Re: serial console on x86

[David Lang]

On Thu, 4 Sep 2003, Richard B. Johnson wrote:

> On Thu, 4 Sep 2003, David Lang wrote:
>
> > I am attempting to install linux (debian 3 based) on some dual athlon
> > boxes with no video card. The BIOS does include serial console
> > capabilities
> >
> > once the system is installed I have no problem booting from the hard
> > drive, but when I attempt to boot from a CD to install (ISOLINUX custom
> > boot disk) I see the lilo prompt, the loading kernel message, the loading
> > initrd.gz message and then it prints 'Ready.' and reboots the same
> > bootdisk will work just fine if I install a video card in the machine (and
> > the same kernel with lilo boots just fine without a video card after it
> > gets installed)
> >
> > any ideas why the kernel may crash before printing any messages in this
> > situation? I've tried this with 2.4.17 and 2.4.22 with the exact same
> > results.
> >
> > David Lang
>
> 	append="console=ttyS0,9600"
> ... in the lilo configuration works fine in the exact same kernels
> you cite. However, the CD install does not have the console changed
> so it will probably not work. The BIOS is never used past the point
> where the OS is physically loaded so it makes no difference
> if you have "serial console capabilities" in the BIOS.

I have a similar line in the lilo configuration. if there is a video card
in the system this works and I see the kernel boot over the serial port,
if there is not a video card it reboots instead of running the kernel.

David Lang

> You can readily make an 'init' that opens a serial port if the
> console failed to open. That's done all the while in embedded
> systems. You just can't get that off a "distribution disk".
>
> Cheers,
> Dick Johnson
> Penguin : Linux version 2.4.22 on an i686 machine (794.73 BogoMips).
>             Note 96.31% of all statistics are fiction.
>
>
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/