Re: Frozen mouse and keyboard
On Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:20:01 +0200 Joe <joe@jretrading.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Jun 2022 09:21:58 +0100
> Mick Ab <recoverymail123890@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I have a fairly new desktop PC running Debian 11. Recently
>> there have been a few occasions when the PC has failed to
>> be woken up in the morning after being left overnight.
>> The mouse and keyboard are frozen. Sometimes the monitor
>> appears to be off and on one occasion it was on.
>>
>> A hard reboot has been used to reset the PC, but it is not a good
>> idea to keep doing that.
>>
>> There is also a worry that if there is a hardware fault, the
>> situation might get worse over time.
>>
>> Has anyone any idea as to what may be causing the problem and what
>> would be the best way to try and solve it ?
>>
>> I anticipate it might be difficult to solve the problem given that
>> the fault is intermittent.
>
> The usual recommendation for a first test is to see whether there
> is any network activity e.g. response to ping or ssh. Also try
> Ctrl-Alt-F3 to see if a console is reachable as X might have problems.
If you can ssh into the machine from elsewhere, you can at least
do an "su reboot" and get an orderly shutdown.
> Have you checked logs to see whether there is anything suspicious
> before the freeze? If there isn't, the odds are in favour of a
> hardware failure.
>
> If that looks to be the case, I'd open up the machine (assuming it's
> not under warranty, if it is, it's someone else's problem) and reseat
> all the movable connectors and RAM. There's less chance of contact
> problems with SATA than with the big old PATA connectors, but it's not
> impossible. 'Fairly new' it may be, but connectors which aren't locked
> can be jarred half-way out by transport. We can probably rule out a
> build-up of dust yet, but if the machine is very quiet, and modern
> machines tend to be, the fan might have died. There will be a lot more
> troubleshooting tips around the Net.
Those are all good tips. One more thing: are you running xscreensaver?
As wonderful as it is, it is notoriously unforgiving of poorly-written
drivers. I have nVidia graphics cards, and for some time I was getting
all sorts of lockups using the nouveau driver. Switching to nVidia's
proprietary driver solved the problem.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | "Some of you may die,
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | but it's a sacrifice
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | I'm willing to make."
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)
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