Magic Keys (Alt + SysRq)

When your Linux install completely refuses to respond and no amount of coaxing and cajoling brings it back to life you can try -

• Alt + SysRq + k

This will kill all running programmes and will drop you back to the login screen.

Even this fails? The try this -

• Alt + SysRq + r + e + i + s + u + b

This is easy to remember with the help of the mnemonic "Raising Elephants Is So Ultra Boring".

Explanation -

• Alt + SysRq + r = raw keyboard mode
• Alt + SysRq + e = ends all programmes
• Alt + SysRq + i = kills all programmes that did not terminate nicely
• Alt + SysRq + s = syncs the disks
• Alt + SysRq + u = remounts all filesystems as read-only
• Alt + SysRq + b = reboots

But for this to work two things are required

1. Your kernel must support magic keys
2. The following line must be appended to /etc/sysctl.conf

• kernel.sysreq=1

So when your Linux box simply refuses to respond (yes, even a Linux box does sometimes act up), you can safely tide over the situation if you follow these instructions.