[K12OSN] hangs on X server screen

[Eric Harrison]

Joe Guenther wrote:
> THAT does NOT sound like the solution I wanted to hear. :-(

Fortunately it is not a recommended solution...

> Still makes me even more perplexed as to what is happening??????

The first thing I usually do is scan /var/log/messages and /var/log/secure

I run "dmesg" and see if anything unusual appears (such as IDE or SCSI
timeouts).

If you have sar installed (part of the sysstat package), you can look at
your system statistics for anomolies ("sar -A" will spew TONNES of
stats). If you don't have sar installed, you can install it for next
time... (yum install sysstat)

I always double-check that DNS is working properly & the entries in
/etc/resolv.conf are correct.


With LTSP-related problems, I review the LTSP trouble-shooting guide:
http://wiki.ltsp.org/twiki/bin/view/Ltsp/TroubleShooting


If I think there might be a miss-configuration or otherwised messed-up
software, I have RPM verify all of the installed software:

	rpm -Va > /tmp/rpmreport

This will list every file that has been changed since it was installed
by rpm. The output will contain one line per modified file, in the format:

S.5....T  c /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf

Here is what the first set of letters mean:

        S file Size differs
        M Mode differs (includes permissions and file type)
        5 MD5 sum differs
        D Device major/minor number mismatch
        L readLink(2) path mismatch
        U User ownership differs
        G Group ownership differs
        T mTime differs

The "c" means it is a configuration file.


Those are usually enough to point me in the right direction for fixing
whatever may be broken.

-Eric

> M.Pribik wrote:
>
>>Hi
>>This behaviour happed to me too even twice. I could not do nothing. After
>>ALT-F2, ALT- F1 I had very poor
>>shell that periodicaly resets to gray X screen. /aprox.30 sec/
>>I had reinstall the system from CD. After that it worked.
>>Regards Marian
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Joe Guenther" <jguenther at chinooksedge.ab.ca>
>>To: <k12osn at redhat.com>
>>Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 8:45 PM
>>Subject: [K12OSN] hangs on X server screen
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>This morning, on an othewise functional 4.2 system for the past 2
>>>months, a whole lab had trouble logging in a the terminals.  The
>>>workstations would boot, but stay stuck on the grey screen with the big
>>>X cursor.  I then rebooted the server, and with one or two workstations
>>>booting simultaneously I got the class logged in.  Then on logout, all
>>>workstations are stuck on the grey X screen.  no reboot of the server
>>>has solved this.  I have deleted the entire /tmp directory in an attempt
>>>to clear crud that has stuck around ... no luck
>>>
>>>What is happening? are there tmp, cache or log files that need to be
>>>cleared?  These workstations were fine on Friday and at 8:00 this
>>>morning I could get in from a workstation in my office, but now nobody
>>>can get in.
>>>
>>>Is there a cron job that I can create to keep this from happening again?
>>>
>>>Joe Guenther
>>>= = = = = = = = = = = = =
>>>Lantech - Didsbury
>>>Chinook's Edge School Div.
>>>
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