[X4U] Black Screen with white words saying operation not supported by device...

[Philip J Robar]

On Apr 6, 2006, at 1:48 PM, Lee Licata wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Have a 17" PB (Leeze), running 10.4.5 with all updates.
>
> Sometimes, but not always, when I startup the PB, after tones, but  
> before the blue backdrop shows up, a black screen with the  
> following words shows up:
>
> Leeze getty: /dev/console: Operation not supported by device
>
> A review of the system console log shows the following two lines  
> just after this one that appears on the black screen:
>
> Leeze launchd: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/console,  
> sleeping
> Leeze /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/ 
> loginwindow: Login Window Application Started
>
> If I wait about 30 seconds, PB starts up normally.
>
> Using cocktail, made all files visible.
>
> Found the folder "dev" at the root but the folder "console" is an  
> alias. Could not find the original.
>
> Relogged in as "root" and still could not find the original.

I did a web search and couldn't find a direct answer to your problem,  
but it sure sounds like something is playing around with your  
console. Are you allowing Apple Remote Desktop connections in Sharing  
Preferences by any chance?

Here's some things to check.

/dev/console should not be an alias, as it's a device. You should see  
the following in a terminal window. The stuff after the '>' is what  
you type, the second line is the result:

	> ls -l /dev/console
	crw-------   1 pjrobar  pjrobar    0,   0 Apr  6 12:51 /dev/console

Of course you will see different user and group names, and date and  
time.

Here's what your /etc/ttys file should look like:

	> ls -l /etc/ttys
	-rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel  2271 Aug 22  2005 /etc/ttys

You should find this near the top of /etc/ttys:

#console        "/usr/libexec/getty std.57600"  vt100   on secure
console "/System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/ 
loginwindow" vt100 on secure onoption="/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"


Phil
--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary  
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin