Thanks Ray.
Cntl - X at the logo then
SMEServer-up single
This problem seems to me more than the Consolemode value in the DB.
--byte-- got me curious so I setup a test SME6 set to auto login to the server console.
At the local console, it did that no questions asked. When I ssh'd, I got a login prompt and I could login as root and stay in a shell.
With mgb, I ssh'd over the 'net and loged in as root. There was a brief flash of text and then it went into the server-console.
I'm thinking that the root shell has been changed to /sbin/e-smith/console or that command is running as soon as you log in.