serial console: LILO+getty ok, kernel not ok

[Alexis Huxley <ahuxley@smtphost.hq.eso.org>]

Hi, I've got a potato test installation running 2.2.14. I'm trying
to get a serial line configured as the console on this very old 486DX2/50.

I've:

	added 'serial = 1,9600n8' to the global section of lilo.conf.

	added 'append = "console=ttyS1,9600n8"' to the relevent kernel
	paragraph of lilo.conf.

	uncommented the 'T1' entry in /etc/inittab in order to start
	a getty on the serial line.

	made a new kernel with console on serial line support:

		root# grep SERIAL .config	
		CONFIG_SERIAL=y
		CONFIG_SERIAL_CONSOLE=y
		# CONFIG_SERIAL_EXTENDED is not set
		# CONFIG_SERIAL_NONSTANDARD is not set

	rerun lilo, removed /etc/ioctl.save and rebooted.

What I see is this:

	The 'LILO boot:' prompt appears on the VGA console and on the serial 
	console, then I get something like 'uncompressing kernel'. (So the
	part of the lilo.conf relating to lilo itself is functional.)

	The kernel messages do *not* appear on the serial console :-( 
	instead I get a gentle non-stop stream of backwards question 
	marks :-(

	The VGA console gets the messages but with some bits missing - 
	e.g. the names of the modules being loaded appear, but when the
	'ne' module gets loaded for the NE2000 NIC, I don't get the
	'(C) Donald Becker ... IRQ ... IO ...' stuff appearing.

	The getty starts and I get a log in prompt.

I've referred again to the Serial-HOWTO and to Documentation/serial-console.txt
in the kernel sources, and I cannot see anything wrong in what I've done.

If I comment out the 'append' line then there is no problem; I can interact
with lilo before the kernel gets called, and I can use the getty when it
starts up. 

Has anybody any ideas why the kernel fails to send its messages to the
serial console when both lilo and getty can do it? I would have thought
this indicated an error in the 'append' but I can't see it. 

Many thanks!

Alexis

Incidentally, when I was making the kernel I wound up making it twice.
Which of 'make mrproper' and 'make depend' do I need to do the second time
round? (Having made a change to the .config, one would thing the Makefiles
would successfully minimise what has to be rebuilt, but I seem to always
get the make bombing out unless I clean right up and start again (having
saved the .config)).