Problem: my desktop system hangs. Question: what to do next

[Mel Wilson]

I have a desktop system that can't get through a build of gdb-7.4.1
without locking up the desktop, and, apparently, all other processing.

System is MSI G41M-P26
memory 3.9 GB, dual-processor Intel Pentium 4 3.20GHz

O/S  Ubuntu 10.04, kernel 2.6.32-41-generic-pae, GNOME 2.30.2

I check that it's running with a system monitor window on top, and
watching the crawl of the CPU usage graph.  After the crawl stops, the
system also stops responding to the mouse and keyboard.  The last run I
also had an ssh process open from another machine, and it froze at the
same time everything else did.  Pinging the dead system claimed that the
destination was unreachable, and that persisted until the hung system
had been rebooted.

Memory doesn't seem to be a problem, usually only about 10% gets used.

After the reboot, I can't find anything in syslog or messages that look
like trouble, but I could be failing to recognize something.

I wonder if it couldn't be an over-temp problem.  The build makes heavy
use of both processors, and often (though not always) hangs with both
CPUs pinned at 100%.  The retailer says the system is fine, but it
occurs to me that he has very pleasant air conditioning in the shop, and
I have none here at home.  Any good packages for monitoring CPU
temperature?  Tomorrow I'll be able to say whether doing the build at
night helps (No.  Tried again at 5AM.  Toronto Island said 19C. Same story.)  
ISTR seeing ./configure options somewhere that would limit
the number of simultaneous processes forked by the build, but I don't
see anything like that as an option for this gdb build.

The system usually seems rock solid doing light work like reading news,
web surfing, or drafting email.

All hints appreciated.

	Mel.


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