Freethought & Rationalism Archive

lpetrich · 06-08-2003, 12:31 AM

A few hours ago, I had the weirdest sort of MacOS-X crash: the GUI server crashed but the kernel didn't.

One of my apps was making an annoying pause, turning the cursor into that spinning rainbow bead. But then that bead stoped and a big spinning bar patten appeared toward the bottom of the screen. With no cursor.

It stayed that way for several seconds and then I saw the screens turn blue, then their background colors. Then I saw the Finder's displayed icons and windows, including those of some disk images I had mounted. And I saw the Classic startup display.

Has anyone had a similar sort of crash with Linux or *BSD? That would likely be from the X-window server crashing with the kernel still running.

seebs · 06-08-2003, 01:51 AM

Rarely, because with XFree86, at least, either the "crash" causes the machine to exit to a text console, or it crashes in part of the talking-to-hardware stuff, and the machine is toast.

MacPrince · 06-08-2003, 06:51 PM

I've had that happen before. I think that is what happens when the window manager crashes- the OS partially logs out of your account (so it's running from the Login application) and then back in so it can relaunch the window manager.

beoba · 06-08-2003, 08:07 PM

You may already know this, but I figured I'd say it anyway:

In Linux, I have a few occasions where I end up "rebooting" the GUI portion (Ctrl+Alt+Backspace in my case) for various reasons, while not actually rebooting the system itself. As OSX is based off of Unix, I think its probably designed in a similar fashion, where the computer functions will keep running even if the program running the GUI doesn't.

wade-w · 06-08-2003, 10:31 PM

Yes, lpetrich, I have had that happen to me on UNIX based OS's before. As you surmise, this is caused by the X server crashing. It's very rare, but I have seen it. A more common eror (though still in the once in a blue moon category) is the window manager crashing. This results in the gui itself continueing to run, but you can't open any more windows, and the windows that are already open no longer have any borders or toolbars or scrollbars.

I don't know about OSX, since I've never seen it, but in all the other unix based OS's I've seen, it is possible to get back to a console, and restart t he X server, so a reboot is not needed, as would be the case in winblows.

06-08-2003, 12:31 AM	#1
lpetrich Contributor Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Lebanon, OR, USA Posts: 16,829	Weird OSX Occurrence: The GUI Crashes But the Kernel Doesn't A few hours ago, I had the weirdest sort of MacOS-X crash: the GUI server crashed but the kernel didn't. One of my apps was making an annoying pause, turning the cursor into that spinning rainbow bead. But then that bead stoped and a big spinning bar patten appeared toward the bottom of the screen. With no cursor. It stayed that way for several seconds and then I saw the screens turn blue, then their background colors. Then I saw the Finder's displayed icons and windows, including those of some disk images I had mounted. And I saw the Classic startup display. Has anyone had a similar sort of crash with Linux or *BSD? That would likely be from the X-window server crashing with the kernel still running.

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06-08-2003, 01:51 AM	#2
seebs Contributor Join Date: May 2002 Location: Saint Paul, MN Posts: 24,524	Rarely, because with XFree86, at least, either the "crash" causes the machine to exit to a text console, or it crashes in part of the talking-to-hardware stuff, and the machine is toast.

06-08-2003, 06:51 PM	#3
MacPrince Regular Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: A suburb of Chicago you've probably never heard of Posts: 282	I've had that happen before. I think that is what happens when the window manager crashes- the OS partially logs out of your account (so it's running from the Login application) and then back in so it can relaunch the window manager.

06-08-2003, 08:07 PM	#4
beoba Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Boston Posts: 699	You may already know this, but I figured I'd say it anyway: In Linux, I have a few occasions where I end up "rebooting" the GUI portion (Ctrl+Alt+Backspace in my case) for various reasons, while not actually rebooting the system itself. As OSX is based off of Unix, I think its probably designed in a similar fashion, where the computer functions will keep running even if the program running the GUI doesn't.

06-08-2003, 10:31 PM	#5
wade-w Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Silver City, New Mexico Posts: 1,872	Yes, lpetrich, I have had that happen to me on UNIX based OS's before. As you surmise, this is caused by the X server crashing. It's very rare, but I have seen it. A more common eror (though still in the once in a blue moon category) is the window manager crashing. This results in the gui itself continueing to run, but you can't open any more windows, and the windows that are already open no longer have any borders or toolbars or scrollbars. I don't know about OSX, since I've never seen it, but in all the other unix based OS's I've seen, it is possible to get back to a console, and restart t he X server, so a reboot is not needed, as would be the case in winblows.

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