This is often a symptom after upgrading Ubuntu from versions previous to 9.10. These older versions used the /etc/event.d/ system to initialize devices whereas Ubuntu Karmic and later (=< 9.10) use a new /etc/init system. For versions 6.04 and older, the system was /etc/inittab, much like other Linux distributions (e.g. CentOS).

The symptom after upgrading from these prior versions happens when logged into the VPS console and although boot messages are shown to the user, no login prompt is displayed after the boot process finishes. This is due to the getty system not being configured to listen on /dev/hvc0 (the Xen console device). To fix this, create the file /etc/init/hvc0.conf and add the lines below:

# hvc0 - getty
#
# This service maintains a getty on hvc0 from the point the system is
# started until it is shut down again.
start on stopped rc RUNLEVEL=[2345]
stop on runlevel [!2345]
respawn
exec /sbin/getty -L hvc0 9600 linux

You can send init the SIGHUP signal to force a configuration reload, however we suggest a full reboot via the VPS manager. Once done, you should be able to successfully login from the VPS console!