Hendrik Boom said on Thu, 26 Aug 2021 11:55:12 -0400

>On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 09:16:06PM -0400, william moss via Dng wrote:
>> On 8/25/21 8:10 PM, Hendrik Boom wrote:
>> > For the past few months my home server (running an ascii
>> > installation physically moved from another computer) has been
>> > suddenly stopping all processing about once a month. apparently at
>> > random. It seems to stop instantly, leaving power on and becoming
>> > completely responsive to ping, existing ssh connexions and use of
>> > the physical keyboard.
>> >
>> > The system log, after a reboot, shows nothing unusual except of
>> > course that there are no log entries for a shut-down.
>> >
>> > Can anyone provide ideas about tracking this down?
>> >
>> > It could of course be a random rare intermittent hardware error.
>> >
>> > -- hendrik
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Dng mailing list
>> > Dng@???
>> > https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dng
>> >
>> I had the same problem on a work station running ASCII. Since I could
>> access the system from another machine on the LAN and even log in, I
>> guessed that it was Xorg. Killing X Via a remote login cleared the
>> problem. With the use of sar and other tools, I determined it was the
>> video card and/or NVIDIA's drivers (kernel modules). Switched back to
>> the system board's video (AMD) and the problem went away.
>
>Not running X on this machine. Just have the usual text consoles on
>cntl-alt-F1 through F6.
>
>Don't have a separate video card either.

The first time I read your symptom, my first thought was "I bet he has
an nVidia card, just like I did before switching. So, acknowledging
that you never run X and might not even have any nVidia drivers
installed (if you do, I suggest removing them, under the
circumstances), is your built in card an nVidia? If so, do you have a
less than 5 year old Radeon to temporarily install while disabling your
nVidia in BIOS? After my horrendous intermittent hangs and reboots of
November and December 2020, I would never use any nVidia graphics unit
with Linux again. If I somehow acquired a computer with built in nVidia
graphics, I'd disable the built-in and use a Radeon. Even if I didn't
use X.

SteveT

Steve Litt
Spring 2021 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques