debian lenny sudden restart

[Steve Litt]

On Thursday 16 July 2009 11:21:58 am Shimon Panfil wrote:
> Hi folks,
> today my main box running debian lenny made sudden restart. How can I
> investigate what was the reason? What log should I inspect? I use UPS
> so the reason might be more interesting that simple power failure.

Hi Shimon,

You have a sparsely occurring intermittent -- as a matter of fact so far it's 
a single event. If the cause was software, it's possible you can find a clue 
in the logs.

If I were in your shoes and there's no clue in the logs, I would just wait 
until the problem becomes frequent enough to be a bother. But if you want to 
address the problem right now, I'd suggest corrective maintenance:

1) Feel if the power supply is getting too hot, and replace it if so.
2) Vacuum out all the dust from the inside.
3) Pull off, lubricate (electronics lubricant) and reseat all cables.
4) If your motherboard batter is more than a year old, replace it.
5) Disable (open circuit) your reboot button, and replace your on/off button 
with a simple, non-lighted doorbell button.

I learned #5 the hard way -- the reboot and power switches that come with the 
case can go intermittent, and not just intermittent open, but intermittently 
close without pushing.

None of the preceding is diagnostic in nature, but given the rarity of the 
symptom, if the log files don't have something telling, the preceding are 
probably the best use of your time.

HTH

SteveT

Steve Litt
Recession Relief Package
http://www.recession-relief.US
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stevelitt