X windows system freezed

[Gene Smith]

Andrea Giuliano wrote, On 09/20/2004 10:52 AM:
> I cannot suggest you a solution, but just a test to see what's 
> happening. Look at the following quote from a post of mine in a similar 
> thread.
> 
> ---------------------
> Re: Xorg freezes, crashes, locks, shoots and leaves
> Dear Gene,
> 
> I know your problem very well! Anyway, after having X freezing the 
> system for several months, at present it doesn't happen any more. It's 
> hard to say way.
> 
> I only can suggest you to add the following lines to xorg.conf:
> 
> Section "ServerFlags"
>    Option        "AllowDeactivateGrabs" "true"
>    Option        "AllowClosedownGrabs" "true"
> EndSection
> 
> They allow you to use C-A-K-* and C-A-K-/ to try to unlock X in some 
> situations (see man xorg.conf for a few detail). To avoid 
> misunderstandings, please note that C-A-K-* means "Control, Alt, Keypad 
> *" pressed together.
> 
> This could be a start to investigate what is happening to your system. I 
> would not be very optimistic, but at least you can try, it's very easy. 
> Remember to restart your X server after the changes above.
> 
> Best regards... and good luck!!!
> -------------------------------
> 
> Christophe Lambert wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am running the RedHat Fedora core 2 on an Athlon computer. The
>> computer ran without any problem since the Fedora core 2 release.
>> Since the following updates, the X windows system freezes after a random
>> amount of time.
>>
>> Package Installed:
>>    kernel 2.6.8-1.521.i686
>>
>> Package Dependency Installed:
>>    kdebase-devel 6:3.2.2-6.FC2.i386
>>    kdelibs-devel 6:3.2.2-8.FC2.i386
>>    samba-common 3.0.7-2.FC2.i386
>>    samba-client 3.0.7-2.FC2.i386
>>
>> Package Updated:
>>    imlib 1:1.9.13-19.i386
>>    lha 1.14i-14.1.i386
>>    kdebase 6:3.2.2-6.FC2.i386
>>    cdda2wav 8:2.01-0.a27.4.FC2.3.i386
>>    cdrecord 8:2.01-0.a27.4.FC2.3.i386
>>    mkisofs 8:2.01-0.a27.4.FC2.3.i386
>>    kdelibs 6:3.2.2-8.FC2.i386
>>    kudzu 1.1.68.2-1.i386
>>    samba 3.0.7-2.FC2.i386
>>
>> Characteristics:
>> - The X process is running at 99% of CPU.
>> - There is no related lines in log files
>> - It seems to be not dependent on the kernel (I tried under 2.6.7 and
>> 2.6.8).
>> - It appears under Gnome as well as under KDE
>> - It seems independently related to applications I used (Evolution,
>> Emacs, Mozilla, Terminal or ... nothing)
>> - It seems to be not related to the screen saver: it does not matter if
>> it is activated or not.
>>
>> The only thing I can do is to log in from another computer, kill the X 
>> process, go to telinit 3 and then telinit 5.
>> The problem happens about 10 times per day.
>>
>> If somebody has any idea to solve/find the problem, he is welcome.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Christophe
>>

Hello Andrea,

When you gave me the xorg.conf advice for my crashing/locking X I was 
also hearing my hard drive making strange noises and printing dma errors 
and getting very hot. Figured that *must* be the problem. Got new drive 
and managed to salvage my data off old drive before it heated up and 
reinstalled fc2 from cd. Figured that was my problem. Well it must not 
have been. Got another X lockup since reinstalling on new hd. Also, have 
seen one other lockup that is not X I don't think. When shutting down, 
when it goes back to the text screen and after showing some "shutting 
down" text in red letters it would lock up there. Would have to hit 
reset. Saw this with old bad drive and new drive too. Also, system is 
Athlon. However, have not had X lock with keypad keys enabled as you 
recommended. Will try it when it occurs.
-gene