Re: Console Lock-ups

Kai Henningsen (kai@khms.westfalen.de)
09 Aug 1995 14:22:00 +0200


tim@lorien.demon.co.uk (Tim Towers) wrote on 08.08.95 in <199508072328.AAA00165@lorien.dragon-net>:

> The problem is strange, basically the console will lock up, Virtual
> Terminal flipping doesn't work, Ctrl-alt-del also doesn't work. The strange
> thing is that it generally strikes whilst the machine is idle, for example
> whilst I am typing at the bash prompt.

I'm seeing similar effects, but *only* under X11.

The exact symptoms are:

Pressing keys seems to have no effect whatsoever, *except* for NumLock and
CapsLock, which turn the respective leds on (but not off again). The mouse
buttons also stop to have any effect. I can still move the mouse around,
and the system keeps running.

I usually wait until an opportune moment and reset.

Lots of different kernels (up to 1.3.15), different versions of X, etc.
Even different keyboards.

Hardware is a 486, 16 MB RAM, SCSI, serial mouse, 8900 card.

Since I don't use X very often, I was not motivated enough to go hunting;
still, it's extremely annoying when it happens, especially if I'm
currently fetching something big via SLIP.

MfG Kai

PS. I'm away on vacation second half of August.