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Problem Solving HOWTO

Dag Wieërs dag@wieers.com

v0.0.3 draft, 18 October 1999

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This document describes in full detail which steps to take when trying to solve hardware or software problems with Linux yourself. It helps the reader to find information spread all over its harddisk and teaches him how to use debugging tools. This document should be the first stop for DIY ;)

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1. About the Problem Solving HOWTO

• 1.1 New Versions of this Document
• 1.2 Feedback

2. Software information

• 2.1 Finding Information on your System
• 2.2 Finding Information on the Net
• 2.3 Use the source, Luke !

3. Software problem determination

• 3.1 Reading information
• 3.2 Spotting useful error-information
• 3.3 Understanding the meaning of an error

4. Software problem checklist

5. Software debugging tools

• 5.1 ksymoops
• 5.2 gdb
• 5.3 nm
• 5.4 objdump
• 5.5 strace
• 5.6 ltrace
• 5.7 Using your syslog
• 5.8 strings
• 5.9 file
• 5.10 ldd
• 5.11 lsof / lslk / fuser / stat / readlink
• 5.12 perl
• 5.13 od / hexdump
• 5.14 time

6. Hardware information

• 6.1 Getting system information

7. Hardware problem determination

8. Hardware problem check-list

9. Hardware debugging tools

• 9.1 memtest
• 9.2 fsck
• 9.3 pnpdump
• 9.4 isapnp
• 9.5 lspci
• 9.6 dmesg

10. Types of Problems

• 10.1 the "hey, it should behave otherwise"-problem
• 10.2 the "it returns something i don't understand"-problem
• 10.3 the "i really don't have a clue"-problem
• 10.4 the "i don't know how exactle to do this"-problem
• 10.5 the "this must be a bug"-problem

11. Types of Information

• 11.1 README-Information
• 11.2 CHANGES-Information
• 11.3 Manuals
• 11.4 Sample files
• 11.5 Website
• 11.6 Sources

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