Re: need some help
On Tue, Sep 14, 1999 at 11:52:59PM -0400, Bill Goudie wrote:
> Rob --
>
> Tonight when I tried to load a web page with java on it I think it
> locked up my computer. Or at least I could not switch to another
> virtual desktop nor could I get back to the console. My mp3s were
> still playing and I could still move the mouse, though. So, after
> about ten minutes it dawned on my that I could use ssh to kill the
> xserver and Netscape. So, I did that but now I have a garble version
> of my background pasted to my screen. And I don't get any response
> from the any keyboard input. I thought maybe that If I started a new
> X from ssh it would "refresh " things but that didn't work either.
>
> Other than this everything appears normail. Right now I am across the
> hall and used ssh to connect to my computer to send you this message.
> So, that leads me to belive this must be an error with my video of
> some sort. I'm not sure and I'm merely guessing. And I'm hoping you
> have some suggestions to make. Uh...I'm not sure if I"m leaving
> anything out.
>
> Thanks,
> --
> Bill Goudie Debian GNU/Linux
> ICQ# 4493568 http://www.debian.org
Something like this happened to me in the spring: I ran an svga
program that trashed one of my VTs and I was without any text consoles
for a week or so. There were two programs, savetextmode and
restoretextmode, that would have helped me if I'd known about them
before I messed things up, but I didn't and I think I wound up
rebooting.
But it sounds like you don't have a hosed vga screen, you just need to
make X go away. If you haven't already, kill -9 everything related to
X that you can find over your ssh connection. Also kill everything
that looks like it might be associated with Java. If that doesn't
help, you might try changing init levels (using telinit, I think?) and
seeing if that kills it. I would first change to multi-user levels
2,3,4 or 5 before trying single-user, which would be more likely to
work but would by definition I think destroy your remote session.
I'll put this on the debian list, too, and some smart person there
will warn you away from my bad advice. If you lose your uptime over
this, you should definitely disable java and javascript in your
browser.
Rob
--
Do not take life too seriously; you will never get out of it alive.
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