[olug] My console has fallen and it can't get up

[Adam Lassek]

That almost sounds like a heating issue. You might want to make sure the 
cpu isn't overheating or anything.

dbw wrote:

> This just happened again on the same box.  This time I was NOT in 
> X11 and it had nothing to do with the X screensaver.  The machine 
> froze at the login prompt; once again the keyboard was completely 
> unresponsive.  I suspect that the fact I was in an X session the 
> first time is incidental.  Once again the console is completely dead.
> 
> 
> Last time I received a lot of "press this key and then press that" 
> suggestions.  I will reiterate the fact that the keyboard does not 
> respond, not even CNTRL-ALT-DELETE does anything.  It is not a hardware 
> problem with the KB, after all, when I restart the system by killing 
> the power then the system comes back and the keyboard is fine.
> 
> I want to take up Phil Brutsche on his suggestion to put a getty 
> on one of the machines serial ports.  I do not want to run ssh or 
> any remote login services for security reasons, but accessing the 
> machine via the serial port would be a great solution.
> 
> Could someone please offer me some information or resource on how 
> to accomplish this?  I am guessing that using minicom on another 
> machine I would be able to access a login prompt of the afflicted 
> machine via the serial port.
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> -Derek
> 
> 
> 
> At Wednesday, 31 January 2001, you wrote:
> 
> 
>> So, I've got this linux server that is basically only a firewall 
>> / IP Masquerade. There are no ports listening for connections on 
>> telnet, ssh, rlogin or otherwise.  The box has been running for a 
>> couple months now without restart and or incident.  (uptime approx.
>> 65 days)  The distribution is Redhat and the kernel is 2.2.16 (or 
>> in that neighborhood).
>> 
>> The box was running in Xwindows, the screensaver on, and after a 
>> keystroke the screensaver password prompt appeared. I attempted to 
>> enter my password so I could access the environment and do some work.
>> I typed in my password and hit the ENTER key...
>> 
>> The console is frozen, no keyboard or mouse response.  I cannot change 
>> consoles, I cannot even change the caps lock state on the box.  No 
>> keyboard response, yet the caps lock and scroll lock lights are lit,
>> and the keyboard connection is fine.  The keyboard works on other 
>> computers also, so this is not a keyboard hardware problem.
>> 
>> However, the ipchains and firewall stuff is still working fine.  
>> I can ping the box and it replies without delay.  The box is also 
>> a cache name server and share the Internet to a lan of Windowze 
> 
> workstations.
> 
>> It is still serving in this capacity and working.  From this point 
>> of view, the box is still functioning ok.
>> 
>> I simply cannot get a console to respond.  I can't get a CNTRL-ALT-
>> DELETE to work.  The only thing that I "could" do is to unplug the 
>> unit or hold down the power button accomplishing the same thing. 
>> The computer power supply is ATX architecture.  
>> 
>> Killing the power is the last thing I want to do.  I haven't done 
>> this yet because the box is still working as a firewall / IP Masquerade 
> 
> 
>> server.  But I would like to know 1) what causes this and 2) a better 
>> way to get console back other than to kill the power.
>> 
>> Has anyone else had a linux box lock up (while in Xwindows) to the 
>> point where you cannot even change to another console and access 
>> another shell?  Is this a problem with mingetty, or is there a known 
>> issue? Is there any way to make the box start responding again? Keep 
>> in mind there are no remote shells to access.
>> 
>> thanx
>> 
>> -Derek
>> 
>> (append)
>> 
>> I doubt this is a hardware issue or I believe that the box would 
>> not be functioning at all.  I am disappointed that this is happening,
>> I choose linux as a solution for this task because I was avoiding 
>> this very thing from happening; the type of thing that happens in 
>> Micro$oft environment.
>> 
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> 
> ______   __   _    ________________________________________      
> 
> _____   / /  (_)__  __ ____  __                         ___
> ____   / /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ /   commando at robotz.com   ___
> ___   /____/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\   _________________________
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