MAGIC SYSRQ KEY DOCUMENTATION v1.2 ------------------------------------ [Sat May 16 01:09:21 EDT 1998] * What is the magic SysRQ key? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is a 'magical' key combo you can hit which kernel will respond to regardless of whatever else it is doing, unless it is completely locked up. * How do I enable the magic SysRQ key? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You need to say "yes" to 'Magic SysRq key (CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ)' when configuring the kernel. This option is only available in 2.1.x or later kernels. * How do I use the magic SysRQ key? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On x86 - You press the key combo 'ALT-SysRQ-'. Note - Some (older?) may not have a key labeled 'SysRQ'. The 'SysRQ' key is also known as the 'Print Screen' key. On SPARC - You press 'ALT-STOP-', I believe. On PowerPC - You press 'ALT-Print Screen-'. On other - If you know of the key combos for other architectures, please let me know so I can add them to this section. * What are the 'command' keys? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'r' - Turns off keyboard raw mode and sets it to XLATE. 'k' - Kills all programs on the current virtual console. 'b' - Will immediately reboot the system without syncing or unmounting your disks. 'o' - Will shut your system off via APM (if configured and supported). 's' - Will attempt to sync all mounted filesystems. 'u' - Will attempt to remount all mounted filesystems read-only. 'p' - Will dump the current registers and flags to your console. 't' - Will dump a list of current tasks and their information to your console. 'm' - Will dump current memory info to your console. '0'-'9' - Sets the console log level, controlling which kernel messages will be printed to your console. ('0', for example would make it so that only emergency messages like PANICs or OOPSes would make it to your console.) 'e' - Send a SIGTERM to all processes, except for init. 'i' - Send a SIGKILL to all processes, except for init. 'l' - Send a SIGKILL to all processes, INCLUDING init. (Your system will be non-functional after this.) * Okay, so what can I use them for? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, un'R'aw is very handy when your X server or a svgalib program crashes. sa'K' (system attention key) is useful when you want to exit a program that will not let you switch consoles. (For example, X or a svgalib program.) re'B'oot is good when you're unable to shut down. But you should also 'S'ync and 'U'mount first. 'S'ync is great when your system is locked up, it allows you to sync your disks and will certainly lessen the chance of data loss and fscking. Note that the sync hasn't taken place until you see the "OK" and "Done" appear on the screen. (If the kernel is really in strife, you may not ever get the OK or Done message...) 'U'mount is basically useful in the same ways as 'S'ync. I generally 'S'ync, 'U'mount, then re'B'oot when my system locks. It's saved me many a fsck. Again, the unmount (remount read-only) hasn't taken place until you see the "OK" and "Done" message appear on the screen. The loglevel'0'-'9' is useful when your console is being flooded with kernel messages you do not want to see. Setting '0' will prevent all but the most urgent kernel messages from reaching your console. (They will still be logged if syslogd/klogd are alive, though.) t'E'rm and k'I'll are useful if you have some sort of runaway process you are unable to kill any other way, especially if it's spawning other processes. * Sometimes SysRQ seems to get 'stuck' after using it, what can I do? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That happens to me, also. I've found that tapping shift, alt, and control on both sides of the keyboard, and hitting an invalid sysrq sequence again will fix the problem. (ie, something like alt-sysrq-z). Switching to another virtual console (ALT+Fn) and then back again should also help. * I hit SysRQ, but nothing seems to happen, what's wrong? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are some keyboards which do not support 'SysRQ', you can try running 'showkey -s' and pressing SysRQ or alt-SysRQ to see if it generates any 0x54 codes. If it doesn't, you may define the magic sysrq sequence to a different key. Find the keycode with showkey, and change the define of '#define SYSRQ_KEY 0x54' in [/usr/src/linux/]include/asm/keyboard.h to the keycode of the key you wish to use, then recompile. Oh, and by the way, you exit 'showkey' by not typing anything for ten seconds. * I have more questions, who can I ask? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may feel free to send email to myrdraal@deathsdoor.com, and I will respond as soon as possible. If that email address does not work, use myrdraal@jackalz.dyn.ml.org. -Myrdraal