# 2.6 slower performance

## Mos

overall performance in 2.6 seems to be 10 to 25 % worse than 2.4

I compiled all necessairy chipset support etc. (I think), I played around with some params I didn't understand but its not getting better, I don't have a clue what makes things slower.

For example

in 2.4 (.22)

```

$ time updatedb

real    2m54.866s

user    0m1.765s

sys     0m8.060s

$ time make bzImage modules modules_install

real    5m59.551s

user    5m22.930s

sys     0m20.715s

$ hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing buffer-cache reads:   1204 MB in  2.00 seconds = 600.50 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  118 MB in  3.04 seconds =  38.75 MB/sec

```

while for 2.6 (.2):

```

time updatedb

real    3m21.757s

user    0m2.260s

sys     0m9.649s

$ time make bzImage modules modules_install

real    7m12.409s

user    6m0.472s

sys     0m30.833s

$ hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing buffer-cache reads:   1092 MB in  2.00 seconds = 545.81 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  116 MB in  3.04 seconds =  38.10 MB/sec

```

the only difference between hdparm /dev/hda is the readahead:

in 2.6 

```
readahead    = 256 (on)
```

in 2.4 

```
readahead    =  8 (on)
```

Is anyone else suffering this slowdown? What could it possible be? Something with the kernelparameters?

To be complete I'll add my .config file : 

```

#

# Automatically generated make config: don't edit

#

CONFIG_X86=y

CONFIG_MMU=y

CONFIG_UID16=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_ISA_DMA=y

#

# Code maturity level options

#

CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL=y

CONFIG_CLEAN_COMPILE=y

CONFIG_STANDALONE=y

CONFIG_BROKEN_ON_SMP=y

#

# General setup

#

CONFIG_SWAP=y

CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y

CONFIG_BSD_PROCESS_ACCT=y

CONFIG_SYSCTL=y

CONFIG_LOG_BUF_SHIFT=14

# CONFIG_IKCONFIG is not set

# CONFIG_EMBEDDED is not set

CONFIG_KALLSYMS=y

CONFIG_FUTEX=y

CONFIG_EPOLL=y

CONFIG_IOSCHED_NOOP=y

CONFIG_IOSCHED_AS=y

CONFIG_IOSCHED_DEADLINE=y

# CONFIG_CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_SIZE is not set

#

# Loadable module support

#

CONFIG_MODULES=y

CONFIG_MODULE_UNLOAD=y

# CONFIG_MODULE_FORCE_UNLOAD is not set

CONFIG_OBSOLETE_MODPARM=y

# CONFIG_MODVERSIONS is not set

CONFIG_KMOD=y

#

# Processor type and features

#

CONFIG_X86_PC=y

CONFIG_MK7=y

CONFIG_X86_CMPXCHG=y

CONFIG_X86_XADD=y

CONFIG_X86_L1_CACHE_SHIFT=6

CONFIG_RWSEM_XCHGADD_ALGORITHM=y

CONFIG_X86_WP_WORKS_OK=y

CONFIG_X86_INVLPG=y

CONFIG_X86_BSWAP=y

CONFIG_X86_POPAD_OK=y

CONFIG_X86_GOOD_APIC=y

CONFIG_X86_INTEL_USERCOPY=y

CONFIG_X86_USE_PPRO_CHECKSUM=y

CONFIG_X86_USE_3DNOW=y

# CONFIG_HPET_TIMER is not set

# CONFIG_HPET_EMULATE_RTC is not set

# CONFIG_SMP is not set

CONFIG_PREEMPT=y

CONFIG_X86_UP_APIC=y

# CONFIG_X86_UP_IOAPIC is not set

CONFIG_X86_LOCAL_APIC=y

CONFIG_X86_TSC=y

CONFIG_X86_MCE=y

CONFIG_X86_MCE_NONFATAL=y

# CONFIG_X86_MCE_P4THERMAL is not set

# CONFIG_TOSHIBA is not set

# CONFIG_I8K is not set

# CONFIG_MICROCODE is not set

# CONFIG_X86_MSR is not set

# CONFIG_X86_CPUID is not set

# CONFIG_EDD is not set

CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM=y

# CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G is not set

# CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G is not set

# CONFIG_MATH_EMULATION is not set

CONFIG_MTRR=y

# CONFIG_EFI is not set

CONFIG_HAVE_DEC_LOCK=y

#

# Power management options (ACPI, APM)

#

CONFIG_PM=y

# CONFIG_SOFTWARE_SUSPEND is not set

# CONFIG_PM_DISK is not set

#

# ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) Support

#

CONFIG_ACPI=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BOOT=y

CONFIG_ACPI_INTERPRETER=y

# CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP is not set

# CONFIG_ACPI_AC is not set

# CONFIG_ACPI_BATTERY is not set

# CONFIG_ACPI_BUTTON is not set

CONFIG_ACPI_FAN=m

CONFIG_ACPI_PROCESSOR=m

CONFIG_ACPI_THERMAL=m

# CONFIG_ACPI_ASUS is not set

# CONFIG_ACPI_TOSHIBA is not set

# CONFIG_ACPI_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_ACPI_BUS=y

CONFIG_ACPI_EC=y

CONFIG_ACPI_POWER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_PCI=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SYSTEM=y

# CONFIG_ACPI_RELAXED_AML is not set

#

# APM (Advanced Power Management) BIOS Support

#

# CONFIG_APM is not set

#

# CPU Frequency scaling

#

# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ is not set

#

# Bus options (PCI, PCMCIA, EISA, MCA, ISA)

#

CONFIG_PCI=y

# CONFIG_PCI_GOBIOS is not set

# CONFIG_PCI_GODIRECT is not set

CONFIG_PCI_GOANY=y

CONFIG_PCI_BIOS=y

CONFIG_PCI_DIRECT=y

# CONFIG_PCI_LEGACY_PROC is not set

CONFIG_PCI_NAMES=y

# CONFIG_ISA is not set

# CONFIG_MCA is not set

# CONFIG_SCx200 is not set

# CONFIG_HOTPLUG is not set

#

# Executable file formats

#

CONFIG_BINFMT_ELF=y

# CONFIG_BINFMT_AOUT is not set

CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC=y

#

# Device Drivers

#

#

# Generic Driver Options

#

#

# Memory Technology Devices (MTD)

#

# CONFIG_MTD is not set

#

# Parallel port support

#

CONFIG_PARPORT=y

CONFIG_PARPORT_PC=y

CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_CML1=y

# CONFIG_PARPORT_SERIAL is not set

# CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_FIFO is not set

# CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_SUPERIO is not set

# CONFIG_PARPORT_OTHER is not set

# CONFIG_PARPORT_1284 is not set

#

# Plug and Play support

#

#

# Block devices

#

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y

# CONFIG_PARIDE is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_CPQ_DA is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_CPQ_CISS_DA is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_DAC960 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UMEM is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CRYPTOLOOP=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NBD is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD is not set

# CONFIG_LBD is not set

#

# ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support

#

CONFIG_IDE=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE=y

#

# Please see Documentation/ide.txt for help/info on IDE drives

#

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HD_IDE is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y

CONFIG_IDEDISK_MULTI_MODE=y

# CONFIG_IDEDISK_STROKE is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDETAPE is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEFLOPPY is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDESCSI is not set

# CONFIG_IDE_TASK_IOCTL is not set

CONFIG_IDE_TASKFILE_IO=y

#

# IDE chipset support/bugfixes

#

CONFIG_IDE_GENERIC=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD640 is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y

CONFIG_IDEPCI_SHARE_IRQ=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_OFFBOARD is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_GENERIC=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_OPTI621 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RZ1000 is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_FORCED is not set

CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO=y

# CONFIG_IDEDMA_ONLYDISK is not set

# CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_WIP is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ADMA=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_AEC62XX is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ALI15X3 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_AMD74XX is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD64X is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_TRIFLEX is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CY82C693 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CS5520 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CS5530 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HPT34X is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HPT366 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SC1200 is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PIIX=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NS87415 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PDC202XX_OLD is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PDC202XX_NEW is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SVWKS is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SIIMAGE is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SIS5513 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SLC90E66 is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_TRM290 is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_VIA82CXXX=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y

# CONFIG_IDEDMA_IVB is not set

CONFIG_IDEDMA_AUTO=y

# CONFIG_DMA_NONPCI is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HD is not set

#

# SCSI device support

#

CONFIG_SCSI=m

CONFIG_SCSI_PROC_FS=y

#

# SCSI support type (disk, tape, CD-ROM)

#

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD is not set

# CONFIG_CHR_DEV_ST is not set

# CONFIG_CHR_DEV_OSST is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR is not set

# CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG is not set

#

# Some SCSI devices (e.g. CD jukebox) support multiple LUNs

#

# CONFIG_SCSI_MULTI_LUN is not set

CONFIG_SCSI_REPORT_LUNS=y

# CONFIG_SCSI_CONSTANTS is not set

# CONFIG_SCSI_LOGGING is not set

#

# SCSI low-level drivers

#

CONFIG_SCSI_QLA2XXX_CONFIG=m

#

# Multi-device support (RAID and LVM)

#

# CONFIG_MD is not set

#

# Fusion MPT device support

#

#

# IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support (EXPERIMENTAL)

#

# CONFIG_IEEE1394 is not set

#

# I2O device support

#

CONFIG_I2O=m

CONFIG_I2O_PCI=m

CONFIG_I2O_BLOCK=m

# CONFIG_I2O_SCSI is not set

CONFIG_I2O_PROC=m

#

# Networking support

#

CONFIG_NET=y

#

# Networking options

#

CONFIG_PACKET=y

# CONFIG_PACKET_MMAP is not set

# CONFIG_NETLINK_DEV is not set

CONFIG_UNIX=y

# CONFIG_NET_KEY is not set

CONFIG_INET=y

CONFIG_IP_MULTICAST=y

#

# IP: Virtual Server Configuration

#

# CONFIG_IP_VS is not set

# CONFIG_IPV6 is not set

# CONFIG_DECNET is not set

# CONFIG_BRIDGE is not set

CONFIG_NETFILTER=y

# CONFIG_NETFILTER_DEBUG is not set

#

# SCTP Configuration (EXPERIMENTAL)

#

CONFIG_IPV6_SCTP__=y

#

# QoS and/or fair queueing

#

# CONFIG_NET_SCHED is not set

#

# Network testing

#

# CONFIG_NET_PKTGEN is not set

CONFIG_NETDEVICES=y

#

# Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit)

#

CONFIG_NET_ETHERNET=y

CONFIG_MII=y

# CONFIG_HAPPYMEAL is not set

# CONFIG_SUNGEM is not set

# CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_3COM is not set

#

# Tulip family network device support

#

# CONFIG_NET_TULIP is not set

# CONFIG_HP100 is not set

CONFIG_NET_PCI=y

CONFIG_NE2K_PCI=y

#

# Input device support

#

CONFIG_INPUT=y

#

# Userland interfaces

#

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV=y

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_PSAUX=y

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_X=1024

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_Y=768

# CONFIG_INPUT_JOYDEV is not set

# CONFIG_INPUT_TSDEV is not set

# CONFIG_INPUT_EVDEV is not set

# CONFIG_INPUT_EVBUG is not set

#

# Input I/O drivers

#

# CONFIG_GAMEPORT is not set

CONFIG_SOUND_GAMEPORT=y

CONFIG_SERIO=y

CONFIG_SERIO_I8042=y

CONFIG_SERIO_SERPORT=y

# CONFIG_SERIO_CT82C710 is not set

# CONFIG_SERIO_PARKBD is not set

# CONFIG_SERIO_PCIPS2 is not set

#

# Input Device Drivers

#

CONFIG_INPUT_KEYBOARD=y

CONFIG_KEYBOARD_ATKBD=y

# CONFIG_KEYBOARD_SUNKBD is not set

# CONFIG_KEYBOARD_XTKBD is not set

# CONFIG_KEYBOARD_NEWTON is not set

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSE=y

CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2=y

# CONFIG_MOUSE_SERIAL is not set

# CONFIG_INPUT_JOYSTICK is not set

# CONFIG_INPUT_TOUCHSCREEN is not set

# CONFIG_INPUT_MISC is not set

#

# Character devices

#

CONFIG_VT=y

CONFIG_VT_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_HW_CONSOLE=y

# CONFIG_SERIAL_NONSTANDARD is not set

#

# Serial drivers

#

CONFIG_SERIAL_8250=y

# CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_CONSOLE is not set

# CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_ACPI is not set

CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_NR_UARTS=4

# CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_EXTENDED is not set

#

# Non-8250 serial port support

#

CONFIG_SERIAL_CORE=y

CONFIG_UNIX98_PTYS=y

CONFIG_UNIX98_PTY_COUNT=256

# CONFIG_PRINTER is not set

# CONFIG_PPDEV is not set

# CONFIG_TIPAR is not set

#

# Mice

#

# CONFIG_BUSMOUSE is not set

# CONFIG_QIC02_TAPE is not set

#

# IPMI

#

# CONFIG_IPMI_HANDLER is not set

#

# Ftape, the floppy tape device driver

#

# CONFIG_FTAPE is not set

CONFIG_AGP=y

# CONFIG_AGP_ALI is not set

# CONFIG_AGP_ATI is not set

# CONFIG_AGP_AMD is not set

# CONFIG_AGP_AMD64 is not set

# CONFIG_AGP_INTEL is not set

# CONFIG_AGP_NVIDIA is not set

# CONFIG_AGP_SIS is not set

# CONFIG_AGP_SWORKS is not set

CONFIG_AGP_VIA=y

CONFIG_DRM=y

# CONFIG_DRM_TDFX is not set

# CONFIG_DRM_GAMMA is not set

# CONFIG_DRM_R128 is not set

# CONFIG_DRM_RADEON is not set

# CONFIG_DRM_MGA is not set

# CONFIG_DRM_SIS is not set

# CONFIG_MWAVE is not set

# CONFIG_RAW_DRIVER is not set

# CONFIG_HANGCHECK_TIMER is not set

#

# I2C support

#

CONFIG_I2C=y

CONFIG_I2C_CHARDEV=y

#

# I2C Algorithms

#

CONFIG_I2C_ALGOBIT=m

CONFIG_I2C_ALGOPCF=m

CONFIG_I2C_VIAPRO=m

#

# I2C Hardware Sensors Chip support

#

CONFIG_I2C_SENSOR=y

# CONFIG_SENSORS_ADM1021 is not set

CONFIG_SENSORS_ASB100=y

# CONFIG_SENSORS_EEPROM is not set

# CONFIG_SENSORS_IT87 is not set

# CONFIG_SENSORS_LM75 is not set

# CONFIG_SENSORS_LM78 is not set

# CONFIG_SENSORS_LM83 is not set

# CONFIG_SENSORS_LM85 is not set

# CONFIG_SENSORS_LM90 is not set

# CONFIG_SENSORS_VIA686A is not set

CONFIG_SENSORS_W83781D=m

# CONFIG_SENSORS_W83L785TS is not set

# CONFIG_I2C_DEBUG_CORE is not set

# CONFIG_I2C_DEBUG_BUS is not set

# CONFIG_I2C_DEBUG_CHIP is not set

#

# Multimedia devices

#

# CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV is not set

#

# Console display driver support

#

CONFIG_VGA_CONSOLE=y

# CONFIG_MDA_CONSOLE is not set

CONFIG_DUMMY_CONSOLE=y

#

# Sound

#

CONFIG_SOUND=y

#

# Advanced Linux Sound Architecture

#

# CONFIG_SND is not set

#

# Open Sound System

#

CONFIG_SOUND_PRIME=y

CONFIG_SOUND_EMU10K1=y

#

# USB support

#

CONFIG_USB=y

# CONFIG_USB_DEBUG is not set

#

# Miscellaneous USB options

#

CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS=y

# CONFIG_USB_BANDWIDTH is not set

# CONFIG_USB_DYNAMIC_MINORS is not set

#

# USB Host Controller Drivers

#

CONFIG_USB_EHCI_HCD=m

CONFIG_USB_OHCI_HCD=m

CONFIG_USB_UHCI_HCD=m

#

# USB Device Class drivers

#

# CONFIG_USB_AUDIO is not set

# CONFIG_USB_BLUETOOTH_TTY is not set

# CONFIG_USB_MIDI is not set

# CONFIG_USB_ACM is not set

CONFIG_USB_PRINTER=y

CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=m

# CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_DEBUG is not set

# CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_DATAFAB is not set

# CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_FREECOM is not set

# CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_ISD200 is not set

# CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_DPCM is not set

# CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_HP8200e is not set

# CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_SDDR09 is not set

# CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_SDDR55 is not set

# CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_JUMPSHOT is not set

#

# File systems

#

CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y

# CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR is not set

CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y

# CONFIG_EXT3_FS_XATTR is not set

CONFIG_JBD=y

# CONFIG_JBD_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_REISERFS_FS=y

# CONFIG_REISERFS_CHECK is not set

# CONFIG_REISERFS_PROC_INFO is not set

# CONFIG_JFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_XFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_MINIX_FS is not set

# CONFIG_ROMFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_QUOTA is not set

# CONFIG_AUTOFS_FS is not set

# CONFIG_AUTOFS4_FS is not set

#

# CD-ROM/DVD Filesystems

#

CONFIG_ISO9660_FS=y

CONFIG_JOLIET=y

# CONFIG_ZISOFS is not set

CONFIG_UDF_FS=y

#

# DOS/FAT/NT Filesystems

#

CONFIG_FAT_FS=y

CONFIG_MSDOS_FS=y

CONFIG_VFAT_FS=y

# CONFIG_NTFS_FS is not set

#

# Pseudo filesystems

#

CONFIG_PROC_FS=y

CONFIG_PROC_KCORE=y

CONFIG_DEVFS_FS=y

# CONFIG_DEVFS_MOUNT is not set

# CONFIG_DEVFS_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_DEVPTS_FS=y

# CONFIG_DEVPTS_FS_XATTR is not set

CONFIG_TMPFS=y

# CONFIG_HUGETLBFS is not set

# CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE is not set

CONFIG_RAMFS=y

#

# Partition Types

#

# CONFIG_PARTITION_ADVANCED is not set

CONFIG_MSDOS_PARTITION=y

#

# Native Language Support

#

CONFIG_NLS=y

CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT="iso8859-1"

CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_437=m

CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_850=m

CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_1=m

CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_15=m

#

# Profiling support

#

# CONFIG_PROFILING is not set

#

# Kernel hacking

#

# CONFIG_DEBUG_KERNEL is not set

# CONFIG_DEBUG_SPINLOCK_SLEEP is not set

# CONFIG_FRAME_POINTER is not set

CONFIG_X86_FIND_SMP_CONFIG=y

CONFIG_X86_MPPARSE=y

#

# Security options

#

# CONFIG_SECURITY is not set

#

# Cryptographic options

#

CONFIG_CRYPTO=y

CONFIG_CRYPTO_AES=y

#

# Library routines

#

CONFIG_CRC32=y

CONFIG_X86_BIOS_REBOOT=y

CONFIG_PC=y

```

----------

## iamarug

except for the kernel make stuff (which depends on how many lines of code are in each kernel and other compiler related things), your other results seem very odd. I cannot see anything wrong with your config though. I have had no such slowdown problems moving from 2.4 to 2.6.

----------

## Deathwing00

This is very very strange indeed... time to make in 2.6 is about 40% less than in 2.4 in P4, P3, AthlonXP & Athlon using a pretty similar config (I tried only on those so far).

Why don't you tell us about your system and exactly what you expect to use on it.

----------

## Mos

Hi,

I've got a AthlonXP 1800+ cpu, an asus via kt333 motherboard, 256M of pc2700 SDRAM, and my primary disk is a 7200 rpm ibm deskstar.

I know the memory is not very much but even without running X or any unnecessary app. the results are similar. I'm running gcc 3.3.2.

Like everyone else my desktop performance increased. Although load time of gnome at startup seems to be a little slower. 

I'm going to try some other kernels now, and kernels with a _lot_ of extra modules etc, and see whether better performance can be achieved.

Thanks for helping!

Mos

----------

## Mos

So,

as said I played around with the latest kernels (vanilla, gentoo, mm-sources) and a with a lot of options, but the lack of performance remains.

When I got some more time, I'm gonna try differences between 2.4 and 2.6 in another distro with a out-of-the-box kernel to see what it does.

I don't think I'm the only one with the problem, but one has to really compare before one notices.

Nevertheless, I refuse to go back. Future is 2.6, not 2.4!!

----------

## lynz_addict

Hi

I am having similar problems with my gentoo kernel 2.6.1. I used "genkernel" to configure and install my kernel and modules respectively. Now, my system is taking a lot of time to startup. Also, the kde desktop takes ages before it is usable. 

My comp is a laptop: IBM R40 [High Performance], 512MB RAM, 1.5GHz Intel Centrino Processor, 30 GB Harddisk 

Can u tell me the reason why is that so? Also, is there a way I can make the things faster. 

My hdparm -tT /dev/hda3 gives the output

Timing buffer-cache reads:  ~ 690 MB/sec 

Timing buffered disk reads: ~ 23 MB/sec 

This seems to be okay. But still my comp is very slow...can u help?

----------

## dj_choco

I am seeing similar performance issues. One thing I noticed, when I lock my screen using xscreensaver, it takes an obvious amount of time more (like a full 1.5 seconds or so) to accept/verify my password longer than when I am running 2.4   :Shocked: 

```
uname -a
```

: 

Linux petrie 2.6.3-rc2-mm1 #1 Mon Feb 16 05:06:52 MST 2004 i686 Mobile AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2000+ AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

```
/sbin/hdparm -tT /dev/hda
```

:

/dev/hda:

 Timing buffer-cache reads:   388 MB in  2.07 seconds = 187.20 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:   60 MB in  3.05 seconds =  19.68 MB/sec

----------

## Noxerus

Same here, although I can only base my observations on gut feeling currently...

And I'm using the CFQ scheduler.

----------

## Valhalla1

hmmm 

I wonder if my hard drive is just amazingly freakin' slow, because here is my scores with hdparm :

```
/sbin/hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing buffer-cache reads:   1128 MB in  2.01 seconds = 562.12 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:   22 MB in  3.24 seconds =   6.80 MB/sec

```

Athlon XP 2100+

1 gb DDR ram

40 gig hard drive IDE,  plan to eventually use my scsi disck though

----------

## Mos

Well if you have a recent disk, it is indeed _really_ slow.

Have you compared 2.4 against 2.6?

Are you using DMA?

You can test it with hdparm /dev/hda or more thoroughly with hdparm -iI /dev/hda.

If not, you may have not compiled proper chipset support.

----------

## HermanR

Hm, I'm experiencing a similar slowdown after 'up'grading to 2.6. 

See my thread https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=138092.

I can't find nothing wrong with my kernel config and have tried both gentoo-dev-sources and mm-sources.

My system: 900 MHz Athlon, Asus A7V motherboard, 384 Mb RAM, WD 80 Gb 7200 RPM disk using ATA100, GForce 2MX video.

The most conspicuous slowdown is my 2D-graphics performance, e.g. loading a wallpaper or moving my transparent Konsole. Kde startup is also 'slow'. Harddisk timings are significantly lower than under 2.4, but acceptable.

----------

## c4Ff3In3 4ddiC+

 *Valhalla1 wrote:*   

> hmmm 
> 
> I wonder if my hard drive is just amazingly freakin' slow, because here is my scores with hdparm :
> 
> ```
> ...

 

With my Maxtor ATA133 7200RPM 60GB drive, kernel 2.6.2 and Pentium 4 2.4GHz, I get:

```

anxious root # hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing buffer-cache reads:   1748 MB in  2.00 seconds = 873.70 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  134 MB in  3.03 seconds =  44.29 MB/sec

```

----------

## Mos

Ah, I finally managed to get performance back on track.

Whether I do a updatedb, a kernel compile or check disks with hdparm, no big differences anymore between 2.4 and 2.6  :Smile: 

What did I do? Well, not much: I changed from 2.6.2 to 2.6.3-mm1, and I switched to the CFQ scheduler by adding elevator=cfq at boot. That's it.

Although, I can hardly believe an upgrade caused better performance   :Rolling Eyes: 

Most of you that have been replying seem to be having really noticeable performance differences - that was not so in my case : I only noticed it because of some basical benchmarks, and I guess we're not talking about the same problems. When difference is big you better check your kernel .config, read all error logs and be sure your base system is upgraded to versions that work with 2.6.

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## Noxerus

If you are using reiserfs, make sure that

CONFIG_REISERFS_CHECK=n

in your .config for the kernel, since I saw that it's set on y in your case.

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## Marctraider

On my old 233mhz playing mp3's with all 2.6 kernels is like 30%

And with 2.4 its +- 1%!!

Its 100% percent kernel related and not alsa/oss related, i tried both of them.

And also i dont have wrong kernel configs, i'm 100% sure of it.

Maybe 2.6 just doest react too well on my old laptop hw?

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## amne

Moved from Installing Gentoo to Other Things Gentoo.

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## twstd3bc

 *Marctraider wrote:*   

> On my old 233mhz playing mp3's with all 2.6 kernels is like 30%
> 
> And with 2.4 its +- 1%!!
> 
> Its 100% percent kernel related and not alsa/oss related, i tried both of them.
> ...

 

Is that an Imac?  I have a 233 MHz.  I'm running 2.6, so I'll check and see what the mp3 performance is.

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## Marctraider

Its no imac, just a x86 laptop

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## manniac

try elevator=noop in your kernel bootparams, let me know if this is helps, i have pretty much the same setup and the same problem after upgrading from 2.4 to 2.6.

-M

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## pjp

Moved from Other Things Gentoo.

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