoon. Paul has also spoken to
USRobotics, and they told him that their modem has a (hardware)
switch to set echo on and off. If the customer's modem has the
same type of hardware switch to turn echo on and off and it is
set to 'on', then this could explain the console rolling that
customer is seeing.
.NEXT: Follow up with customer.
Response:
ACTION: Excerpt from Paul's response:
"... it appears that the customers modem is being setup with
"Echo on", rather than "Echo off". The CPC sends the modem
init stream which should turn echo off when the CPC is powered
on or the Modem is enabled or any CPU selected. Once echo is
on, the screen rolls and prevents the terminal from executing
any further modem commands until the modem is powered off,
taken off line and set up for "Echo off".
I talked to Dave Beedle, and he is going to check out my
suggestions and get back with us. His other problem of not
getting login when he connects to the systems may be cable
related. I am faxing him the cable requirements, as it seems
he is not using our cables to connect the
Response:
ACTION: Customer called in to let me know that they've taken care of
the console screen scrolling by turning the echo off on the
modem. However, customer and Paul are still working on not
getting a login prompt when he dials in over the modem. Paul
is having customer check his cabling.
.NEXT: Waiting for additional status.
Response:
ACTION: Called customer. Paul has sent him some cabling diagrams,
which customer compared against his system(s). His cabling
is correct, and he does have at least one system with the
correct IBM cabling. However, customer is still not getting
a login prompt from the system when he connects via the CPC.
The CPC menus come up fine over the modem, and he receives
the CPC menus and the system login prompt when he logs in via
the console.
.NEXT: Contacting Paul for additional information. Call customer back
after speaking to Paul.
Response:
ACTION: Spoke to Paul, who said that the customer is apparently having
some problems with his S2 port, since if they hook up the
terminal to the S2 port, they have the same problem they are
having with the terminal. Paul stated that customer is pursu-
ing this issue right now.
.NEXT: Paul will update me on the situation if it changes.
Response:
ACTION: Customer called back in. He had left voicemail for Paul, who
believed that customer perhaps had the wrong cables. Customer
has examined the cables and their pinouts, and they match the
charts that Paul sent to him.
. However, customer did swap out the cables between the S1 and
S2 ports, and the problem moved over to the terminal session,
customer was able to login via the modem, but not the terminal.
.NEXT: Informed customer that I will check on this with AP, and will
call him back either today or tomorrow with the information I
find.
Response:
act: michel called me to verify the difference between modem and
terminal cables. terminals' cables are interposed whereas
modem cables are straight thru.
next: back to michel.
Response:
ACTION: Researching...
The cable available to attach the CPC to the TTY apparently
includes a printer/terminal interposer. Therefore, the modem
requires an interposer to reswitch the RTS, DTS, transmit and
receive signals.
. From the documentation above and conversations with the
customer, it sounds as though the cables that were recently
swapped are the serial-port-to-CPC cables, not the cables
between the CPC and the devices. Since communication is
established between the CPC and both the terminal and the
modem, it sounds as though the cabling between the devices
and the CPC is correct.
. I would recommend that customer try taking the CPC 'out of
the loop' and try connecting the terminal and modem directly
to the serial cables coming from the system to see if the
devices can communicate to the system with the existing serial
cables.
.NEXT: Call customer with this information.
Response:
ACTION: NILM for customer requesting that he try attaching the devices
directly to the system.
.NEXT: WOCB from customer.
Response:
ACTION: Contacted customer, and explained that I believe that the
problem is between the CPC and the system, since the devices
appear to be interfacing correctly with the CPC now.
. Customer has cable part numbers 11H7337 going from the serial
ports S1 and S2 to the CPC. The cables have been swapped back
so that the terminal is functioning now. Customer did verify
the pinouts of one, but not both of the cables.
. Customer wanted me to explain how I wanted him to hook up the
devices directly to the system. He can get hold of a DB9 to
DB25 converter so that the terminal can attach to either of the
serial cables. I told customer that I wanted to check to make
sure that the terminal behaves the same way on each of the
serial cables.
. Customer pointed out that he would probably need a tty defini-
tion for the S2 port. I asked him to check to see if he already
had a tty definition for the modem. He doesn't, since he is
running mirrord. I explained that mirrord is a functionality
of the SystemGuard processor, not the CPC. The mirrord daemon
sleeps until it is awakened by the system key being placed in
Service Mode or it is explicitly called. At that point, the
S2 port will mirror the S1 port. This is not the case in
normal mode, where the daemon merely sleeps.
. Customer has defined a tty device for the serial port and is
looking for a modem to try this out on.
. Customer has attached a modem, and it's working fine now
through the modem AND the tty port.
.NEXT: Customer will exercise the CPC over the next few days and I will
follow up with him on Friday to verify that it is working.
Response:
ACTION: Called customer. He has not had any problems with the CPC
since we last spoke, but he admits that he hasn't worked it
too hard.
.NEXT: Customer is satisfied to close this item at this time.
Support Line: console output for CPC is scrolling. ITEM: CG7617L
Dated: October 1998 Category: N/A
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