Setup of console port questions
 

the following files have been modified to support the rear console port on an Intel server, running Redhat Linux. Connection to the port is via a terminal server. I see output messages being sent to the port on the terminal server, but the port does not respond to my keyboard.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

cat grub.conf

# 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/VolGroup00/LogVol00
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (2.6.9-5.ELsmp)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-5.ELsmp ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet console=ttyS1, 9600
initrd /initrd-2.6.9-5.ELsmp.img
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES-up (2.6.9-5.EL)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-5.EL ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet console=ttyS1, 9600
initrd /initrd-2.6.9-5.EL.img

cat securetty
console
vc/1
vc/2
vc/3
vc/4
vc/5
vc/6
vc/7
vc/8
vc/9
vc/10
vc/11
tty1
tty2
tty3
tty4
tty5
tty6
tty7
tty8
tty9
tty10
tty11
ttyS0
ttyS1

cat inittab
#
# inittab This file describes how the INIT process should set up
# the system in a certain run-level.
#
# Author: Miquel van Smoorenburg, <miquels@drinkel.nl.mugnet.org>
# Modified for RHS Linux by Marc Ewing and Donnie Barnes
#

# Default runlevel. The runlevels used by RHS are:
# 0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
# 1 - Single user mode
# 2 - Multiuser, without NFS (The same as 3, if you do not have networking)
# 3 - Full multiuser mode
# 4 - unused
# 5 - X11
# 6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
#
id:5:initdefault:

# System initialization.
si::sysinit:/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit

l0:0:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 0
l1:1:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 1
l2:2:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 2
l3:3:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 3
l4:4:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 4
l5:5:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 5
l6:6:wait:/etc/rc.d/rc 6

# Trap CTRL-ALT-DELETE
ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

# When our UPS tells us power has failed, assume we have a few minutes
# of power left. Schedule a shutdown for 2 minutes from now.
# This does, of course, assume you have powerd installed and your
# UPS connected and working correctly.
pf::powerfail:/sbin/shutdown -f -h +2 "Power Failure; System Shutting Down"

# If power was restored before the shutdown kicked in, cancel it.
pr:12345:powerokwait:/sbin/shutdown -c "Power Restored; Shutdown Cancelled"


# Run gettys in standard runlevels
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
2:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty2
3:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty3
4:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty4
5:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty5
6:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty6

# Run xdm in runlevel 5
x:5:respawn:/etc/X11/prefdm -nodaemon

# Run gettys on COM1/ttyS0 and COM2/ttyS1
s0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L -f /etc/issue 9600 ttyS0 vt100
s1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -L -f /etc/issue 9600 ttyS1 vt100

What do you mean by terminal server? Is this a dumb terminal or a computer running some kind of terminal software like hyperterminal or minicom?

I assume by your statement that you see the output messages that you can actual read the text.
This means the serial port settings are correct for the "terminal server". It could be a wiring problem with the serial cable. There is a seperate wire for transmit and receive. The "terminal server" transmit wire might be bad.