[LAU] Hard lock-ups -- Trying to narrow the cause

Darren Landrum darren.landrum at sbcglobal.net
Fri May 22 01:21:14 EDT 2009


James Cameron wrote:
> Okay, good, that excludes single cause memory or CPU problems.  In my
> day job I've seen systems that will not trigger memtest failures yet
> show evidence of them when other devices are used.  memtest doesn't
> exercise the memory at the same time as the PCI bus or devices on it.
> So it helps here by suggesting the memory and CPU are fine.

One thing I haven't done, though, is run it for a very long period of
time. I had let it go for... about four hours or so? Somewhere in there.

I'll do that again.

> Thanks.  Also, take note of what hangs ... does the mouse move on
> screen, does the capslock LED respond on the keyboard, are there any
> unusual LED indications from the front panel; e.g. disk LED jammed on.

This tends to vary. Sometimes, the mouse pointer still moves but I can't
click anything. Sometimes, it's a total hard lock, and the lights on the
keyboard for num lock and caps lock won't work at all. Sometimes, it's
just Firefox that locks up, and I have to kill it.

The mouse pointer still moving, though, has been common enough hang that
it stands out in my memory.

> There are some really interesting methods to capture data about a hang,
> but not sure if you want to go there yet.  My favourite is a serial
> console with a laptop next to the failing system.

That sounds like fun. I haven't broken out my laptop (really, an MSI
Wind netbook, but hey, it works and it does what I need it to) since the
last semester ended, so it needs a bit of exercise.

-- Darren



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