What to do when X11 hangs forever

S

shinchan

Hi all,
I'm using FreeBSD on my laptop, but once in a while, some X11 application causes the system to hang forever (at least seemingly) and irresponsive to any mouse or keyboard event. I've tried Ctrl+Alt+F1 to switch back to console, but that didn't help. So, what can I do when in such cases (besides powering down) and how to identify the process causing the hang?
Thanks.
 
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If you have another machine you could try to ssh(1) into the machine. That will tell you if it's only X that's hanging or if there's more. If you can login you'll have the opportunity to do some troubleshooting.
 
This also _might_ have to do with the Intel card. Do you have in /boot/loader.conf

Code: 
kern.vty=vt

Assuming your laptop is using an Intel driver, this may, if it freezes, enable you to use ctl+alt+F1 to get to a console.
 
SirDice said:
If you have another machine you could try to ssh(1) into the machine. That will tell you if it's only X that's hanging or if there's more. If you can login you'll have the opportunity to do some troubleshooting.
Click to expand...
Sounds great, I'll only have to wait for the next hang ;).
But what to do next? Suppose I could login via ssh, which indicates that the OS scheduling properly, how can I find the process causing the hang? Do I top to see the process taking up the most resources or something?
Also, I fogot to mention that Ctrl+Alt+Del (wired directly to kernel I guess?) wasn't effective either.
 
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scottro said:
This also _might_ have to do with the Intel card. Do you have in /boot/loader.conf
Code: 
kern.vty=vt
Assuming your laptop is using an Intel driver, this may, if it freezes, enable you to use ctl+alt+F1 to get to a console.
Click to expand...
Yes, I already have that line in my /boot/loader.conf, and I can switch between virtual consoles ---until the hang occurs.
 
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