System goes into complete hang (Was: Is amd64 ready for the desktop?)

["D'Arcy J.M. Cain" <darcy%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

I am moving a conversation started on amd64 to tech-kern.  It may be
net or userland related but considering the behaviour the issue must
certainly be in the kernel.

On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:51:04 -0400
"D'Arcy J.M. Cain" <darcy%NetBSD.org@localhost> wrote:
> In fact, I do have one problem which does seem to be system related.
> Every once in a while the system just freezes solid.  I can't even get
> the num lock or caps lock lights to change.  All I can do is reboot.
> Since it is not an actual panic I don't even get a core file to
> investigate.  I don't know if it is amd64 specific though as I have
> recently started serving home directories to my wife's computer so it
> may be related to NFS.  However, I switched to amd64 around the same
> time so it is hard to tell.
> 
> I will be switching back to i386 anyway due to all the apps problems so
> I will soon know if it is a general problem or amd64 specific.  Beyond
> that I don't seem to be in a position to debug much else unless someone
> has a suggestion.

OK so I have now switched back to i386 and I still have the same
problem.  It's like the interrupt system just turns off.  I am trying
to figure out how to debug this without a kcore or any way to drop into
the debugger.

I have put some files up at ftp://ftp.druid.net/pub/dilbert.msgs/.  If
anyone can think of anything else that would shed some light, please
let me know.

Is there any way to add debug message to the kernel such that they are
saved so that I can retrieve them after a hard boot?  If so, does
anyone know where to start adding messages to find out where it is just
before it dies?  I haven't done much in the way of kernel hacking so I
don't know where to start here.

-- 
D'Arcy J.M. Cain <darcy%NetBSD.org@localhost>
http://www.NetBSD.org/