[Novalug] computer hangs up

maxpublic08@maxwellspangler.com maxpublic08@maxwellspangler.com
Wed Feb 27 21:05:59 EST 2008


On Wed, 27 Feb 2008, Bonnie Dalzell wrote:

> Every now and then my Linux Ubuntu desktop hangs up. Mouse does not move, 
> trying a keyboard access such as cntrl+alt+F1 does not flip me to a console 
> screen.

Best thing you can do if this is occuring is:

1) setup ssh access into your machine and test it in advance so you know that 
it is running as a service and that the firewall is allowing you to get in.

2) Have a second computer available so that when your screen/keyboard/mouse 
locks up, you can attempt to log in to diagnose the problem.

3) If you can get in, try 'top' to see if a program is running and stuck as 
that's a good clue that some program got caught doing something and won't get 
over it.

3a) Try  #  init 3    to force the system to shutdown X and related programs 
and to go command line only mode.  After it says it's shutdown X, run top 
again to see if any X programs are running, such as no X-windows but mozilla 
or another X application is still running.  If so, kill -9 the application and 
do #   init 5  to restart X and see if your display comes back up.

I'll say right now that my system probably has 4-5 opportunities for the GUI 
environment to lock up but leave the computer running.  Linux is good, but 
it's still software and all software has flaws.. some enough to lock things 
up.

  -- 
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Maxwell Spangler
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina



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