IBM Support

SUSE LINUX floppy diskette bootup produces a blank screen with RSA II adapter - Servers

Troubleshooting


Problem

A boot disk created in SUSE LINUX may boot the system in graphical user interface (GUI) mode while loading the operating system. This mode is not supported by RSA if the 'View Remote POST' is selected from the Remote Control option on its Web interface. This will display a blank screen during the operating system load process if viewed remotely (View Remote POST option).

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip: H004288

Symptom

A boot disk created in SUSE LINUX may boot the system in graphical user interface (GUI) mode while loading the operating system. This mode is not supported by RSA if 'View Remote POST' is selected from Remote Control option on its Web interface. This will display a blank screen during the operating system load process if viewed remotely (View Remote POST option). This is only necessary if the problem described above is observed and you want to use the RSA's remote control or remote disk options. Normal system operation does not require this change.

Affected configuration

The system is configured with the following option(s):

  • an IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter, option p/n 09N7585, FRU 36L9912.

The following operating systems are affected:

  • SUSE LINUX Professional
  • SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server (UL based)

Note: This does not imply that the network operating system will work under all combinations of hardware and software. Please see the compatibility page for more information: http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/

Solution

For SUSE LINUX boot floppy only:

  1. Create the boot floppy diskette.
  2. Open/edit the file syslinux.cfg on the boot floppy
  3. Change the line (near the top) "default linux" to "default harddisk" (point to the label for harddisk)
  4. Comment out the following lines, by adding a # sign in front of them:

    "gfxboot xxx" change to --> "#gfxboot xxx"
    "display xxx" change to --> "#display xxx"

  5. On the next reboot from the floppy, it will boot in text mode and default to the harddisk option.
Additional information

The boot floppy created under SUSE LINUX usually defaults the boot/OS load to GUI mode. Since the RSA does not support this mode for Remote Control, it must be changed to boot in text mode. The fix allows users to use the Remote Disk option (using the modified boot floppy) to boot the server remotely and view the entire process.  
This is only necessary if the problem described above is observed and the user wants to use the RSA's remote control or remote disk option. Normal system operation does not require this change.

 

 

Document Location

Worldwide

Operating System

System x:SUSE Linux

Older System x:SUSE Linux

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Document Information

Modified date:
29 January 2019

UID

ibm1MIGR-54432