Comment 4 for bug 537849

Revision history for this message
theparanoidone (theparanoidone) wrote :

Feedback:
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Apparently... *disabling* console redirection in the motherboard allows grub to function somewhat correctly. This was not a problem in Ubuntu 8.04 (I will be testing Ubuntu 11.04 in just a moment). I found the following footnote quote "If you're sure you've configured GRUB correctly, but the serial menu does not appear, try disabling serial console support in BIOS." -- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SerialConsoleHowto#fnref-4630b2079d69e5d0212e584145e50a6c70a1491f

Opinion:
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Having to diable motherboard serial console access is a limitation / hindrance to successful remote server administration... especially since this feature worked properly in prior distributions.

Notes:
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DELL R200 Server

Grub2 Config:
-------------------
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8"
GRUB_TERMINAL=serial
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=115200 --unit=0 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1"

Observed Effects in Ubuntu 10.04
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- Disable motherboard console redirection (DISABLED, com1, vt100, 115200, redirect after console DISABLED)
-- serial console shift key *does not* work to display menu
-- serial console tapping ESC multiple times quickly will allow menu to be displayed

- Enable motherboard redirection (ENABLED, com1, vt100, 115200, redirect after console ENABLED)
-- error message(s) appears error: unknown command `terminal'.
-- serial console shift key *does not* work
-- serial console tapping ESC multiple times flickers the menu for one second then it disappears