browser hangs

Arjun · 07-07-2012, 04:42 AM

Hello friends

I am running linux from my usb. So when i open some videos in the browser then most of the times, it get hangs & after that i have to forcefully shutdown the computer.

I cannot even open the terminal to reboot the system.
Is there any way to close the hanged browser as there are option present in windows xp to open task manager by pressing ctrl+alt+del & close the process. So that we dont have to shutdown the whole system.

Thankss

pixellany · 07-07-2012, 04:50 AM

What are the computer specs and what distro (version) of Linux?

what browser?

Also, do you have to run from USB?---e.g. why not install to the hard drive?

Arjun · 07-07-2012, 05:37 AM

Version

Linux bt 3.2.6 #1 SMP Fri Feb 17 10:40:05 EST 2012 i686 GNU/Linux

Distro : Backtrack 5 R2

Browser : Firefox 10.0.2

Windows is installed in my hard disk & it is not very big in size.

So i am running it through USB

pixellany · 07-07-2012, 06:21 AM

how much RAM?

Quote:

Windows is installed in my hard disk & it is not very big in size.

Perhaps it's time to get a bigger hard disk? (they are cheap)

OR--get rid of Windows.....

Seriously, running out of RAM can cause a wide variety of issues. In addition to the RAM size, what do you have set up for SWAP?

414N · 07-07-2012, 06:24 AM

"Watching videos in the browser" could mean that flash-player is involved... If so, what flash version is installed? What video card are you using?

Arjun · 07-07-2012, 08:13 AM

I have 1 gb ram

flash version : 11.1.102.62

pixellany · 07-07-2012, 11:37 AM

My semi-educated best guess (and what I would do personally):
go buy a larger hard disk, and set up Windows and Linux dual-boot on the harddisk

If this is a desktop, you could also buy a harddisk just for Linux---this would allow you to keep Windows undisturbed.

Arjun · 07-08-2012, 04:48 AM

The question asked by me was different. You are going out of the topic.

I was asking, is there any way to close the hanged browser as there are option present in windows xp to open task manager by pressing ctrl+alt+del & close the process. So that we dont have to shutdown the whole system.

pixellany · 07-08-2012, 05:11 AM

sorry--I read the issue as the browser kept hanging--

If you cannot get to any kind of terminal, then there is no way to kill processes, reboot, etc.

If you are working in the GUI and cannot get a terminal there, then try ctrl-alt-F1 (or F2,F3...up to F6) to get a terminal.

To list tasks: "ps -e"

To kill a task: "kill -9 <task ID # as seen in the ps output>

VDP76 · 07-08-2012, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixellany

To list tasks: "ps -e"
To kill a task: "kill -9 <task ID # as seen in the ps output>

these commands can be condensates as

Code:

kill -9 $(pidof application_name)

in your specific case would be

Code:

kill -9 $(pidof firefox-bin)

you can run that in a terminal or, if Backtrack has it, into a command prompt (typically Alt+F2 in Debian-based distro).

Arjun · 07-08-2012, 11:01 PM

Thanks for your reply

I will try with it too.