June 2005 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: [Wlug] HOWTO debug hard lockups

by Gary＠home

Andy Stewart wrote: > It makes no > sense to me that an application run as a normal user could lockup a machine. Oh it's easy to crash a Linux machine with a fork-fest - any who can fork a process can do it, so a rouge app can certainly do the same. What desktop are you running? I previously had similar problems with Gnome on my Athlon XP under Gentoo that mysteriously stopped after a few package updates...and I found no bug alerts for my symptoms at the time. Any chance you can run top or some other real-time system monitor when the crash happens? -- Gary

June 7, 2005

Re: [Wlug] HOWTO debug hard lockups

by J Schonberg

--- Andy Stewart <andystewart(a)comcast.net> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > > Hi Chuck et al, > > The machine just locked up again (and it is much cooler today than > yesterday). I wasn't running OpenOffice this time. I tried > alt-printscreen-? and nothing happened. I tried > alt-printscreen-anything and nothing happened. crl-alt-delete, > ctrl-alt-backspace - no keyboard input at all was recognized as far > as I > can tell. > When the machine hung, did the num lock key still turn on and off the led on the keyboard? If not, then other key sequences are probably not working either. Is this a USB keyboard? Jason. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

June 7, 2005

Re: [Wlug] HOWTO debug hard lockups

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi Chuck et al, The machine just locked up again (and it is much cooler today than yesterday). I wasn't running OpenOffice this time. I tried alt-printscreen-? and nothing happened. I tried alt-printscreen-anything and nothing happened. crl-alt-delete, ctrl-alt-backspace - no keyboard input at all was recognized as far as I can tell. Also, I found a lot of entries about this MB on the MSI Forum and it seems that the temp sensors register about 15% higher that reality. gkrellm allows me to tweak the readings, so I did. An independent temperature measurement confirms that the onboard sensors are registering about 15% high, and that I'm not really frying my CPUs as I had thought. At idle, my CPUs are around 43 degrees C. This makes this issue all the more puzzling. Other thoughts? I'm about to fire up an all night run of memtest. Thanks, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFCpQp+Hl0iXDssISsRAnBYAJ9WZDDB0G/y6lL31aYJDYPfNHJe1QCdHkSf k1E6p2ayY5rGt/+Lamb0VzU= =w7NU -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

June 7, 2005

Re: [Wlug] Back issues of Linux Journal magazine available

by Mike Frysinger

On Monday 06 June 2005 08:10 pm, Andy Stewart wrote: > If nobody wants them by next Monday, I'll send them to recycling. who knows, maybe someone on ebay would want em ... throw em up for like a $1.00 :) -mike

June 7, 2005

Back issues of Linux Journal magazine available

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI everybody, I am cleaning out a closet and have some back issues of Linux Journal magazine that I'd like to give to somebody who wants them. They are all in great shape, all have been read, and (for you collectors) most probably do not have the mail in subscription cards (I like to use those as bookmarks). Aug 1995 (issue 16) - Dec 1995 All issues from 1996 All issues from 1997, incl Buyer's Guide All issues from 1998, incl Buyer's Guide All issues from 1999, incl "Enterprise Solutions" supplement If nobody wants them by next Monday, I'll send them to recycling. I'd be happy to bring them to the next WLUG meeting if somebody specifically says they want them. Later, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFCpOXZHl0iXDssISsRApXfAJ9UODjZ7meFzPZ/YesyBbsKDPBlUgCeM8Pa Ovvq9jm+aPlUetgGUSG94pQ= =WsE0 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

June 7, 2005

Re: [Wlug] HOWTO debug hard lockups

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Chuck R. Anderson wrote: > On Sun, Jun 05, 2005 at 10:35:13PM -0400, Andy Stewart wrote: >>I've tried setting "nmi_watchdog=1" to see if I could get an "oops" when >>it hard locks - no dice. Do you know any other tricks I could try to >>see if it is the kernel which is locking up? I'm running SuSE's version >>of 2.6.8. > > Have you enabled the kernel Magic SysRq key and tried typing that when > it locks up? > > sysctl -w kernel.sysrq = 1 > > When it locks up: > > Alt-SysRq-? for help, then try dumping the PC, Tasks, etc. You may > even be able to do an Emergency RO Mount and Sync before doing a Boot. > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > HI Chuck, That's a good idea which I've implemented per your suggestion. Now, I just have to wait for the next hang (hey, I could update the WLUG website with OpenOffice!). I'll keep you posted. Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFCpMefHl0iXDssISsRAnEsAJ9bcbaboREGjDKodlg4QS/I3+UB1ACfZF6x yGYCi38pKMmFAUyrE89aEfA= =r3Kq -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

June 6, 2005

Re: [Wlug] HOWTO debug hard lockups

by Jeff Moyer

==> Regarding Re: [Wlug] HOWTO debug hard lockups; "Chuck R. Anderson" <cra(a)WPI.EDU> adds: cra> On Sun, Jun 05, 2005 at 10:35:13PM -0400, Andy Stewart wrote: >> I've tried setting "nmi_watchdog=1" to see if I could get an "oops" when >> it hard locks - no dice. Do you know any other tricks I could try to >> see if it is the kernel which is locking up? I'm running SuSE's version >> of 2.6.8. cra> Have you enabled the kernel Magic SysRq key and tried typing that when cra> it locks up? cra> sysctl -w kernel.sysrq = 1 cra> When it locks up: cra> Alt-SysRq-? for help, then try dumping the PC, Tasks, etc. You may cra> even be able to do an Emergency RO Mount and Sync before doing a Boot. This requires that you are not in X windows at the time of the lockup. See my other email in this thead. Also note that, due to no specific instances or facts to back up my statement, I don't like doing the 'Sync'. If the system is locked up, who is to say that you are going to write out valid data to the disk? I'd rather just reboot and let the journal recover things. -Jeff

June 6, 2005

Re: [Wlug] HOWTO debug hard lockups

by Jeff Moyer

==> Regarding [Wlug] HOWTO debug hard lockups; Andy Stewart <andystewart(a)comcast.net> adds: andystewart> HI gang, andystewart> My dual Opteron machine is not happy. I cannot get more than andystewart> 7 straight days of uptime without getting a hard lock, andystewart> requiring a reboot. (My definition of hard lock is: machine andystewart> responds neither to keyboard input, mouse input, nor network andystewart> pings). andystewart> I can stimulate hard locks by running OpenOffice 1.1.3 (I had andystewart> 3 tonight, and 3-4 on a previous occasion while running andystewart> OpenOffice). It makes no sense to me that an application run andystewart> as a normal user could lockup a machine. andystewart> I've tried setting "nmi_watchdog=1" to see if I could get an andystewart> "oops" when it hard locks - no dice. Do you know any other andystewart> tricks I could try to see if it is the kernel which is locking andystewart> up? I'm running SuSE's version of 2.6.8. Did you verify that NMIs are being delivered? After boot, cat /proc/interrupts and make sure the NMI line is non-zero. Also note that, at least with upstream and Red Hat kernels, the nmi_watchdog defaults to 1 for Opterons (i.e. you shouldn't need to manually set it). If the NMI watchdog works, it will print a message to the console. However, you will not see this if you are in X windows. Do you have a serial console hooked up, by any chance? I strongly suggest it if you have the means. Aside from this, if it is indeed a hard lockup, there is really nothing you can do (without purchasing other hardware to help debug the problem). Please give these suggestions a shot and let us know how it goes. Thanks! -Jeff

June 6, 2005

Re: [Wlug] HOWTO debug hard lockups

by Chuck R. Anderson

On Sun, Jun 05, 2005 at 10:35:13PM -0400, Andy Stewart wrote: > I've tried setting "nmi_watchdog=1" to see if I could get an "oops" when > it hard locks - no dice. Do you know any other tricks I could try to > see if it is the kernel which is locking up? I'm running SuSE's version > of 2.6.8. Have you enabled the kernel Magic SysRq key and tried typing that when it locks up? sysctl -w kernel.sysrq = 1 When it locks up: Alt-SysRq-? for help, then try dumping the PC, Tasks, etc. You may even be able to do an Emergency RO Mount and Sync before doing a Boot.

June 6, 2005

USB External DVD RW drive recommendations

by Andrew Robert

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi Everyone, I am looking at the possibility of getting an external USB DVD-RW drive but want to be sure on its compatibily to Linux, specifically Fedora Core 3. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what might be a good choice? - -- Thank you, Andrew Robert Systems Architect Information Technologies MFS Investment Management Phone: 617-954-5882 Pager: 781-945-1742 E-mail: arobert(a)mfs.com Linux User Number: #201204 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Fedora - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFCpAzG3PP5iSKX574RArBkAJ0Rf1x7rVih4pCMNYcpMFDWGIM8TgCgmfQj KqW2WL0gUGDDqflyUstow54= =JTsT -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

June 6, 2005