Re: need some help
On Wed, Sep 15, 1999 at 01:59:46AM -0400, Rob Mahurin wrote:
> 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.
The one time that happened to me, switching runlevels didn't fix it... :(
One command that might be able to help you out, if you have them:
set80. From the /usr/doc/svgatextmode/set80.doc:
set80: a 80x25 mode setter
==========================
Set80 is a short resque program that attempts to reset your screen to a
80x25 mode, without the need for a TextConfig file.
It is very useful when you are setting up SVGATextMode, and something goes
wrong. If you can get set80 to run, there's a fair chance that you will get
your display back.
If it will help you, who knows. If you can even run it from ssh, who knows.
But, there it is all the same.
If you kernel 2.1.x (x>180 or so?) or 2.2.x or 2.3.x then maybe your
magic-sysrq key can save you. alt-sysrq-k, if I remember... if you have it,
the Documentation dir under your kernel sources should give more detailed
information. Do read the docs there first. (Sorry, i am still on 2.0.36,
can't read them from here. :)
And, just a quick comment -- telinit is symlinked to init. :)
amidala:/mnt/matrix# ls -l `which telinit`
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Sep 4 11:32 /sbin/telinit -> init
just running "init 3" is enough to change run levels. But, messing with run
levels *could* put you in a state without control over the machine. Do stick
to the runlevels you know work on your machine, 2, 3 are likely. I wouldn't
suggest init 1. Reboot instead (shutdown -r now) of changing to single-user
mode. :)
--
Seth Arnold | http://www.willamette.edu/~sarnold/
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