X keeps crashing and locking up the terminal

[Cricket_Lover]

I'm running a VectorLinux box here, and X crashes every now and then. However, when it crashes, the console (physical console, as in keyboard and monitor) lock up, so I can't change to a text console. I am able to log in still through SSH, however.

I need to be able to recover from this without rebooting. Preferably, I should be able to execute a short script as root to fix it.

I do NOT have the magic SysRq compiled into my kernel.

Any ideas?

* I _am_ able to use kbd_mode to switch to XLATE, which fixes the keyboard problem. However, the display is still locked up, in whatever mode my X uses.

[Rob Pomeroy]

Have you checked the error logs to see if you can account for the crashing?  Seems to me that if the console is locking up, it's a driver issue.  Does VL offer a better driver for your graphics card, perhaps?

I'm assuming by "lock up" you mean that the Ctrl-Alt-F1 to F8 keys become unresponsive?

[Cricket_Lover]

I can't figure out what causes the crash. What's even more strange is that the most recent time, it 'hung up' on startup, and X kept running (though I couldn't see it or interact with it). However, even had I known the cause, I'd still need a means of recovery.

Yes, the 'lockup' is the KB being in raw mode (which is fixable using kbd_mode over SSH, or by magic sysrq if it had been compiled in), but the display remains as a full black screen, no matter if I change terminals or not (I can confirm that I can change terminals using the KB status LEDs). And X works usually (for example, right now).

I cannot say at the moment if there is an explicit driver availible for the chipset (as I'm using the built-in). I'll look into it. However, for what it's worth, the display is limited to 1024x768 right now, and I know that Windows 98 could use higher resolutions.

And my text terminal is the 80x25 "MS-DOS mode" (as I call it). I'm not using a framebuffer console.

[Rob Pomeroy]

Might be worth booting off Knoppix or something like that and seeing how X behaves.  Sometimes the line of least resistance will be an alternative (but still lean and mean) distro.  Xubuntu might be worth a look - the Debian-based distros are pretty strong on hardware detection.

[Cricket_Lover]

Okay, I literally just got kernel panic from X. Numlock was off, caps lock and scroll lock blinking together, monitor in power saving mode. I had been updating a lot of things related to X recently (glib, etc.), so that might be part of the cause.

I have attached the full log file.

What should I go about doing?

[regaining space - attachment deleted by admin]

[Rob Pomeroy]

I'm afraid I don't know what to suggest at this stage.  Sounds like you have a driver/kernel module/x module issue that, short of a reinstall, will be hard to fix.  See my previous comment though.