On the next boot, /var/log/messages shoild contain the last printk's from the kernel which would include any panic.
So, one should be able to tail /var/log messages and see what the kernel did at the time of the freeze. Remembdr that the fresh boot is appendex to /var/log/messages, so you need to scroll back a hundred lines or so. Charles On Mar 1, 2012 8:41 PM, "Brendon Higgins" <blhigg...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi list, > > For the better part of a year, now, something has been causing my machine > to > freeze. The mouse stops moving on the screen, pressing any key (including > keys > that should toggle lights) does nothing. The freezes are intermittent, > without > warning, and I've been unable to determine if there is any particular > cause. > > I think the kernel is panicking, but I can't tell for sure. I don't think > it > caused by my hardware, either, because a Windows 7 install (Wintendo) > seems to > operate fine. The problem has never happened while I've been using the > console, > mostly because I'm there very rarely and I do the vast majority of my work > in > X. It's a desktop machine, after all. > > If it weren't for the fact of X being in the way when this happens, I > might be > far closer to finding the root cause of the problem I'm seeing. But the > fact > that I am unable to get any information at all from the kernel when the > freeze > occurs means I haven't been able to get anywhere with it in all this time. > And > yet it happens about once every few days. It's terrifically frustrating. > > I tried to get kdump working. I got as far as getting kexec running, and > kdump > claims to successfully load its kernel, but when I either manually cause a > test panic or the bug happens, the kernel fails to start new, and so kdump > never gets a chance to do its thing. kexec works fine to perform a regular > restart the machine, though - which is irritating, actually, because it > gets > in the way when I wish to reboot into Wintendo. > > This issue is actually beginning to cause me some distress. There must be a > way to extract panic info when X is running - how would the graphics driver > writers debug things, otherwise? > > So does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can make some progress on > diagnosing this? > > I'd appreciate being CC'd on replies, as I'm not sub'd to the list. Thanks! > > Peace, > Brendon > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > listmas...@lists.debian.org > Archive: http://lists.debian.org/201203012323.50867.blhigg...@gmail.com > >
