Hello,

 i don't know if that topic was discussed,
 i tried to find something in faqs and archives
 of MLs but...

background:

 X fell down. xdm works, so i log in. xterm, vi /var/log/syslog,[shift+g]
 up,up,up... ok i have the cause:

Nov 16 09:18:44 pulstar /netbsd: UVM: pid 13643 (sendmail), uid 0
killed: out of  swap
Nov 16 09:18:44 pulstar /netbsd: UVM: pid 8118 (XF86_SVGA), uid 0
killed: out of  swap

 want to run 'top' on text console, so [ctrl+alt+f1] and surprise...
 there i no console

question:

 how to make text consoles work again without rebooting the system?
 i add that tere are working gettys

pulstar: {73} ps aux | grep tty
root     14017  0.0  0.0    48     4 E0  Is+  10:04AM   0:00.02
/usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyE0 
root     13927  0.0  0.0    48     4 E2  Is+   9:55AM   0:00.04
/usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyE2 
root     13908  0.0  0.0    48     4 E1  Is+   9:54AM   0:00.04
/usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyE1 
root     13902  0.0  0.0    48     4 E3  Is+   9:52AM   0:00.04
/usr/libexec/getty Pc ttyE3 
pulstar: {74} 

 the gettys were killed with 9 bout that doesn't helped
 i add also that in place where were logins [ctrl+alt+f[1234]]
 now are some parts of graphic console (X session)

 ....without rebooting!

 bye.
-- 
  Adam Majewski <maya@albedo.art.pl>