I'm experiencing frequent system crashes at the moment and I've run out of clues for diagnosing the issue.
Crash is a full lock up, display is frozen yet coherent, no response from kbd or mouse. The caps lock light does not flash nor can it be toggled, and SysRq combos do not work. Network is also unavailable. Nothing relevant in logs.
<snip> If your perfectly fine system suddenly started crashing and no changes corresponded to the onset of crashing then it pretty much has to be hardware (or a linux virus [1]). If it was a memory error then you'd expect the occasional hard lockup but more often random segfaults etc, so I'm thinking overheating, CPU, system board, or power supply. You haven't mentioned heat. Are the CPU and system board temperature sensor readings acceptable? Heat is likely going to make any intermittent problem worse, does the frequency of crashes vary with ambient temperature. Take the side off the case and point a large fan at it if you can and see if that has any impact. Has the system ever been overclocked? Power supply is next easiest thing to test if you can find a spare. Do the input voltages seem okay? Even if they do it's possible it could still be the power supply. Good luck. These sorts of once-a-week problems are a real pain to troubleshoot. If this was a business machine it would be in the bin - the cost of a system board and cpu isn't worth the effort. James [1] I'm kidding of course. A linux virus would be extremely well written and would never cause a crash! _____________________________________ James Harper - Systems Technician Bendigo IT Bendigo: (03) 4433 9200 Melbourne: (03) 9098 0000 Email: James.Harper@bendigoit.com.au This email is intended only for the use of the addressee. You must not edit this email or any attachments without my express consent. Maxsum Solutions is not liable for any failed, corrupted or incomplete transmission of this email or any attachments or for any viruses contained in them. By opening any attachments, you accept full responsibility for the consequences. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, reliance upon or copying of this email or any attachments is strictly prohibited, and you must immediately erase them permanently from your system, notify Maxsum Solutions and destroy any hard copies.