[NTLUG:Discuss] Kernel Panic

[Bug Hunter]

  A kernel panic is usually caused by 1 of 3 things (that I know of)

  1. Bad card (could be scsi, network, parallel port, etc)
  2. Bad memory (failing ram chips can cause a kernel panic)
  3. Faulty device driver

  On one machine that I know of, a power down (shutdown -h now) causes a
kernel panic.  It is a "no never mind," since the shutdown is complete and
it is the failure of the power down device

  On another machine, a driver I wrote generated a kernel panic when it
tried to write to memory that it did not allocate properly.

  To solve:

  Try to pin down what is causing the panic. It is usually the operation
of one program.  If it occurs randomly, with no daemons operating on the
machine, it is probably ram.  If it always occurs "when I do this to
that," then you proably have the device or device driver software
isolated.  Get an updated device or device driver.


On Tue, 15 Feb 2000, Bob Byron wrote:

> Still hoping for some input!
> 
> 1) Where is the best place to go to determine what is causing the
> Kernel Panic?
> 
> 2) Is there a FAQ on how to decipher a Kernel Panic death screen?
> 
> Bob Byron
> RAD Systems, Inc.
> www.radit.com
> (972)516-4256
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Bob Byron <bbyron at radit.com>
> To: <discuss at ntlug.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 14, 2000 10:47 PM
> Subject: [NTLUG:Discuss] Kernel Panic
> 
> 
> Well, I got recently installed Redhat Linux 6.1 on a system utilizing
> a Cyrix 150 CPU.  I also have to DLink network cards on the system.
> After several hours of operation, I receive:
> 
> Kernel Panic: Attempted to kill the idle task!
> In swapper task - not syncing.
> 
> Okay, I am a newbie to Linux and don't have a clue as to where to 
> start debugging.  Now I did go to the /var/log directory, but I didn't 
> find any messages that tell me why I received this message.
> 
> So, is there a site out there that specializes in helping a newbie
> interpret a kernel panic dump screen?  Any other advice is 
> welcome.
> 
> Thank You,
> Bob Byron
> RAD Systems, Inc.
> www.radit.com
> (972)516-4256
> 
> 
> 
> 
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