[arch-general] X keeps crashing

[João Miguel]

>     My Arch linux box keeps crashing on me.  I'm using the awesome wm,
> and at least once every other day I have to forcibly shut down my
> machine.   This usually happens when I am using emacs, chromium, and
> filezilla. What happens is my screen locks up.  I can't move my mouse.
> None of the awesome shortcuts work.  I'm unable to switch to another
> virtual console.  What can I do in situations like this?  Does Arch
> support a Ctl-Alt-Delete?
I've had lots of problems with drivers. Maybe it was an update? Try to
downgrade some recent drivers or the X if you only started having this
problem recently.

If the X is stuck, you can try Alt-SysRq-r before switching to virtual
console (it makes keyboard input raw, instead of going through Xorg).

> I found this article: 
> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Keyboard_shortcuts
> 
> And I put " kernel.sysrq = 1"
> 
> 
>  into   /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf
Note the following commands I've tried:

 # sysctl kernel.sysrq = 1 ; echo $?
kernel.sysrq = 1
sysctl: malformed setting "="
sysctl: cannot stat /proc/sys/1: No such file or directory
253
 # sysctl 'kernel.sysrq = 1' ; echo $?
sysctl: cannot stat /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq : No such file or directory
255
 # sudo sysctl kernel.sysrq=1 ; echo $?
kernel.sysrq = 1
0

I didn't know, but it seems there can't be any spaces. As it's the same
program processing /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf, there can't be any
spaces there either. It's like variables in bash I suppose: spacing
makes all the difference.

>    I've rebooted, and I still can't get it to work.  I'm using an apple
> macbook 7,1, which is a fairly old laptop (it has 4 gigs of ram), and I
> can't get any of the *R*eboot *E*ven *I*f *S*ystem *U*tterly *B*roken 
> to work.  I've read the article on wikipedia about the Magic SysRq key,
> but I can't get any of it to work.  I'm using the dvorak keyboard layout
> as well, but I'm not sure if that changes anything.  Also I've swapped
> alt and control with this in my .~/xinitrc
> 
>   setxkbmap dvorak
>   setxkbmap -option 'ctrl:swapcaps'
> 
I'd try to use a rescue USB (with Xorg - from another distribution) and
see what drivers are loaded (lsmod output), and what X configuration is
being used.

> 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Joshua
Hope this helps,
João Miguel