[mythtvnz] Pointers on how to track down machine lockup

[Wade Maxfield]

I recently built a new machine using Mythbuntu 10.04 as a replacement for an older Mythdora box (Athlon 64 / Socket 939). The new machine is a combined FE/Master BE and lives downstairs, it is very rarely used as a FE now, with the majority of watching from 2 other FEs.

The new machine has been very unstable, requiring a hard restart every 1-2 days.  When it dies it drops off the network: no mythbackend, no ssh, even no ping.  Normally no one is using it as a FE, so when it locks up it's too late to see what was on the screen at the time, since the screen is set to blank after 79 mins, and once locked up it doesn't respond to keyboard or mouse.


Machine Specs:
Core i7 860
Gigabyte H55-USB3
GT220 (with fan) 
4GB RAM
SkyStar DVB-S PCI card x 2
PVR-150
kernel 2.6.32-24-generic-pae
nvidia binary driver


It has locked up while recording via DVB-S, and also while just playing back over the network (streaming from backend), and also while no recording or playback was taking place.  

I thought it may be an issue with the GT220 and the nvidia binary driver so I upgraded that from 195.36 to 256.44 and then 256.53, and when that didn't make any noticeable difference, I swapped the card out for a 7600GS and driver 195.36.24. That has just locked again up this evening.

I've installed Monit to keep an eye on excessive CPU or RAM usage, but so far it hasn't been able to get the word out before the machine locks so I don't know exactly what happens just before the event.

Where do I start looking to try and track this down?

I'm a little out of my linux depth so any pointers on what to try would be greatly appreciated.

 - Wade