On Mon, 8 May 2000, Daniel O. Escasa wrote:
> But I thought that some kernel updates didn't require you to reboot? If so,
> then it's really something inherent in the kernel that causes reboots. I
> remember I threads on this list -- or I could'a been dreaming ;-) -- about how a
> buggy display driver can hang X, and take down Linux. In fact, from my
> recollection of the discussions here, it's mainly on X that Linux hangs, so it's
> X's fault. Still, it shouldn't be able to take down the entire OS if the kernel
> were robust enough to begin with.
When X crashes, the kernel does not necessarily crash too. In most cases,
the console that is frozen is the only means of accessing the system. So
there is no way to recover properly. However, the system is actually
functioning, albeit there is no way the local user can tell because his
"window" into the system has been shot to hell.
My experience with X hanging a console on a networked computer, you can
still recover from X crashing by telnetting into the system from another
machine then killing the errant X process. The system itself is still
runing, but X hangs the console/terminal that you are at.
The worst cases of X actually crashing the kernel usually result in
reboots for me. I don't remember how often that was, but that was years
ago.
eric
--
Eric Pareja | email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Network and System Administrator | web : http://www.upm.edu.ph/~xenos
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