How best to debug a crash?

[Giles Orr]

On 11/26/06, jim ruxton <cinetron-uEvt2TsIf2EsA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Occasionally my computer will completely lock up to the point where my
> only solution is a hard reset. ie. holding in the power button. I'm
> using Fedora 5. What is the best way to find out what went wrong. Also
> is there an alternative to the hard reset. I try killing X and that
> doesn't seem to work. It happens rarely so it is hard to find a pattern
> in what causes the freeze. Any suggestions what I should do when this
> happens. Hate to have to do a hard reset on a linux system : ( .

The commonest (but not the only) cause of mystery crashes I've found
has been bad memory.  Running memtest86 (or memtest86+) will either
eliminate one possible cause or tell you what the problem is.  It's
available on a lot of CDs these days ...  I think Ubuntu Live,
Knoppix, and the Ultimate Boot CD at a minimum.

-- 
Giles
http://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
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