Just saw Linux crash in a new and interesting way. The system just stopped, but the Caps Lock and Scroll Lock LEDs on the keyboard were blinking. I found a reference to this online that said this happens when the kernel panics, but is in bad enough shape that it can't write to the console. Of course, I've seen systems crash even harder in the past—without any warning of any kind, they just stop.
Well, that was on a new kernel (Debian 2.4.21-1-k7). I went back to the one I had been using, and it seems to be fine so far. I hope there isn't something wrong with the rest of my computer. It's kind of disappointing, though, as the newer kernel is supposed to have some nice performance enhancements.
I would have been in a really pissy mood if I didn't have a journaling filesystem on this computer. I'm so glad I do..
I'm in the midst of updating some other software on the system, and it's not going well either. The testing distribution of Debian finally got Gnome 2. Sort of. Now I have to figure out how to fix everything that is broken with that...
Posted by mike at June 30, 2003 11:29 PM | Software | TrackBackRe: your kernel panic with the flashing keyboard lights.
I get it every once in a while when I am using a PS/2 keyboard and mouse at the same time. Sometimes if I'm quick about unplugging the keyboard, the system doesn't crash and I can just plug it back in again and proceed as normal. If I plug in my USB keyboard, this crash never happens.
I'm running Gentoo (everything compiled on my local machine) 2.4.20.
I get this error with Gentoo as well. I'm using a USB mouse and a PS/2 keyboard, but I'm using Gentoo's "gaming" edition of their kernel. I found some source code errors in their modified SCSI driver for my Adaptec controller. I fixed it with respect to the unmodified version. I'm considering going back to the regular kernel and see if that makes a difference. However, I'm curious if something in user space is really the issure. For instance, I just notices that klaptopd was running, and I don't have a need for that running on that system..,perhaps when the screen saver comes on, it is trying to do something that causes a system freeze. I'm eliminating each program that I have installed slowly to see which has started the effect (as I know it isn't hardware), so if I figure it out, I'll report my findings.
Posted by: Hasues at February 3, 2004 08:40 AM