Subject:   -95- I just edited /etc/inittab, and now I can't start up or
                shut down my SGI! What's wrong?
Date: 03 Dec 1994 00:00:01 EST

  If the last line of /etc/inittab is a comment, init will screw up
  horribly.  If your machine is still running, remove the comment and
  everything will be OK. If not, go to the miniroot, run the shell and
  remove the comment from there. The following sequence of commands is
  one possible way to do this:

    cd /root/etc
    cat inittab		# Decide how many lines to remove (say three)
    wc inittab		# See how many lines inittab has (say 120)
    head -117 inittab > inittab.new   # Keep the first 120 - 3 lines
    mv inittab inittab.old
    mv inittab.new inittab
    cat inittab		# Just making sure

  and reboot. Don't forget the 'cd'; from the miniroot's point of view,
  /etc/inittab is /root/etc/inittab.

  The problem should be fixed in IRIX 5.3.