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On Saturday 28 November 2009 22:53:52 Harry Putnam wrote: |
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> I keep having a problem where the OS becomes inaccessable after |
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> running in X for a while. I haven't noticed a time pattern yet but it |
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> doesn't take long sometimes. |
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> |
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> Today I started from an OFF machine, booted up, started X did a few |
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> things A few minutes later I attempted to login via ssh from a remote |
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> laptop down stairs. The os is inaccessable via ssh, or port 25 (its |
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> also a mailhup for home lan). |
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> |
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> Went back to the actual machine and it is inaccessable from console as |
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> well. |
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> |
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> It's happened repeatedly now for a week or two, but I've been busy with |
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> other stuff, and if I need it running I've just left it in console |
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> mode. |
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> |
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> The problem apparently does not occur in console mode. |
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> |
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> I see no problem when starting X and I see nothing in |
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> /var/log/messages that gives a clue about what is happening. |
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> |
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> I'm running fairly up to date Desktop profile on kernel: |
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> |
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> (uname -a) |
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> Linux reader 2.6.31-gentoo-r4_rdr-5 #6 SMP |
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> Wed Nov 4 09:19:17 CST 2009 i686 Intel(R) Celeron(R) |
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> CPU 3.06GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux |
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> |
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> I'm not sure how to track down the problem since I'm not seeing any |
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> give away clues in /var/log/messages |
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> |
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> So far, once the lockup has happened it appears there is no way in |
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> other than the reboot switch. |
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|
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Looks like you need more info for a diagnosis. Unfortunately this is a hit and |
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miss game as we don't have much clue what's going on. The lack of anything |
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valuable in /var/log/messages seems to indicate that either a) no syslog |
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messages were generated (common with client apps) or b) there is a message but |
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the system locks up before it can be flushed to disk. |
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|
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Some ideas: |
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|
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Set up an ssh session to the offending machine from a different machine that |
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is permanently on. Wait for the problem to occur and see if anything got |
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printed on the ssh console. |
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|
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Set up a syslogger on a remote machine and send all your logs to it. If that |
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produces nothing, try having the local syslogger replicate ~/.xsession-errors |
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to the remote logger. I often find that remote logging manages to keep working |
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after the local disk has given up. |
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|
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Obviously, these are long range diagnosis techniques and you have to be |
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patient. "emerge -e world" will take around 24 hours and may well fix your |
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problem, but not tell you what the cause was. |
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|
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-- |
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alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com |
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