IBM Support

Getty not starting on console

Question & Answer


Question

Why is getty not starting, preventing a console login?

Answer

The most common reason for getty not starting is failure of a preceding line in /etc/inittab. Since that line does not complete, the line which starts getty is not read.

To troubleshoot:
Check the console setting
 
# lscons
vty0

Check the state of vty0
 
# lsdev -C|grep vty0
vty0 is available

Check process table for getty
 
# ps -ef|grep getty

There is no output, which means that the getty process isn't running.

Check to see what process is prohibiting getty from starting or respawning.
 
# who -p
srcmstr . Jan 06 11:29 6:58 114822 id=srcmstr
cron . Jan 06 11:29 6:58 188588 id=cron
uprintfd . Jan 06 11:29 6:58 66000 id=uprintf
l2 . Jan 06 11:29 6:58 98764 id=l2/code>
Usually, the culprit is the last process in the who -p output. In this example, it is l2, which is called from the /etc/inittab file. NOTE: l2 is causing the system to not completely read /etc/inittab.

# grep l2 /etc/inittab
l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 2

Per the "who -p" output, the process in question is 98764. Check the process table for this PID.
# ps -ef | grep 98764
root 98764 1 0 Jan 06 - 0:00 /bin/ksh /etc/rc.d/rc 2
root 106944 98764 0 Jan 06 - 0:00 /bin/sh /etc/rc.d/rc2.d/Ssapinit start

# kill -9 106944

Refresh /etc/inittab
# telinit q

Check who -p again
# who -p
srcmstr . Jan 06 11:29 7:30 114822 id=srcmstr
cron . Jan 06 11:29 7:30 188588 id=cron
uprintfd . Jan 06 11:29 7:30 66000 id=uprintf
xmdaily . Jan 08 07:29 7:30 377276 id=xmdaily

# ps -ef|grep getty
root 589926 1 0 07:32:34 vty0 0:00 /usr/sbin/getty /dev/console
root 328002 675914 0 07:34:07 pts/0 0:00 grep getty

NOTE: The getty process is not running.

You should now be able to log in from a console.

Additional information:
If who -p returns "install_" in its output, this indicates that the install_assist line in /etc/inittab
is preventing getty from starting or respawning. You can prevent install_assist from starting by placing a colon ':' at the beginning of the install_assist line.

[{"Product":{"code":"SWG10","label":"AIX"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Component":"Not Applicable","Platform":[{"code":"PF002","label":"AIX"}],"Version":"Version Independent","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB08","label":"Cognitive Systems"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
14 November 2019

UID

isg3T1012075

Page Feedback