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Industrial
Asked: 2012-01-06 23:39:20 +0800 CST

Ubuntu freezes. Which logs can I check out?

  • 772

So my computer has lately started freezing completely when I run some programs that, in the past, would work great.

What I am unsure about however, is what logs that are available to me that could help me track down the issue after a reboot?

Thanks

freeze

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    check

    /var/log/syslog

    If you are running gnome, then you can check the logs using "gnome-system-log" tool, type

    gnome-system-log

    in the run dialog.

    and check the syslog in the left hand side.

    if you want to check the log using terminal,

    then do,

    tail -f /var/log/syslog
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  2. If the whole machine is locking up, off the top of my head, these are the likely causes:

    • Overheating. You don't need logs to determine this, but fingers :)
    • GPU lockup. Is it an OpenGL (3D) application, and you don't normally run those? While locked up you should be able to ssh into it from another machine.
    • Thrashing. Does the hard drive light go on steadily when it locks up? Something is using too much RAM.
    • Other hardware problem. Run a memtest and/or another OS...
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  3. "my computer has lately started freezing completely when I run some programs"

    What are those programs? The answer to your question is heavily depend on those "some programs" Anyway, check

    /var/log/syslog

    /var/log/kern.log Optionally you can use dmesg command to view kernel messages to check if something is wrong during boot process.

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