Respawning Too Rapidly errors

The tty stays disabled for about 19 minutes or until the system administrator enables the port again. At the end of the 19 minutes, the system automatically enables the port, resulting in the creation of a new getty process.

Possible causes include the following:

• Incorrect modem configuration
• A port is defined and enabled but no cable or device is attached to it
• Bad cabling or loose connection
• Noise on communication line
• Corruption of, or tampering with, /etc/environment or /etc/inittab files
• tty configuration is corrupted
• Hardware is defective

Of the following procedures for recovery, use the one that applies to your situation.

• Incorrect modem configuration:

  Ensure that the modem carrier detect is not forced high.

  Note: The following applies to Hayes-compatible modems
  1. Connect to the modem and examine the active profile.
  2. Set the modem carrier detect to &C1 rather than &C0 (forced high). Use the following AT modem commands to set and change the carrier attribute:

     AT&C1
     AT&W

     Note:

     1. See Sending AT commands with the cu command
     2. See your modem documentation for further information.
• Disable the tty, remove the tty definition, or attach a device to the port:
  • To disable the tty definition use the chdev command as follows:

    chdev -l ttyName -a Login=disable

    After running this command, the tty does not become enabled after a system restart.
  • To remove the tty definition:
    1. Disable the tty port, use the pdisable command, enter:

       pdisable ttyName

    2. Remove the tty definition from the system. See TTY device management for further information.
• Check for bad cables or loose connections:
  1. Check cabling. Tighten loose connections and replace damaged or inappropriate connectors.
  2. Verify that the suspected cabling is IBM® serial cable P/N 6323741 or that the cable meets the same standard. Replace damaged or inappropriate cables.
• Eliminate noise on communication line:
  1. Verify that cabling is correct length and impedance.
  2. Ensure that toroid rings are in place where needed on longer cables.
  3. Check routing of cables; they should not be close to fluorescent lights or motors.
• Check for corruption of, or tampering with, the /etc/environment or the /etc/inittab files:
  1. If possible, compare these files against known good copies.
  2. Copy the files as a backup and make changes as needed.
  3. In the /etc/environment file, remove any lines that are not:
     • blank lines
     • comment lines
     • variable=value
  4. In the /etc/inittab file, examine the tty devices lines. If the tty is set to off, it is likely that the tty port is not being used. If it is not being used, remove the tty definition or attach a device to the port.
• Remove corrupted tty configuration:
  1. Remove the tty definition. See TTY device management for further information.
  2. If you want a hard copy record of the tty definition before removing it, press the Image key (F8 or Esc+8). This will capture the current screen image and copy it to the smit.log file in your $HOME directory.
  3. Read the tty definition. See the instructions for Adding a TTY under TTY device management.
• Locate defective hardware:
  1. Run diagnostics using the diag command.
  2. If any hardware problems are detected, follow local problem solving procedures.