Re: Linux problem resolution.

[David Gibbs <david@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

rob@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Now, back to my problem.  This morning the Linux server was locked up 
> tighter than a drum.  No keystrokes, mouse, etc would get a response. Suse 
> Linux.  The network guy really is not aware of how to look for problem 
> resolution in Linux to handle this.  For example in Windows you can 
> actually look up codes from the BSOD, look at log files, etc.  How does 
> one get started down this path in Linux?  Any RTFM is acceptable if you 
> supply a good manual.

After you reboot the system, check the messages log (often found at
/var/log/messages) ... you are probably looking for a 'kernel panic'.
Kernel panics are usually caused by hardware failures.  In my experience
they are usually caused by memory or motherboard problems, although I've
had serious disk problems cause panics also.

I'm guessing that you run the Linux system with a GUI active ...
unfortunately, when the kernel panics it isn't always able to write the
last log entry out to disk before the system freezes up completely.
This is one of the primary reasons I never run a GUI on a server.  The
kernel panic information is always sent to the console, so if the
information isn't in the log file, I can always look at the screen.

If it indeed a kernel panic, and you can get the codes that are
reported, there is a tool available to parse the codes ... it's called
'parsemce'.  I've posted a copy of the source to
http://code.midrange.com/index.php?id=ebe1403bbd.

david