Somebody . . . . Thanks!

[Brian Crawford]

Since my original post of a problem, several people have been most helpful
both on the here and by direct email and is _most_ appreciated.  However,
there were a few details painfully missing from my first posting and would
like to again post the problem with more complete details.
 
Operating system:   SCO XENIX SysVr2.3.2
Hardware:           80386 clone, 33 MHz
                    4 MBytes RAM
                    PC VGA Monitor/101-key keyboard as system console
                    1 Serial terminal, using Odd Parity.
                    1 Digi/Board 8 port card.  Serial card is connected
                    to this.
 
Symptom of problem: The first 'login:' prompt looks like:
 
                    XENIX!386
                    login:
 
                    1. If the 'root' user logs in, it prompts for the password
                       just fine, and am place at the normal shell prompt.
 
                    2. But, if I login in as any other non-superuser, it will
                       also logon PROVIDED THAT THERE IS NO PASSWORD SET FOR
                       THE ACCOUNT.
 
                    3. If I login as any non-superuser which requires a
                       password to complete the login procedure, the
                       terminal appears to 'freeze' after the non-echoed
                       password is entered- that is to say that no NL is
                       echoed to the screen.
 
                       Further, nothing happens at this point at all unless
                       two more carriage returns are entered.  If this is
                       done, at that point another login prompt appears
                       (without the XENIX!386 part).
 
                       These subsequent 'login:' prompts will echo nothing to
                       the screen when a userid is typed in.
 
                       If any typo error is produced at the keyboard while
                       trying to login as 'root', the same symptoms listed
                       under "3." here are encountered.
 
                    4. If, after the first failed attempt, one waits 1-2 mins,
                       the session seems to reset back to the first login
                       prompt and seems to execute a login just fine for the
                       'root' or any non-superuser who's password is not
                       set.
 
Something different about this installation, the serial terminals are
constrained to Odd Parity, which has been set in the gettydefs both in the
second and third fields of the 'm' line.
 
Perhaps this is a serial port problem here, but since this problem only
happens with login's other than the root it is not obviously aparent that
it is a communication problem.  Further, these symptoms occur on both the
serial terminal AND the main PC console.  It doesn't matter where the login
session occurs.  This would seem to indicate a file protection problem.
But, all protections have not been changed.
 
Unfortunately, the 30-day SCO warranty of support is expired and the software
to be used on the system by the users has only recently arrived and the need
to use the non-superuser id's enough to discover the problem occured only at
this time.
 
How strict is SCO in a situation like this?  I called and explicitly asked them
about help with the expired warranty- w/o mentioning the problem- and they
told me the purchase of an additional support contract would be necessary.
This is not possible.
 
Comments appreciated.
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Brian Crawford               INTERNET (current):   crawford at enuxha.eas.asu.edu
PO Box 804                            (permanent): crawford at stjhmc.fidonet.org
Tempe, Arizona  85280        FidoNet:              1:114/15.12 
USA                          Amateur:              KL7JDQ  
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