Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!decwrl!sgi!wiltse@oceana.sgi.com
From: wiltse@oceana.sgi.com (Wiltse Carpenter)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: Single user mode.
Summary: How to boot a PI in single user
Message-ID: <34663@sgi.SGI.COM>
Date: 6 Jun 89 23:46:19 GMT
References: <8906052212.AA11465@mhd.uchicago.edu>
Sender: daemon@sgi.SGI.COM
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA
Lines: 37

In article <8906052212.AA11465@mhd.uchicago.edu>, malagoli@MHD.UCHICAGO.EDU (Andrea Malagoli) writes:
> 
> Is there a way to reboot the machine in a standalone
> form, without starting the nfs daemons? Is there a
> solution to my problem. For example, on a Sun3 there
> is an option that allows to bring the system up in
> "single user mode".

Yes there is a solution!  Here's how to bring the system up in "single
user mode":

Press reset to get to the "Starting up system press...To perform system
maintenance instead, press <Esc>".  Quickly press the Esc key.  You
should see a menu with five items on it, the last of which says "Manual
Mode".  Press 5 to get into manual mode.  You should get a >> prompt.
Type "setenv initstate s" and then Enter.  Then type "auto" at the
next prompt.  The system should come up in single user mode.  To use
vi in single user mode, TERM should be set to "iris-tp" and LINES should
be set to "40".   The easiest way to get the system working again might
be to type "chkconfig nfs off" which will disable nfs.  You can bring
the system the rest of the way up by typing "multi".

Here's some suggestions on how to avoid this problem altogether.  If
you like to hard mount nfs directories (I know I do), and they are not
absolutely critical to the operation of your machine (i.e. you're not
mounting /bin with nfs), then be sure and use the "bg" attribute on
the /etc/fstab entry for the filesystem.  For example, my fstab has a
line in it like this:

# Remote source tree
theserver:/thesource	/thesource	nfs bg

If for some reason the server machine is down, or my networking isn't
working, my system will still boot and keep trying to mount /thesource
in the background.

	-Wiltse