If you've finally figured out away (accidentally or on purpose) to get your Linux box to freeze and not respond. Just channel Douglass Adams for a moment and DON'T PANIC! The experienced Linux user would probably try a few things before even considering the ultimate computer "fix" (reboot the system). So here are a few steps you can go through that will hopefully get you back to all the open source goodness.
1. DON'T PANIC! (I'm not sure what font constitutes as friendly but seriously, don't freak out yet, more than likely some process is locking up your desktop environment.)
2. Try a combination of Ctl+F1..F4, by default most Linux distributions have multiple sessions that are mapped by pressing Ctl and F1...F4. This forces the system to jump out of your GUI Desktop Environment session (Ctl+F1) and into a command line login (Ctl+F2..F4). That way you can login through the command line session and either restart X server (Window Manager) or kill the process that's causing all the problems. Most distributions have at least the 4 sessions but you can usually set it up so that all 12 function key has new sessions associated with them.
3. If you just want a quick way to kill X (Window Manager) just press Ctl+Alt+Backspace. This is effectively the kill button for your current X session. Note if a process is locking up your machine, this probably won't do much.
4. Don't press the power button just yet, there is yet still another way to reset you r machine. Found this tip on FOSSwire, check it out here. Basically you need to hold down Alt+SysRq(Print Screen) buttons and type the following REISUB, this should reboot your computer. If not go to step 5.
5. Alright press the power button or reset button (which ever you prefer)
6. Wait if your system is still shot after this ... IT'S TIME TO PANIC!
7. Alright don't panic but your more than likely going to have to reinstall or boot up with a live CD and start editing some configuration files.
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2 comments:
Some errors are in this post.
1. To change to a console it's CTRL+ALT+F1, the graphical desktop is almost always located at CTRL+ALT+F7 and almost never at CTRL+ALT+F1!
2. Don't think that killing X is going to get you a command prompt. Most Desktops now run gdm or some other "Desktop Manager" that will just restart X automatically if it ever shuts down. It's not a bad option to try as it's basically a very fast reboot of the desktop, but you will lose all the unsaved data of all the applications you were working on.
3. The SysRq commands are well documented at: http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/closing_down_gnu_linux_safely_with_sysrq+ and do not require typing REISUB or whatever. They actually are a set of commands that are accessed by typing ALT+SYSRQ+[some other key]. Read the other post for details.
Thanks for the corrections I'll try to double check my findings. I'll update this post.
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