/SP/console Appears Dead and/or Shows a Black Screen

Asset ID:	1-71-1448379.1
Update Date:	2018-01-25
Keywords:

Solution Type Technical Instruction Sure

Solution 1448379.1 : /SP/console Appears Dead and/or Shows a Black Screen

Applies to:

Sun Fire X4540 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Fire X2270 M2 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Blade X6220 Server Module - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Fire X4240 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Blade X6275 M2 Server Module - Version Not Applicable and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.
***Checked for relevance on 18-Nov-2013***
***Checked for relevance on 04-Nov-2015***

Goal

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How to troubleshoot the /SP/console when it appears inoperative.

Solution

To troubleshoot /SP/console it is usually helpful to start the /SP/console and the VGA console (via web Graphical User Interface (GUI) remote console redirection) both at the same time and watch both console screens during POST and up through the Operating System (O/S) launch process.

1. Start with the host off.

2. Next, ssh to the Service Processor (SP) and start the /SP/console

ssh xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -l root

Using username "root".
Using keyboard-interactive authentication.
Password:

Sun(TM) Integrated Lights Out Manager
Version 2.0.2.5
Copyright 2007 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.
>

> start /SP/console
Are you sure you want to start /SP/console (y/n)? y

SP Console

3. Now, start a browser session to the SP and click on either "Launch Redirection" or "Launch Remote Console". The example below is ILOM 3.0:

JRC

4. When both console screens are active, power on the host and wait for the host to start Power On Self Test (POST).

Press the power button, or from a new CLI session:

-> start /SYS
Are you sure you want to start /SYS (y/n)? y
Starting /SYS

From both console screens, you should see the system begin POST and if necessary you can interact with the system Basic Input / Output System (BIOS) from either screen:

GUI POST

CLI POST

After POST, you will see the beginning stage of O/S launch on both, for example the Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB):

GUI grub

CLI grub

Very soon after the O/S launches one of the console screens usually will stop working depending on the console output setting of your O/S.

For example with Solaris 10, the eeprom setting dictates which console is active:

# eeprom | grep console
console=ttya

If console = 'ttya' then the serial console (/SP/console) will be active.
This is usually the case if the O/S was originally installed over the serial (non-GUI) port:

# eeprom | grep console
console=text

If console = 'text' then the VGA port (i.e., the redirected remote console) will be active.
This is usually the case if the O/S was originally installed via the GUI interface.

If you change the eeprom console setting, an O/S reboot will be needed.

For Linux:

# dmesg | grep console
console [ttyS0] enabled --> Serial port
console [tty0] enabled --> VGA port

Edit grub config:
/boot/grub/grub.conf

Change from:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sda3
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=1
timeout=5
title Oracle Linux Server (2.6.18-164.el5xen)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /xen.gz-2.6.18-164.el5
        module /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.el5xen ro root=LABEL=/
        module /initrd-2.6.18-164.el5xen.img
title Oracle Linux Server-base (2.6.18-164.el5)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.el5 ro root=LABEL=/
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-164.el5.img

to:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sda3
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=1
timeout=5
serial --unit=0 --speed=9600
terminal --timeout=5 serial console
title Oracle Linux Server (2.6.18-164.el5xen)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /xen.gz-2.6.18-164.el5 com1=9600 console=com1
        module /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.el5xen ro root=LABEL=/ console=ttyS0,9600
        module /initrd-2.6.18-164.el5xen.img
title Oracle Linux Server-base (2.6.18-164.el5)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.el5 ro root=LABEL=/ earlylprintk=ttyS0,9600
           console=ttyS0,9600
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-164.el5.img

# reboot

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