on Wed, Apr 18, 2001 at 05:13:07PM -0700, Jeff Davis (list-debian@dynworks.com) wrote:
> I am running unstable (also kernel 2.4.3). I was exporting a
> display and runnning a second instance of kde on a remote machine
> (seperate user). When I came back, my computer was very slow (almost
> all my 256MB RAM used, way more than normal).
Out-of-memory conditions can lead to a sluggish, and sometimes
terminally swapped, system. Best thing to do is find and isolate the
memory-hogging application and shut it down.
> I closed everything and tried to get out of kde/X (at this time the
> remote computer had already logged off, etc).
Suggestions:
- Switch to a virtual console window (<ctl><alt><F[1-6]>) rather than
killing X. You're going to need a console anyway, and you can kill
X from it. You might want to run 'screen' and get both a 'top'
session and a shell prompt going.
- Leave the remote connection open. It uses minimal overhead and is
quite useful if you wedge the system.
- Using top or other monitoring tools, start shutting down large
processes.
> I eventually got to a black screen with an immobile mouse and an
> unresponsive keyboard. I had to reboot.
Sometimes necessary, but often not. You'll also want to read up on the
"magic sysrq" key combinations. I've got these taped up in strategic
locations.
> I am not sure that the display export had anything to do with the
> "crash". Did I do something wrong? My computer hasn't had any
> problems like this for a long time (and I have had 2.4.2/3 & debian
> unstable for at least a month).
Check your system logs for error messages, may be something there.
Could just be userspace apps.
You can set user limits (ulimit) to prevent runaway memory utilization.
There's also low-memory cleanup support being added to the Linux kernel
itself, though I believe this is still experimental and doesn't quite
perform as expected or desired.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? There is no K5 cabal
http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ http://www.kuro5hin.org
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