Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!hellgate.utah.edu!dog.ee.lbl.gov!ucbvax!ENUXHA.EAS.ASU.EDU!crawford From: crawford@ENUXHA.EAS.ASU.EDU (Brian Crawford) Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386 Subject: Somebody . . . . Thanks! Message-ID: <9105102119.AA18382@enuxha.eas.asu.edu> Date: 10 May 91 21:19:51 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 77 Since my original post of a problem, several people have been most helpful both on the here and by direct email and is _most_ appreciated. However, there were a few details painfully missing from my first posting and would like to again post the problem with more complete details. Operating system: SCO XENIX SysVr2.3.2 Hardware: 80386 clone, 33 MHz 4 MBytes RAM PC VGA Monitor/101-key keyboard as system console 1 Serial terminal, using Odd Parity. 1 Digi/Board 8 port card. Serial card is connected to this. Symptom of problem: The first 'login:' prompt looks like: XENIX!386 login: 1. If the 'root' user logs in, it prompts for the password just fine, and am place at the normal shell prompt. 2. But, if I login in as any other non-superuser, it will also logon PROVIDED THAT THERE IS NO PASSWORD SET FOR THE ACCOUNT. 3. If I login as any non-superuser which requires a password to complete the login procedure, the terminal appears to 'freeze' after the non-echoed password is entered- that is to say that no NL is echoed to the screen. Further, nothing happens at this point at all unless two more carriage returns are entered. If this is done, at that point another login prompt appears (without the XENIX!386 part). These subsequent 'login:' prompts will echo nothing to the screen when a userid is typed in. If any typo error is produced at the keyboard while trying to login as 'root', the same symptoms listed under "3." here are encountered. 4. If, after the first failed attempt, one waits 1-2 mins, the session seems to reset back to the first login prompt and seems to execute a login just fine for the 'root' or any non-superuser who's password is not set. Something different about this installation, the serial terminals are constrained to Odd Parity, which has been set in the gettydefs both in the second and third fields of the 'm' line. Perhaps this is a serial port problem here, but since this problem only happens with login's other than the root it is not obviously aparent that it is a communication problem. Further, these symptoms occur on both the serial terminal AND the main PC console. It doesn't matter where the login session occurs. This would seem to indicate a file protection problem. But, all protections have not been changed. Unfortunately, the 30-day SCO warranty of support is expired and the software to be used on the system by the users has only recently arrived and the need to use the non-superuser id's enough to discover the problem occured only at this time. How strict is SCO in a situation like this? I called and explicitly asked them about help with the expired warranty- w/o mentioning the problem- and they told me the purchase of an additional support contract would be necessary. This is not possible. Comments appreciated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Crawford INTERNET (current): crawford@enuxha.eas.asu.edu PO Box 804 (permanent): crawford@stjhmc.fidonet.org Tempe, Arizona 85280 FidoNet: 1:114/15.12 USA Amateur: KL7JDQ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------