On 8 Apr, Frank Formeister wrote:
I know it's something I've done as it happened after I had to power down w/o properly shutting everything down (froze up on me in KDE while trying to use wine to open a windows file, still not weaned yet!). Now I can't log off normally at the shut down screen because the "OK" button is grayed out all the time whether in root or user. I can still use the 'shutdown' command which, unfortunately, I thought of after pushing the off button.
This should get the shutdown button working: 1. Open up an X-Term. 2. 'su' to "root". 3. Run "kdmconfig". 4. Pick the "Sessions" tab. 5. Change "Allow to shutdown" to "All" or "Console".
So, my question is, just how stable is 7.1? This was my main reason for switching to Linux and so far, through my own stupidity, have manage to lock it up quite a few times with greater consequences than I could have imagined.
Linux is very stable. There are two types of "lockup" you'll encounter. The first is when the actual machine no longer processes any instructions. This is a complete system lockup. And rebooting is the only option. The second type is when some piece of software runs amok and blocks input. It looks a lot like the first type of lockup. The machine stops repsonding. Maybe the mouse moves. But keys and mouse clicks don't work. This is recoverable under Linux, thanks to its excellent job control: 1. Hit Ctrl-Alt-F1. This should switch from graphical mode to a text based screen. You'll see a "login:" prompt. 2. Log in with the same user name and password as the GUI. 3. The next prompt is a very uninteresting "#" symbol. Type in "top" and hit Enter. 4. You'll see a list of processes running on your machine. The top of the list should be the rogue program eating up all the input. 5. Press the "k", for kill. 6. Now enter the PID number (left column) for the crazy program. 7. When asked for a signal, enter "9". The process should disappear from the list. 8. Hit "q" to quit 'top'. 9. Type "exit" to get back to the 'login:' prompt. 10. And finally press Alt-F7. You'll be back in KDE, and it should continue to run normally. -- Robert Wohlfarth rjwohlfar@bigfoot.com "Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" -- Matthew 6:25b