diff -Naur -X exclude-files ac_cur/arch/um/drivers/stdio_console.c ac/arch/um/drivers/stdio_console.c
--- ac_cur/arch/um/drivers/stdio_console.c	Tue Oct 30 18:27:12 2001
+++ ac/arch/um/drivers/stdio_console.c	Fri Nov  2 23:32:06 2001
@@ -56,22 +56,31 @@
 			      SA_INTERRUPT | SA_SHIRQ, "console", data));
 }
 
-static int open_console(int line, struct tty_struct *tty)
+static int open_console_nocount(int line)
 {
 	int err;
 
-	down(&stdio_sem);
 	err = open_chan_pair(&vts[line].chan, setup_console_irq, &vts[line]);
 	if(err < 0){
 		printk("Failed to open virtual console %d, errno = %d\n",
 		       line, err);
-		up(&stdio_sem);
 		return(err);
 	}
+	return(0);
+}
+
+static int open_console(int line, struct tty_struct *tty)
+{
+	int err;
+
+	down(&stdio_sem);
+	err = open_console_nocount(line);
+	if(err) goto out;
 	vts[line].count++;
 	vts[line].tty = tty;
+ out:
 	up(&stdio_sem);
-	return(0);
+	return(-err);
 }
 
 static int con_open(struct tty_struct * tty, struct file * filp)
@@ -91,6 +100,7 @@
 
 	line = MINOR(tty->device) - tty->driver.minor_start;
 	vts[line].count--;
+	if(vts[line].count == 0) vts[line].tty = NULL;
 }
 
 static int con_write(struct tty_struct * tty, int from_user, 
@@ -179,7 +189,10 @@
 	for(i=0;i<MAX_TTYS;i++){
 		tty_register_devfs(&console_driver, 0, i);
 	}
-	open_console(0, NULL);
+	/* Called without holding the semaphore, but there is nothing else
+	 * running now.
+	 */
+	open_console_nocount(0);
 	return(0);
 }