Two completely different slack 13.2 systems just started to lockup, no matter what gui I use. They had been running fine for months.
Mouse and keyboard stop working, the only thing I can do is hit the reset button to reboot. The only things in common are they are both slack 13.2 and they were installed about the same time, but the graphics cards and cpus are different.
Where should I start to troubleshoot this problem?

Thanks.

Is this just in X? Also I take it you mean 13.1 since 13.2 isn't out yet.

I would check your xorg log in /var/log (if it's just in X) and /var/log/messages dmesg etc.

Can you ssh in from another box, or is the whole system frozen?

Need more info to even begin to help.

The title says 13.1 and the text 13.2 so are you running 13.1 or current?
Do they lockup when performing a specific task such as running Flash or during boot or just random?
Have you installed software or upgraded both boxes recently?
Has your environment changed, perhaps a radio mast nearby or you've started experimenting with Tesla coils?
Can you SSH into the boxes once locked?

Just some thoughts that may help.

Its 13.1 and i have not done any maintenance or changed anything recently. I have ssh disabled, these are not networked just desktop machines. They lockup at random, after about 5 minutes in xfce or kde.
They had been running fine for a few months.

Have you looked at the logs as it was suggested?

I did but I dont know what to look for or what I am looking at
I dont know if this happens just in X either.

Change your default runlevel to 3 in /etc/inittab (I'm guessing you are in/have changed it to 4)
Reboot or issue 'init 3'
Leave the machine running after log in and see whether it locks up keyboard and/or gpm if it's running.

I just did that and it crashed with a bunch of stuff like " [<clo22ce2>] Bad_Area_nosemaphore] "
So I reset and tried to go into the bios and the bios locked up two times, so its safe to say its a hardware problem.

This is just one machine, The other machine I have not looked into yet.
What a coincedence(sp?)Two completely different computers with different hardware but the same operating system suffer from the same symptoms at the same exact time to the day when both of them had been running fine for months.
One solved, one to go.

Well, then, you have sufficient time to get it into run level 3 before it locks up.

Asap, bring up an xterm or konsole or the like (term, etc.) (or: ctrl+alt+F6)

You need to be root or su to root. Type in the telinit 3 command (as above) then strike the enter key.

If you do get to run level 3, you'll, at that point, be in TTY1 (ctrl+alt+F1)

X (gui) is on ctrl+alt+F7

But when gui is not on (run level 3 the X or gui is off) you only have TTY1 through TTY6 (ctrl+alt+F3 etc. etc. up to F6 (F7 only exists in run level 4, F7 is non existent, has nothing, a blank screen, in run level 3)

If it keeps running in run level 3 then you have the problem trouble shooted (as in your prob. has to do with X (it's driver, config, settings, etc.)

--
Alan.

or perhaps power management, acpi, etc. ie sleep, suspend, or write ram to disk as in deeper or deepest sleep, unable to properly wake back up.

Which kernel are you using? huge? generic?

--
Alan.

above to do that command with the gui running, to look for abnormalities.

Perhaps share the resultant .txt file.

Also, under /var/log

where exists syslog and Xorg.0.log

(the kernel talks -- we just need to know where to look so as to see/discover what it's trying to tell us) (X talks too -- Xorg.0.log).

--
Alan.

Both systems with the same symptom? Do you have a hardware failure, e.g. loose cables? Are you cracked (backup your system and install it again from a known-clean media like a DVDROM)?

If the system is locking up while I am looking in the bios doesnt that indicate a hardware problem, maybe bad motherboard or something?

Yeah that sounds bad.

Usual thing to is take out all pci cards except graphics you that you can take out.
Unplug anything connected expect keyboard and monitor.
See if it still freezes. If it does you can try taking out or swapping RAM modules. If it doesn't freeze then you can start putting cards etc back in one at a time to see which is causing it.

If you have removed absolutely everything and unplugged all peripherals except keyboard and monitor, tried all possible RAM module combinations and it still freezes it sounds like a bad motherboard, or perhaps BIOS chip.

Have you flashed the BIOS recently?

You could also test with another graphics card if you have one, but I would expect graphics problems to show up right at start of boot since the graphic card boots before anything else.

Try booting with a live cd to see if it still hangs.