Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rice!husc6!bunny!dcr0
From: dcr0@GTE.COM (David Robbins)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
Subject: DS3100 Hangs - Any Ideas Why?
Message-ID: <8331@bunny.GTE.COM>
Date: 16 Feb 90 15:23:46 GMT
Organization: GTE Laboratories, Inc., Waltham, MA
Lines: 19


My DECStation 3100 has the annoying habit of occasionally becoming
thoroughly hung -- totally wedged such that the only possible recovery
is to reboot.  I am wondering why, and I thought I might ask the net-folk
if anyone has observed similar symptoms and has figured out what's going on.

The problem is seemingly random, although it usually occurs when I am doing
some heavy compiling.  The machine will be humming along, banging away at
the disk and generally keeping itself busy, when all of a sudden it becomes
eerily quiet.  No response to the keyboard or mouse, no disk activity, no
response to the Ethernet -- it is as though the CPU has simply halted with
no way to bring it back to life.

My first inclination is to suspect a hardware problem somewhere on the CPU
board.  However, I can also imagine that there could be a software problem
(I'm running Ultrix Worksystem V2.0 Rev. 7) or there could even be a problem
stemming from the way Ultrix is installed on the machine.  If any of you
has seen similar behavior and has found an explanation, I would be pleased
to hear it.  Otherwise, I guess I'll start complaining to DEC.