SUMMARY: MOTD message is scrambled

From: Brian Decker (brian@arthur.melpar.esys.com)
Date: Fri Mar 05 1993 - 14:18:33 CST


Original post:

> Hello again...
>
> I am running an IPX / 4.1.3, no special patches....I have a fairly
> large /etc/motd ( as required by my management ) that is printed out as
> expected when a user logs in. However, on this particular IPX, which
> is running as an NFS server, NIS slave, the motd output is garbled for
> each user that logs in; apparently random letters are strwen through
> the output. A *cat* of the file reveals nothing out of order - the
> garbling only occurs at login time. Oddly enough, this problem
> decreases over time... (but never quite disappearing!) until I reboot
> the server, and then the scrambling occurs again.
>
> It's obviously not a critical problem, but it is annoying....
>
> Additionally, whenever I attempt to /etc/config a new kernel on this same
> server, *config* gives me a bus error!
>
> I have thought of simply re-installing SunOS, but that seems a bit drastic...
>
> Any thoughts would be appreciated...
>
> Thanks,
> Brian

I received several tantalizing responses to this post. Some potential causes
of this problem are:

/etc/config problem:
* installing sun4 instead of sun4c binaries
* potentially changed files in /usr/bin
* potentially corrupt /usr/lib/libc* files
* actually IS a hardware problem with the bus, try replacing the main board

/etc/motd problem:
* does /etc/motd have some blank lines at top
* Type-5 keyboard may be causing the problem, but patches are available
  from Sun to fix this

Unfortunately I have "real" work to do and since these are problems
that I can work around, Ill have to test these fixes out sometime
later.

Thanks to:
Greg Higgins higgins@math.niu.edu
Kathy Holle holle@asc.slb.com
Patrick O'Callaghan poc@usb.ve
Glenn Satchell glenn%ups.uucp@fourx.Aus.Sun.COM
Gordon Lack gml4410@ggr.co.uk
David Allison dallison@ps.ucl.ac.uk

Thanks for the assistance,
Brian

"...Dont ask me, I'm just improvising..."
-----------------------------------------------------u-V-u-----------
Brian D. Decker - DOMAIN: bdecker@melpar.esys.com
E-Systems-UC, Ashburn, VA, USA - VOICE: (703) 560-5000 x3658



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