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    How To Unlock A Supposedly-Locked Up System

    Happily, true system "lockups" or "crashes" are pretty rare with Kubuntu Linux, but apparent lockups in which the screen goes black and the mouse and keyboard stop responding can happen - that is actually a crash of the X server (K Display Manager or KDM) only, or possible some other process has run amok and is consuming 100% of the CPU resource. If, immediately preceding the lockup you did NOT see a "kernel panic" message, then it is probably not a system crash, and you (and your filesystem) will have a brighter future if you will execute a graceful shutdown and reboot. Here is what to do.

    First, the mnemonic to remember:

    Raising Skinny Elephants Is Utterly Boring

    BEFORE you reach for that power switch, give the Alt-SysRq combo a chance to do a graceful shutdown/reboot. Press and hold down "Alt-SysRq" ("SysRq" is the key otherwise known in DOS-world as "PrtScn", normally near the right end of the top row of keys) and then, one at a time, S-L-O-W-L-Y in sequence, " r s e i u b ".

    Probably you will be amazed to see your "locked up" system do a shutdown and normal reboot.

    Reference: http://linuxgazette.net/issue81/vikas.html


    #2
    Re: How To Unlock A Supposedly-Locked Up System

    Another good to have utility for the Linux "toolbox."
    Windows no longer obstructs my view.
    Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
    "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

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      #3
      Re: How To Unlock A Supposedly-Locked Up System

      Asus G1S-X3:
      Intel Core2 Duo T7500, Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT, 4Gb PC2-5300, 320Gb Hitachi 7k320, Linux ( )

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        #4
        Re: How To Unlock A Supposedly-Locked Up System

        NICE -- Integr8e, that is a good piece of work! Thanks.

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          #5
          Re: How To Unlock A Supposedly-Locked Up System

          Is NumLock also part of X windows?

          If my system stops responding, I check if I can turn NumLock on and off by pressing the NumLock key several times. If I can't [whether in Linux or Windows] and the light doesn't cycle, it takes a manual power down to restore it.

          If NumLock does respond, and the windows are just frozen, usually an Alt-CTRL-Backspace will restart the X server. The session is probably lost, but the system does recover.

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            #6
            Re: How To Unlock A Supposedly-Locked Up System

            Originally posted by suplero

            Is NumLock also part of X windows?
            The keyboard definition is part of the X server, defined in xorg.conf. So, if your keyboard is a standard U.S. type, it will be PC104 or PC105. If it is a proprietary layout of some type, then you'll have reconfigure that part of xorg.conf.

            Assuming the keyboard definition is correct, then you can set the NumLock to be "on" or "off" at startup with the KDE desktop configuration settings. So you can do Alt-F2, "kcontrol" and then "Peripherals > Keyboard > NumLock on KDE Startup".

            If you think the keyboard definition in xorg.conf is wrong, there is an auto-detecting capability in the dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg script. I cannot personally vouch for its accuracty -- I've never needed it.

            HTH

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              #7
              Re: How To Unlock A Supposedly-Locked Up System

              thank you, I've written this in my Little Book of Linux.

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