what to do if/when computer hangs

[nalsdixit]

what do i do if the computer hangs ?

i have been using mint for about a week now, and have had the computer hang while browsing the net + downloading stuff using frostwire

in each case i shut down the power and thereafter rebooted, but is there a better/correct way of quiting the hung program/s ?
control/alt/delete, or force quit type of way ?

tks

nals

[emorrp1]

Things to try in order of seriousness (i.e. how badly it's "locked up"):

1) click the close icon, wait for the force quit dialog, force quit will just close the program immediately, without being able to save changes (not usually a problem)
2) ctrl+alt+backspace restarts the "X server" which basically equates to force quiting every graphical program running, and logging out
3) press alt+sysrq (with shift/ctrl if sysrq is on the print screen key) then slowly one by one press the letters of REISUB in order - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reisub
4) Hard shutdown by holding power button down or switching off at the wall (but (3) should almost always work)

[igorzwx]

Hi!

It may not help (edit: except for hard stop, of course).
On Ubuntu, I have the Brown Screen of Death on the regular basis.
You can get this on old boxes and on dual core, on Ubuntu 8.04 or 9.04
I have not observed the Green Screen of Death yet.
It may depend on video drivers, I presume.

On my IBM Notebook Ubuntu 9.04, I do this

sudo shutdown -h now

when I want to shut down it, otherwise the Brown Screen of Death
is very probable.

[lagagnon]

A hanging computer is symptomatic of a fault which should be repaired. The others repliers here have given you good info but they are band-aids. You need to determine why you are getting hangs - you should not be as Mint 7 and Linux in general are very stable. Did you get any such hangs on this computer before with a different operating system?

[emorrp1]

lagagnon, agreed, I too have rarely have an app hang, but Flash in firefox often causes problems, though usually it causes FF to crash rather than hang.

[igorzwx]

Ubuntu 6.10 worked perfectly on the same notebook.
It was, perhaps, a mistake to install Ubuntu 9.04
Horrible experience.
Sound was broken (now it seems to be fixed).
I do not practically use Flash (not every day).

The behaviour tends to change.
Last few weeks, it is something like this:
if you try to shutdown box (after some hours of work)
from Gnome GUI, it may surelly hang.
In short, Ubuntu makes you busy with solving idiotic problems.

[nalsdixit]

tks emomorph,

the control alt backsspace works fine

however the first solution you mention, click the 'close icon'? where/which is the close icon please ?

or do you mean the quit from the main menu ?

tks

nals

[emorrp1]

nalsdixit: I simply mean the "x" in the top right-hand corner, next to the min/maximise buttons. Because this is handled by the window manager (which is why you can theme it) it should still be responsive, even if the application isn't.

[bobcollard]

what do i do if the computer hangs ?

i have been using mint for about a week now, and have had the computer hang while browsing the net + downloading stuff using frostwire

in each case i shut down the power and thereafter rebooted, but is there a better/correct way of quiting the hung program/s ?
control/alt/delete, or force quit type of way ?

tks

nals

In Mint it's Ctrl/Alt/Esc then click your mouse button. Another alternate method is found Here in the second option.:
http://wlmtips.com/2008/07/25/force-qui ... ux-friday/

[ddalley]

I have been getting a lot of freezes with a new install, too (other software has been added, of course).
I rebooted just now and things have calmed down, but I expect them to return.

The screen was frequently dimming (two or three times per minute) and the mouse actions were buffered and used after the screen undimmed, but some things were a long time getting a response.

What tools does Linux have to find errant processes that might cause these freezes?

[lagagnon]

ddalley: please be more specific, i.e. when do the freezes occur, how frequently, does the whole machine freeze or just that application, have you noticed this on the same machine with a different OS, or when using the Live MintCD??????

[ddalley]

I indicated how often the dimming of the screen happens, anywhere from zero to maybe 3 times per minute. It does not happen with Windows, only Linux. The dimming doesn't affect mouse movement.

I think it is caused mainly by Transmission, with this particular install, but I have seen it happen on the same and different hardware with other distributions. I haven't run the LiveCD, except to install to a USB mem-stick.

[ddalley]

No new replies...

I have no idea how to find what is making the screen dim so frequently, but, right now, this is getting really annoying because I can't do anything when it dims. Ubuntu will do a similar thing, but it is happening much more often with this LM8 install.

Any more ideas on how to track what the cause is?

[vrkalak]

The only time I have ever had the 'dimming' hang of a window was with the browser (Firefox 3.5) and it was overloading the RAM.
With the browser open and about 20-30 tabs to websites open and about 5 of those downloading something (I'm testing the developers version of Firefox 3.7)
When all my RAM (2 Gb) is being used and the SWAP is heavy, then it will 'dim' for a couple seconds but that's the only time.

So, I would say that it is not the OS but the browser on 'overload' . . . then, if possible, you need to tweak the browser.

I have used many different distros on PC and laptop and have never had one hang. Ever. It has always been the browser.

[monkeyboy]

what do i do if the computer hangs ?

i have been using mint for about a week now, and have had the computer hang while browsing the net + downloading stuff using frostwire

in each case i shut down the power and thereafter rebooted, but is there a better/correct way of quiting the hung program/s ?
control/alt/delete, or force quit type of way ?

tks

nals

I don't know if it will help your current situation (little short on details) but you might look at the "force quit" widget thing that you can install on the desktop panel. Good Luck

[ddalley]

I am so glad that Gnome has Force Quit, but the other distributions do not.
I have used it often, unfortunately.

This dimming problem may or may not be related to memory usage, but I can't guarantee that. After my last dimming episode got so bad, I rebooted and ran the smallest Mozilla browser I had (SeaMonkey). That's all. I still got a few dims, so far, but not too many so you still may be correct.

The dimming happens when other programs are run, too, so I can't completely blame Mozilla browsers, but I do tend to overload memory. I will try to control that better and see if it helps.

[bobcollard]

I am so glad that Gnome has Force Quit, but the other distributions do not.
I have used it often, unfortunately.

This dimming problem may or may not be related to memory usage, but I can't guarantee that. After my last dimming episode got so bad, I rebooted and ran the smallest Mozilla browser I had (SeaMonkey). That's all. I still got a few dims, so far, but not too many so you still may be correct.

The dimming happens when other programs are run, too, so I can't completely blame Mozilla browsers, but I do tend to overload memory. I will try to control that better and see if it helps.

Try Ctrl/Alt/Esc Another three finger salute force quit.

[vrkalak]

I used to just go into Mint Menu and open the System Monitor window.
Then find the 'problematic' App from the list of Running Applications, right click on it.
And choose ... to 'kill' it.

This worked better for me, than any other method ... even Force Quit.

Of course, you can do the same thing through Terminal.

[ddalley]

Try Ctrl/Alt/Esc Another three finger salute force quit.

That combo does nothing here. CTRL/ALT/DELETE brings up the Quit/Reboot menu, though.

[ddalley]

I used to just go into Mint Menu and open the System Monitor window.
Then find the 'problematic' App from the list of Running Applications, right click on it.
And choose ... to 'kill' it.

This worked better for me, than any other method ... even Force Quit.

That works if you know what the problem program is.
I have no idea what is causing all of these screen dims.