Re: hanging system

[famrom idecnet com (Guillermo S. Romero / Familia Romero)]

>Sometimes the CTRL ALT Fx does not work at all. Heretofore when this bad
>of a hang job has happened, I have had to do a HARDWARE SHUTDOWN which
>of course I don't want to do. I would rather get into a console and do a
>reboot. Is there anything other than a HARD shutoff that I can do at
>that point?

Ctrl Alt Backspace (not Delete) can kill a mad X session if it still accepts
some keyboard input. But other times it does nothing, because server is
completly dead, then you must try other solutions, like telneting and
killing (if the machine is in a network and you have access to another
computer, of course).

If you are running Linux 2.2 you can try the Alt SysRq AlphaNum combos (if
they are enabled), read the docs in /usr/src/linux-* about which AlphaNum
key you need (K, I think, from saK, but please check). This family of key
combos is taken by the kernel before any other so if the machine is still
alive you can get it back or reboot safely, AKA SUB 3 hit combo (sounds like
a video game, no?).

SUB is done with the following three key combos: first hit Alt SysRq S, wait
a few secs (30? watch case LED) so HDs are _S_ynced, second Alt SysRq U,
wait a few secs (10? watch case LED) so all partitions are _U_nmounted and
mounted read only, them press Alt SysRq B to re_B_oot. The machine goes down
like a submarine, with all equipment ready (just wait enough, you do not
want a open door). ;]

>Is this the fault of Gnome, Enlightenment or X?

Anything capable of hanging the X server can do that. Upgrade all apps to
latest stable version (the ones provided by your distro official or mirror
sites).

Also run the correct X server, for example I have been seeing rare behaviour
with SVGA driver with a S3 ViRGE, I installed S3V in that machine and now it
works (RH util was stupid and tried to use SVGA driver when there is a S3V
one, another reason I use less auto config tools each day that passes).

>Does anyone else have this problem?

Yes, I did weird things in my first Linux days too. And badly installed
system can do it too.

>Also, I have logged out and the login screen won't come up. What I do
>then is to get into a virtual console, login as root. do an init 3 and
>then an init 5 and then the login screen comes up. Any other way of
>doing this?

Maybe it is a problem about how GDM is configured. Dunno exactly, I have not
a crystal ball.

>Does anyone else have this problem too?

No idea, I never use runlevel 5, always 3 and startx with params.

GSR