[Techtalk] mysterious system halts - how to prevent/fix/detect?

[Jeff Dike]

julie at i2ii.com said:
>  have a SuSE-based web/db/mail server that has been alive and running
> brilliantly for 10 months.  In that time, I rebooted it once, for no
> reason that I recollect now.

> However, in the last 3 days, it has halted itself for no particular
> reason:

What have you changed recently?  New memory?  Overclocked that CPU a bit
higher :-)  Different workload?

Like Mary says, it's not too likely to be the kernel if it's been happy
for 10 months, unless the workload changed and it's now tickling a bug.

BTW, what do you mean by halting?  Hung, as in windows and everything are
there, but the mouse doesn't move, or halted, like you ran 'halt'.

> I'm pretty much terrified by kernels, so I haven't touched it. 

2.2.16 is a bit old.  It would probably be a good idea to upgrade it,
if for no other reason than to get over your fear of kernels...

				Jeff