[WBEL-users] Determining the Cause of a Kernel Panic

[Randy Kelsoe]

Daniel J. Summers wrote:

> How does one determine the cause of a kernel panic (when the computer 
> freezes, and the caps/num/scroll lock lights blink)?  I've had a 
> couple this morning, and they seem to go away with a reboot (although 
> I did get one during a boot).  I'm suspicious of my network setup, but 
> without knowing how to find a log or dump or something like that, I 
> don't know what's causing it.  Thanks...

General system logs are in /var/log/ and you should start with 'messages'.
A freeze is not a panic. A lot of times with a freeze, you will not see 
anything in the logs. There are also different kinds of freezes, or lock 
ups. If you have another machine on the network, you can try to ping or 
ssh into the box when it appears locked up. You can also try a 
'Ctrl-Alt-Backspace' to restart X.
Which mobo are you using? Have you updated your BIOS to the latest 
version? What other hardware are you using? Are you using a stock WBEL 
kernel, or have you compiled your own?

Have you tried running memtest86 on the machine? If not, you can get the 
Ultimate Boot CD at:

    http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

boot from it and run memtest86 overnight if possible. If you have a 
flaky memory dimm, it will probably find it. If you get no errors with 
memtest, you might also run the disk diags for your hard drive and see 
if that finds anything. If you sill don't see any errors, reboot, and 
try the dmesg command. See if you can find anything unusual there.

>
> (As a follow-up - I was using ndiswrapper 0.8, and I found that 
> version 0.10 was available.  I downloaded it, compiled it, reset 
> everything up, and so far, no panics.  I'd still like to know if 
> there's a log somewhere though...  :>  )
>