I think I just encountered your problem. In runlevel 5 the default is to only allow getty to run for 1 tty. I guess they are assuming that if you are running X you will not run multiple consoles. If you look at the /etc/inittab file you will see something like this:
snip---- # Note that on most Debian systems tty7 is used by the X Window System, # so if you want to add more getty's go ahead but skip tty7 if you run X. # 1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1 2:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty2 3:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty3 4:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty4 5:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5 6:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty6 snip---- You will need to change it to this: snip---- # Note that on most Debian systems tty7 is used by the X Window System, # so if you want to add more getty's go ahead but skip tty7 if you runX. # 1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1 2:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty2 3:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty3 4:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty4 5:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5 6:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty6 snip---- After doing that, as root type "init q" for it to reread that file. Problem solved. Robert On Tue, 2004-07-27 at 11:45, Tim wrote: > hi everybody, > > i've been using debian sarge on my thinkpad r51 for some weeks and > managed to get everthing to work. since i did an apt-get update and > apt-get upgrade yesterday, i cannot switch between the ttys anymore. > > default runlevel is 5, gdm starts and everything looks good & works, > i can switch to another tty by pressing ALT+STRG+F1. once i do this, > there's no way back - neither to X11 nor to any other tty. the system > still works, so i guess something with the key mappings is broken but > i may be wrong. > > of course, i did not switch the notebook on, upgrade it and shut it > down at once - but i don't remember doing anything that could cause > this. > > did anybody experience similar problems or does anybody know a possible > solution? (would dmesg output be helpful? i guess not...) > > tim > >
