Server is a Dell 2650…dual 32-bit Xeons (4 virtual processors)
I would enter a username and it would prompt for password. I would enter password but the prompt would never return. I was logging in remotely, and also asked my ISP’s technician to log in at the console…result was the same.
After trying this a few times, I asked my ISP to reboot and that seems to have brought it back to normal.
I checked /var/log/messages and just at about the time the system locked up, there were no more messages in the log, it just stopped recording – until the reboot started.
Is there anything else I can check to try and find the cause of this situation?
If it doesn’t happen again, you should probably just write it off as One Of Those Things™. It happens, sometimes because of a power glitch (the UPS may be going bad).
If it happens repeatedly, remember that servers are complex animals. Post back here with a lot more info about what it’s being used for; what’s installed on it and what servers it’s running; network interface; etc., etc. What have you changed recently (if anything)?
The problem with a hang like that (speaking from experience) is that it doesn’t always leave a meaningful track in the logs, as you’ve seen.