console login: ^J^M^Q^K^K^P

Cause

This error usually occurs because OpenWindows exited abnormally, leaving the system's keyboard in the wrong mode. The characters that appear when someone attempts to login are garbage transliterations of what someone typed.

Action

If you are on a SPARC^TM system, do the following:

1. Find another machine and remote log in to this system

2. Run the following command:

   $ /usr/openwin/bin/kbd_mode -a

This puts the console back into ASCII mode.

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Note -

kbd_mode is not a windows program; it fixes the console mode.

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If you are on an IA system, do the following:

1. Log in remotely and start

2. kill the X server or reboot the system

Technical Notes

The usual reason for this problem occurring is an automated script run from cron(1M) that clears the /tmp directory periodically. Ensure that any such scripts do not remove the /tmp/.X11-pipe or /tmp/.X11-unix directories, or any files in them.