One easy way to get kernel lockups is to use fglrx.
But agreed on 'just reboot': you should be using a resilient filesystem anyways, and MagicSysRq only works when it's enabked beforehand, and only for some kinds of lockups, and if the data is in the frozen application, syncing the disks isn't going to help.
But agreed on 'just reboot': you should be using a resilient filesystem anyways, and MagicSysRq only works when it's enabked beforehand, and only for some kinds of lockups, and if the data is in the frozen application, syncing the disks isn't going to help.