Yes, it does need an explanation. But do realize that what you're describing
now is very different from your original, general question.
Look at your log files (probably /var/log/messages and /var/log/debug, but
the exact names are somewhat installation specific) and see what they report
about the "memory exhausted" problem. Post those messages, along with a
basic description of your system -- what distribution and version of Linux,
how much physical memory, how much swap space -- and the output of "ps -ax",
"free", "uptime", and "df".
Also post the log entries from one of the failed ISP connections that
occurred about the time you encountered the "memory exhausted" message. I
assume this is a modem connection using pppd - if it's something more
exotic, mention that too.
When you had the problem, were you running X, and if so, were you running
any substantial X app (such as Netscape or Gimp)? And can you remember
EXACTLY what the message was (a plain "memory exhausted" isn't complete -
there would at least have been an indication of the process reporting the
error)?
If you want to have better info if the problem occurs again, run "top" on
one virtual terminal or in an xterm, then see what it is reporting about
memory when the problem occurs (you'll need it running since if you can't
run "who", you probably won't be able to run "free" either). If you do this
and want help interpreting what you see, send ALL the info that appears on
the first 5 lines of the "top" display.
Without those basic facts, any attempt to troubleshoot your problem is
limited to wild guesses. But in any case, cache and buffer memory *isn't*
the cause.
At 02:37 PM 6/12/99 -0700, David Rysdam wrote:
>HOWEVER, there's still something amiss. Or at least there was the other
>day. Let me explain:
>
>I've been having on and off problems with my ISP. Things like not being
>able to connect, dropped connections, slow tranfers over supposedly fast
>connections, etc. On Wed it was being particularly slow all of a sudden
>and I thought to myself "What if someone hacked into my server and is
>tranferring files or something?". So as part of my checking around I
>tried to do a "who" on the server--and I got a "memory exhausted"
>message. I had an uptime of about 50 days until then and was down to 2
>MB. I don't know what the cache and buffer values were. I messed with
>this a bit and then decided to reboot. No ISP problems since (although
>that could easily be coincidence). Now I'm back down to ~2 MB but "who"
>works correctly.
>
>In any case the "memory exhausted" message needs an explanation.
[prior messages deleted]
------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo
Palo Alto, CA 94303-3603 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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