[ubuntu-uk] 10.10 System Freeze Problem

[Neil Greenwood]

On 16 October 2010 16:02, Paul Morgan-Roach <roachy at roachy.net> wrote:
> On 16 Oct 2010 15:19, "Nigel Verity" <nigelverity at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Guys
>>
>> Since clean-installing Xubuntu 10.10 on an Acer 1410 laptop, the system is
>> freezing up once or twice during a daily 8 hour session. The mouse and
>> keyboard become inoperative and, if I disconnect the mouse then reconnect
>> it, the mouse does not light up, suggesting that no power is being fed
>> through the USB port.
>>
>> I've not had 10.10 long enough to observe any particular pattern or scenario
>> that causes the problem. It certainly didn't occur with 10.4.
>>
>> Does anybody know of an existing log file, or application I can use, to help
>> identify the cause? Please bear in mind that, as I have to kill the power
>> before rebooting, any log files may not be closed cleanly.
>>
>> Thanks very much.
>>
>> Nige
>
> If you have a second box you could configure it as a remote syslog server..
>

...or you could try connecting through ssh (or even telnet if you have
to) to view the logs in real time before you reboot.

The other thing you could try is to see if the Magic SysRq keys will
sync the discs and allow you to reboot nicely.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_sysrq#.22Raising_Elephants.22_mnemonic_device