INIT: Id "1" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes

Support knowledgebase (maddin_respawn)
Applies to

SuSE Linux: All versions

Symptom:

The following message is displayed
INIT: Id "1" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes
e.g. when you enter a program like mgetty in the file /etc/inittab to accept incoming modem calls and the the system is restarted or several calls are not successful. This message may also be displayed when, for instance, the login prompt is cancelled several times in a row e.g. with Ctrl-D.

Cause:

When programs that have been started by init through /etc/inittab are terminated very quickly several consecutive times, the corresponding entry in /etc/inittab is disabled and can no longer be started. Under normal conditions programs should be restarted two minutes after being finished, but this is not the case due to a bug in the program init.

Solution:

Since most programs have their own log files in /var/log or write their syslog messages to /var/log/messages, /var/log/news or /var/log/mail, search those files for error messages.

You may also manually start the program in a shell first in order to examine possible error messages. Do not make any entries in /etc/inittab until having done this.

You can explicitely start the deactivated program by executing

init q
as root in the command line.

Thus, the file /etc/inittab will be reread and all the shut down programs will be reactivated.


Keywords: INIT, RESPAWNING, BOOT, MGETTY, TTY

SDB-maddin_respawn, Copyright SuSE Linux AG, Nürnberg, Germany - Version: 04. Jul 2002
SuSE Linux AG - Last generated: 05. Jul 2002 by ip (sdb_gen 1.40.0)