x86: Forcing a Crash Dump and Rebooting the System

Forcing a crash dump and rebooting the system is sometimes necessary for troubleshooting purposes. The savecore feature is enabled by default.

For more information on system crash dumps, see "Managing System Crash Information (Tasks)" in System Administration Guide: Advanced Administration.

x86: How to Force a Crash Dump and Reboot the System

The system must be booted with the kernel debugger option, kadb, to get to the kadb[0]: prompt and to enable you to force the crash dump.

Note - You must be in text mode to enter the kernel debugger (kadb). So, first exit any window system.

1. Press F1-A.

   kadb[0]:

   
   

   The kadb[0]: prompt is displayed.

2. Type the following commands at the kadb[0]: prompt.

   Press <F1-a> kadb[0]: vfs_syncall/W ffffffff kadb[0]: 0>eip kadb[0]: :c kadb[0]: :c kadb[0]: :c

   
   

   After you type the first :c , the system panics, so you need to type :c again. The system panics again, so type :c a third time to force the crash dump and reboot the system.

   After the crash dump is written to disk, the system continues to reboot.

3. Verify that the system has rebooted by logging in at the console login prompt.