hi,

I run into the same problem a while ago.

I went the deeper I can into getty and tried to find where it failed
with lot's of debug output (in a file, not the console itself), and at
the end I finally starting suspect the hardware. I tried to make the
console stop working only by create lots of I/O in OpenFirware only and
made it hang (on a PowerMac 6300 and 7200). So if this happen in
OpenFirmware, we can't blame NetBSD. There maybe some problem with Mac
serial port, and I also don't like the default 38400 bps speed. Sun
console allways worked and 9600 is enough for normal use.

I suggest you use serial for minimalist use, like installation, and
switch to remote network login as soon as possible.

On Wed, 2001-10-17 at 09:14, josh@ssimr.com wrote:
    I started running headless issuing the boot commands and the like by
    using the serial port, a printer cable functioning as a null modem
    going from my 6500/300 to a keyspan dual serial adapter attached to my
    iMac, and Zterm. 
    
    For some reason the connection is useable for a while and then ceases
    to function. At first I just thought the machine had crashed, but I
    could telnet in fine. However, recently I had a small problem that
    disabled telnet and I had to power-cycle to get the serial port
    back. I assume I simply have it set so that it doesn't respawn
    automatically, i.e. that it is a syntax error. (On Linux machines it
    is usually set in /etc/inittab) I'm not sure where to look.
    
    I get an error about /etc/ttyE0 whenever I start up because I never
    commented that one out. is that the problem?
    
    My best guesses of where to look and useful info:
    
    NetBSD regret 1.5.1 NetBSD 1.5.1 (GENERIC) #9: Mon Jul 2 08:58:45 PDT
    2001 matt@duel.local:/u1/kobj/GENERIC macppc
    
    
    top /etc/ttys:
    console "/usr/libexec/getty std.38400"  vt100   off secure
    ttyE0   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   vt100   on secure
    tty00   "/usr/libexec/getty std.38400"  vt100   on secure
    tty01   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   unknown off secure
    tty02   "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600"   unknown off secure
    
    
    -- 
    Josh Kuperman
    josh@ssimr.com
    http://www.ssimr.com