On Sat, 2002-06-29 at 11:57, patrick wrote: > > --- Bob Walicki <rwalicki@uchicago.edu> wrote: > > This is probably a stupid question but I don't want to mess anything > > up. Our computer running Debian has frozen at the login screen. No > > keystrokes work, the mouse does nothing etc. Further you can't login > > from > > other computers. Is there a 'best' way to restart the thing? > > Anything > > better than simply hitting the 'restart' button on the box itself? I > > would rather not do that if I risk screwin anything up as the system > > seems > > to have simply crashed. > > Unless you have support for the magic SysReq key built into your > kernel, I'd say you have no other option than to cold boot. > > If you do have magic Alt-SysReq enabled, then: > > <Alt+SysReq>-s (sync disks), > <Alt+SysReq>-u (unmount disks), > <Alt+SysReq>-b (reboot, issued 20 second (Bob, I hope you don't mind me using your name for this. :) I can see the headlines now: "Linux user discovers hitherto unknown phenomenon" June 29, 2083 New York City (AP) - It was just another ordinary day for Bob Walicki. Working on his Debian GNU/Linux system with no problems. Then, suddenly, something happened. The keyboard failed to respond. The mouse did nothing. The machine appeared to have entered a comatose state where no external stimuli were being registered. The panicked Walicki called out for help, yet no one knew what to do. Finally, the experts were called in. After a long and arduous investigation, it was discovered that this was a situation called a "lockup". What causes such situations and how to best go about resolving them is still a mystery. Experts are hoping that an investigation into the ruins of a temple in Redmond, WA may yield clues. The temple was home to a cult of fanatical proprietary software developers at the turn of the century. The members of the cult all commited ritual suicide within the temple walls in 2008 as a result of a court ruling that proprietary software is evil and should be abolished. It is known that, during their exploration into the dark arts, this cult had experimented with this phenomenon called a "lockup". It is further believed that they may have used this evil power to enforce a sort of control on followers pocketbooks, requiring constant updates to avoid the evil force. Meanwhile Walicki must sit and wait, hoping that his faithful machine will be alright. Friends and family are organizing a vigil over the unfortunate computer for this evening to pray for its safe recovery.
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