> My Arch linux box keeps crashing on me. I'm using the awesome wm, > and at least once every other day I have to forcibly shut down my > machine. This usually happens when I am using emacs, chromium, and > filezilla. What happens is my screen locks up. I can't move my mouse. > None of the awesome shortcuts work. I'm unable to switch to another > virtual console. What can I do in situations like this? Does Arch > support a Ctl-Alt-Delete? I've had lots of problems with drivers. Maybe it was an update? Try to downgrade some recent drivers or the X if you only started having this problem recently. If the X is stuck, you can try Alt-SysRq-r before switching to virtual console (it makes keyboard input raw, instead of going through Xorg). > I found this article: > https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Keyboard_shortcuts > > And I put " kernel.sysrq = 1" > > > into /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf Note the following commands I've tried: # sysctl kernel.sysrq = 1 ; echo $? kernel.sysrq = 1 sysctl: malformed setting "=" sysctl: cannot stat /proc/sys/1: No such file or directory 253 # sysctl 'kernel.sysrq = 1' ; echo $? sysctl: cannot stat /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq : No such file or directory 255 # sudo sysctl kernel.sysrq=1 ; echo $? kernel.sysrq = 1 0 I didn't know, but it seems there can't be any spaces. As it's the same program processing /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf, there can't be any spaces there either. It's like variables in bash I suppose: spacing makes all the difference. > I've rebooted, and I still can't get it to work. I'm using an apple > macbook 7,1, which is a fairly old laptop (it has 4 gigs of ram), and I > can't get any of the *R*eboot *E*ven *I*f *S*ystem *U*tterly *B*roken > to work. I've read the article on wikipedia about the Magic SysRq key, > but I can't get any of it to work. I'm using the dvorak keyboard layout > as well, but I'm not sure if that changes anything. Also I've swapped > alt and control with this in my .~/xinitrc > > setxkbmap dvorak > setxkbmap -option 'ctrl:swapcaps' > I'd try to use a rescue USB (with Xorg - from another distribution) and see what drivers are loaded (lsmod output), and what X configuration is being used. > > > Thanks, > > Joshua Hope this helps, João Miguel
