[TAG] Diagnosing a Linux crash

[Tom Brown]

OK guys, here's a n00b question for you that probably crosses over into 
Sys Admin territory.

What steps should someone follow after Linux crashes to figure out what 
went wrong?
Where do I start, and where do I look for clues?
Are all the logs found in /var/log, or are there others?
In what order should I look at the logs, and what should I look for?
Any pro-active steps I should be taking to get more info, should it 
happen again?

The specifics of my case: my file server (a 750 Mhz Athlon running Suse 
9) simply locked up, and I couldn't get anything to display (GUI or 
command line). I knew the machine was in trouble, when it didn't respond 
to pings. I had to hit the reset button to get it back (and deal with 
fsck, naturally). Funny thing is, the system clock reset itself to 28 
minutes after midnight (when it should have read the middle of the 
afternoon), but didn't loose the date. Odd, that. The machine's been 
running 24/7 for about three weeks now (I set it up around then), and no 
sign of problems until now.

I searched the archives first for relevant articles, but didn't see any.

Thanks, as always.

Tom Brown

P.S., You'll never guess what Mozilla Thunderbird's spell checker 
recommends for the word "fsck". LOL!