[ale] suddenly finding computer 'seized-up'....ATTN:DowHurst

Tue Mar 21 09:45:57 EST 2006

Dow,

Thank you so much for your attention with this problem.

I'll practice the described remote access, hopefully, before the problem 
recurs. This is a skill I obviously should've obtained long ago.

Re: seizure

1-I've used "xset s on" for years for my 'screensaver' which just 
darkens the screen, so I don't think that's "it".

2-I'm not aware that I'm using either RTS/CTS or XON/XOFF, but I guess 
somewhere it's configured, but I don't know where. I dialup/logon to the
web with a script which has no mention of this. It's a Hayes 56K modem 
whose speed is set to 115200 in the script. But I've also used this 
script for years without system seizure, so conclude it's probably not 
that either.

3-After a cold boot this morn, I DID get the following error multiple 
times with different LBA #s:

ad4:FAILURE - WRITE_DMA status=51 <READY,DSC,ERROR> error=4<ABORTED>
dma=0x06 LBA=44xxxxx

I got a lot of LBA=44xxxxx, the xxxxx s being different numbers.

After not getting an error-free boot, I fsck'd the ad4 partitions, 
rebooted and all seemed OK.

4-Regarding the FreeBSD recommendation of increasing the cp4ticks from 4 
to 40, I assume that after this is done, recompilation of what,... the 
entire kernel,... is necessary to implement the change ?

5-and finally,... how can I tweak my modem settings, which I assume 
pertains to the rts/cts xon/xoff configuration, if that's the problem ?

Most appreciatively,

Courtney

Dow Hurst wrote:
> Courtney,
> I've just assumed everyone on the list would be proficient in the use of 
> ssh.  Maybe we should have a tutorial on this most necessary of tools?!!
> 
> SSH is the secure form of what telnet provides.  Most all Linux distros 
> come with this preinstalled in the default selections and will run the 
> sshd server on boot.  Normally port 22 is where the sshd server lives.  
> The ssh client will use hostnames or IPs to connect.  So if you have 
> another Linux machine on your network you can:
> 
> ssh hosedmachine
> 
> and you should get a password prompt back.  If not then:
> 
> telnet hosedmachine 22
> 
> will get you a string of text if the sshd server is running.  Type some 
> gibberish and press Enter to be disconnected from the server.  It should 
> tell you what server version your machine is running.  There are lot's 
> of uses for ssh for sysadmins.  O'Reilly has an updated book on SSH.  If 
> your system is Sys/V based then /etc/init.d/sshd start should start the 
> secure shell server up.  There are cools things like key based 
> passwordless logins that are highly secure or rsync backup scripts thru 
> ssh.  It's a vital tool for sysadmins to encrypt and protect the login 
> and data passed between machines that ftp and telnet expose to the world.
> 
> My thoughts on your problem are:
> 1. that your screensaver is kicking with powermanagement but has some 
> problem or bug and won't "wake up"
> 
> 2. A hardware interrupt problem can lock up your kernel so no one really 
> is at home.  A little googling revealed this thread as a start:
> http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-bugs/2003-May/000685.html
> http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-bugs/2003-May/000687.html
> 
> Maybe your modem settings need tweaking instead of what they recommend?  
> Are you using hardware flow control or software flow control?
> Dow
> 
> 
> 
> Courtney Thomas wrote:
> 
>>Steven,
>>
>>Thank you for your suggestions.
>>
>>I guess telnet would be the easiest to try, huh ?
>>
>>I've no experience with the other two and both machines are on my local 
>>LAN so ssh is not required I assume, but any further elaboration on how 
>>to use these 3 tools would be gratefully accepted.
>>
>>Cordially,
>>Courtney
>>
>>
>>
>>Steven A. DuChene wrote:
>> 
>>
>>>If the box is still running, have you tried accessing it via ssh/rsh/telnet
>>
>>>from anoter system prior to just pulling the plug for a hard reset?
>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>
>>>   
>>>
>>>>From: Courtney Thomas <cc.thomas at earthlink.net>
>>>>Sent: Mar 20, 2006 2:26 PM
>>>>To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
>>>>Subject: [ale] suddenly finding computer 'seized-up'....
>>>>
>>>>Recently several times I've left my computer downloading for extended 
>>>>periods to return to a frozen machine, i.e. not working are the mouse, 
>>>>keyboard or monitor but the box itself is still running; and, of course, 
>>>>the only way to resume is...a hard reset. Fortunately, this has not 
>>>>resulted in disaster. I've fsck'd all the partitions before rebooting 
>>>>and, seemingly nothing critical has been lost.
>>>>
>>>>I should mention that often but not always, when I try to print from 
>>>>Mozilla 1.7.7 [not Firebird, but rather Mozilla/5 Gecko 20051115] I get 
>>>>a core dump. This usually occurs after Mozilla has been running awhile, 
>>>>not when first started. I wonder if all this is from a Mozilla memory 
>>>>leak and if so, how can I tell ? Or should I just upgrade Mozilla [HOW 
>>>>?] to remove this suspect, or is the recent version equally likely to 
>>>>repeat.
>>>>
>>>>I also ran memtest86 and discovered nothing.
>>>>
>>>>I'm intermittently getting a stream of sio [sio1, irq=3] overflows,  the 
>>>>mouse is on com1 and modem on com2.
>>>>
>>>>Nevertheless, clearly, I need to resolve this ASAP.
>>>>
>>>>A suitable algorithm [or a pointer to same] pertaining to hard&soft-ware 
>>>>resolution...would be appreciated.
>>>>
>>>>Gratefully,
>>>>
>>>>Courtney
>>>>     
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>Ale mailing list
>>>Ale at ale.org
>>>http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>>>
>>>   
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Ale mailing list
>>Ale at ale.org
>>http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>>
>> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> 