System freezes; Alt-SysRq RSEIUB doesn't work

[Narvey]

With the various linux installs that I have messed with, various things have gone wrong and the system has hung up, but ALWAYS (until just recently) I have been able to use Alt-SysRq +RSEIUB to reboot the system. Now, my netbook with Lucid freezes up completely and will not respond to any input whatsoever, not even Alt-SysRq.

Very strange.

[GreyGeek]

Re: System freezes; Alt-SysRq RSEIUB doesn't work

"These are low level shortcuts that are considered to be used for debugging. Whenever possible, it is recommended to use these instead of doing a hard shutdown (holding power button to shutdown the motherboard). ..."

They must be activated first in a console with
sudo su -
echo "1" > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq

or if you wish to have it enabled during boot, edit /etc/sysctl.conf and set kernel.sysrq = 1

[Narvey]

Re: System freezes; Alt-SysRq RSEIUB doesn't work

"These are low level shortcuts that are considered to be used for debugging. Whenever possible, it is recommended to use these instead of doing a hard shutdown (holding power button to shutdown the motherboard). ..."

They must be activated first in a console with
sudo su -
echo "1" > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq

or if you wish to have it enabled during boot, edit /etc/sysctl.conf and set kernel.sysrq = 1

Nope. I checked it with:

tail /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq

and it said "1" (without the quotes)

[GreyGeek]

Re: System freezes; Alt-SysRq RSEIUB doesn't work

That means a keyboard lockup as well as the mouse. IMO, it is your video driver.
What's the make and model of your laptop and the video chip?
lspci in a console should tell you if your install is stable enough to open a console and issue it.