Serial Port Problems

[Tom Judge]

Dan D Niles wrote:
> More Dell 2950 woes.
> 
> I use serial ports to manage my FreeBSD machines remotely.  I've never
> had any problems until now.  I've installed FreeBSD 6.2 on a Dell 2950.
> 
> The install goes without problems over the serial port.  After the
> reboot, I get the typical:
> 
> FreeBSD/i386 (test.host.net) (ttyd0)
> 
> login:
> 
> and I can log in just fine.  If I disconnect and come back later
> (sometimes), or if I hit return without entering a login name (always)
> it starts spitting out junk like:
> 
> nooo~:Woo{;>6(|uww~now~nou})|t}}t9-
> 
> I can log in blind, but everything is scrambled.  Here is what I see
> after logging in:
> 
> nooo~:ro}Zqsswv~?Nmswtloooo~:t|}}msr 1115?;5>:3ontt}}t=Koy{{oo|
> t(kk)19;??2077t|mefvwgSWdproogw~/Koy{{oo|
> t(kk)17?=,1998<,199;?=99>>,1998<,199<,1999=,199;>,19;?,199==*      t|
> merwggo~wsoot|meuowws{}}ofccmmoo~oio.lllr{oo|
> wsrwwwwwen/NvwegSWd.>?WMMESWe({_]p#3::fv{ijkon1331;:5?;30uUWc227?_wmooometovwegSWe-Jggvwesweokoogtugkikcmlswupv|,puesweuwwet|mefooooogrwwwsg?oo swgww{}taev{{mwsaonuuteuuedewrsuuannomu}oonforlllrwmmeswwsaswo*  auth|ttz?/wnvwegSWnowo~mesww/--amwyycoow}|tt|meeWSUUaswgw}ooo* forywrrwmmessfo{swtassi}wwspteuuedfvwuuuo~}/oo t|mehiefoookaondfGQqdgw}mo~wsasweauttttz?/wwnvwegFnowo/aonl-* amooogw}|ht|meaimmooglm{ww,conbgeswesskmedbbgoooogto*  h|tz?/wwnvwegSowowessko/. fft|medoocdm{wvrwu}oonhis*  eeoniowumlmel,hm}wweamoawwmmcnmefomutuemon/ws{iswoogo/Kofyusw|llhiwweaaquuwwonorpronmmm,lmeswetukoet|meuutuutooojuomm-mg/,amooogw}taoyrwmmwwo~tewrmmwssggw,aedemmimli}}kss quuww}oontot|hquuww}oosFvwewWnowgmmimmoogi{w~. iofyuasngmmmmisrwihfvwegSWgwsdm{sw{ylmyu|,pueswerwggwrtotuehimwz??-omo}lpqggo. iofyuswenotfgmmmmiaw}|hmmoumlpqew,t}yue`mmonmoo//[ummyylouwwes{{{ow|ll89)torwmmo~vrt|meiowumlmuonaonmkoonoowuu}oonuu}mm}}.eem}t/ouwoootdoockiooget|i{slooonaonoogmmon/~uwww#
> 
> If I exit things go back to normal until I disconnect for a while or hit
> return without a login name.
> 
> I tried loading an older FreeBSD to see if it was a hardware issue or a
> FreeBSD issue, but my disks (mfi) aren't supported.
> 
> It seems like the speed of the tty is getting out of sync.
> 
> HELP! Any ideas?  
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Dan

We have some PE2950's setup with serial consoles using IPMI over LAN. 
If you set the port in the BIOS to com2 and 57600 bps then you should be 
able to use ipmitool to access the console.  If you set the device hints 
correctly you will be able to have FreeBSD use this port as a serial 
console.

Tom


Tom