# Log files



## Graaf_van_Vlaanderen (Jan 17, 2010)

Today I was messing around with one of my test machines until it hung and then rebooted. After reboot, which log files should I definitely check?


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## volatilevoid (Jan 17, 2010)

I'd suggest _/var/log/messages_.


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## Graaf_van_Vlaanderen (Jan 17, 2010)

I already checked that one but didn't see anything unusual. Just that upon reboot some file systems where not unmounted properly, which is of course normal when the system froze before.


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## volatilevoid (Jan 18, 2010)

Well, that's the problem with freezes. Most of the time, you won't get anything in your logs about them. Do the freezes occur under certain circumstances?


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## fronclynne (Jan 18, 2010)

volatilevoid said:
			
		

> Well, that's the problem with freezes. Most of the time, you won't get anything in your logs about them. Do the freezes occur under certain circumstances?



Agreed.  I've had hardware problems that took forever to diagnose because they just froze the machine with no real indication as to why.  Nothing logged, no crash dumps, no core files.


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## Graaf_van_Vlaanderen (Jan 18, 2010)

volatilevoid said:
			
		

> Well, that's the problem with freezes. Most of the time, you won't get anything in your logs about them. Do the freezes occur under certain circumstances?



In my case only when doing something you're not supposed to do. I remember I accidentally typed 'X+enter' through an ssh connection. This made the system freeze.

As related to hardware problems I had one server that suddenly hung for no reason. After a BIOS upgrade (with FreeDOS) the issue was solved.


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