[NTLUG:Discuss] Reset TTY1

[Kelledin]

> TTY1 is printing control characters to the screen (^M, etc). I
> was able to log out. But, I can't login again.
>
> Is there a way to reset TTY1 from TTY2?

Funny, once a terminal gets in that state, I've always been able 
to login by just typing blind...

...but anyways, here's another possible trick that might fix 
this.

cp /etc/issue /etc/issue.old
tput reset >& /etc/issue
clear >> /etc/issue
cat /etc/issue.old >> /etc/issue
kill -TERM `ps -aux | grep getty | grep tty1 | awk '{print $2}'`
mv /etc/issue.old /etc/issue

This should kill the getty process on tty1, then (once init 
restarts it) cause the restarted getty to reset TTY1.  Then you 
move the original /etc/issue file back in place.

-- 
Kelledin
"If a server crashes in a server farm and no one pings it, does 
it still cost four figures to fix?"