# [CLOSED] We don't like laggy Gentoo

## zieloo

I tried not to post this, but I couldn't find myself the solution.

The very brief decription of the problem is that my Gentoo desktop is not longer as responsive and as smoothly-running as it used to be. Note I have done NO serious update recently, therefore it cannot be caused by borked crucial system libs or whatever. 

The only thing I changed is the kernel and it's probably where the issue came from. I have been using 2.6.7-ck5 for a LONG time know, and tried to switch to a newer kernel subline (2.6.11-ck8) mainly because of a VERY POOR support for my unusual i810-based onboard graphics card (using i915 driver under 2.6.11 solves all DRI-related issues, so it's quite important for me to keep the kernel of this version).

Now I'm copying 20GB of data from a disk to another one (ata->sata) and have an average use of my CPU of 90-94% (reaching 100% from time to time). System is still quite funcional as it 3GHz CPU, but HEY!, 90% while copying some data? Will provide more specific info later on.

Done some updates of my machine through distcc, lately. Some time ago I was annoyed by distcc using only a few % of CPU time while compiling, but know thinks are completely different. Not only does distcc use max.% (which is just fine to me - less compilation time) but also it makes my turbo-charged box unusable and that's I didn't understand. So, an obvious step was to emerge sth locally... Done that with the same (of even worse) effect. Mouse movements very extremely difficult to control, windows redrawing became slow, even letters I'm writing now appear on the screen with a sec delay or so. 

What's more, the system became somehow unstable (!). That's critical, isn't it? It happened (not easy to repeat) under very high system load, high IO operations, extreme memory consumption, once it occured when Linux obviously tried to hit swap, but I don't thing that's the case. Sometimes it was enough to kill X or some apps, but still, left me with a feeling sth bad is going on...

So the questions are:

1) How come writing to a disk can consume all the CPU time?

2) Is the compilation something that should not be done under a 2.6.11 kernel?

3) Is there anyone around with similar simptoms?

4) I got some more question, but hmmm, forgot..., sorry - will add them later, possibly.

Now:

1) YES, i DO have dma enabled and working on ALL of my disks

2) I'm aware of the use of PORTAGE_NICENESS variable

3) The filesystems I mentioned are ext3

4) YES, unstability under X can be caused by ~x86 xorg - not in this case.

5) Overclocking is not a problem here - tried with the default CPU settings.

I'm ready to post more info if required as I really do care about solving this issue or at least knowing why and how it is possible.

Sorry for cynism or being too aggresive - don't take it too seriously, because I'm not really offensive nor trying to be seen as misbehaving:)

Would appreciate any comments.Last edited by zieloo on Tue Aug 23, 2005 6:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## erikm

 *zieloo wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Now I'm copying 20GB of data from a disk to another one (ata->sata) and have an average use of my CPU of 90-94% (reaching 100% from time to time). System is still quite funcional as it 3GHz CPU, but HEY!, 90% while copying some data? Will provide more specific info later on.
> 
> ...
> ...

 

This in combination with the above sounds like either heat problems or a bad HD. Perhaps overheated HD?  :Wink: 

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> So the questions are:
> 
> 1) How come writing to a disk can consume all the CPU time?
> ...

 

1. Crappy filesystem drivers (unlikely with ext3 though), incorrect chipset compiled into the kernel, sick HD etc... 

2.  :Shocked:  ?

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> 2) I'm aware of the use of PORTAGE_NICENESS variable
> 
> 5) Overclocking is not a problem here - tried with the default CPU settings.
> ...

 

2. Are you using it?

5. You may have heat problems even with standard settings under heavy load, and it may not show up un your system reported temps. I recommend physically touching the CPU cooling flange, the RAM modules and the HD while this is going on. If you need to remove your hand, you have a heat problem.

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Would appreciate any comments.
> 
> 

 

Great, that's what encouraged me to try...  :Wink: 

----------

## zieloo

The last line of your input is just disarming, but let's get back to the subject.

 *Quote:*   

> This in combination with the above sounds like either heat problems or a bad HD. Perhaps overheated HD?

 

I doubt any of these are actually true. Although I wouldn't like to spend all day long under such temperature-conditions as my internal box's components do, but it's not taht bad, really.

If you're so interested - my hdd temp is not 37*C.  I have NEVER seen it exceeds a 41*C level, which is not so much. CPU temt is 46*C...

 *Quote:*   

> Crappy filesystem drivers (unlikely with ext3 though), incorrect chipset compiled into the kernel, sick HD etc... 

 

ext3, right... Done a copy of portage a minute ago - actually it finished a minute ago - lasted for more than 30mins(!)... Comp left unusable lagging itself for half an hour... My hdds are ok - good ones, still under warranty.

 *Quote:*   

> Are you using it? 

 

No - but I know it useless as I ALWAYS compile things w/o it.

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> 5. You may have heat problems even with standard settings under heavy load, and it may not show up un your system reported temps. I recommend physically touching the CPU cooling flange, the RAM modules and the HD while this is going on. If you need to remove your hand, you have a heat problem. 

 

I did that. Nothing special:) Hdds are pretty hot on the back, but hmmm, aren't they designed to work at higher temps?

----------

## erikm

Most human skin gets burned at or above 60 deg. C. If you can keep your hand on the hardware, it is cooler than 60 deg, which is perfectly fine for any piece of computer hardware. AFAIK the kernel has little or nothing to do with the outcome of a compilation; it provides a runtime environment for the compiler, but does not affect how it works. I would have tried with another HD in your situation. Partition, format and tar your system over, it shouldn't be that much of a hassle... Otherwise, I'm stumped.  :Shocked: 

----------

## zieloo

Well, I don't mind touching the hdds, but tuching the bottom part of the CPU is more less a suitable mission...

Damn,let's see the numbers,  here's the output of sensors:

```
VCore 1:   +1.57 V  (min =  +1.46 V, max =  +1.60 V)              

VCore 2:   +1.57 V  (min =  +1.46 V, max =  +1.60 V)              

+3.3V:     +3.31 V  (min =  +3.14 V, max =  +3.47 V)              

+5V:       +5.05 V  (min =  +4.76 V, max =  +5.24 V)              

+12V:     +12.22 V  (min = +10.82 V, max = +13.19 V)              

-12V:      +1.46 V  (min = -13.18 V, max = -10.80 V)              

-5V:       +2.19 V  (min =  -5.25 V, max =  -4.75 V)              

V5SB:      +5.59 V  (min =  +4.76 V, max =  +5.24 V)              

VBat:      +2.05 V  (min =  +2.40 V, max =  +3.60 V)              

fan1:        0 RPM  (min =   -1 RPM, div = 2)                     

fan2:     2836 RPM  (min =   -1 RPM, div = 2)                     

fan3:        0 RPM  (min =   -1 RPM, div = 2)                     

temp1:       +40 C  (high =    +0 C, hyst =    +0 C)   sensor = thermistor           

temp2:     +43.5 C  (high =   +80 C, hyst =   +75 C)   sensor = diode           

temp3:     +66.5 C  (high =   +80 C, hyst =   +75 C)   sensor = thermistor           

vid:      +1.525 V  (VRM Version 9.0)
```

IDLE box!

While on high load it get up to sth like this:

```
fan2:     3500 RPM  (min =   -1 RPM, div = 2)   

temp1:       +45 C  (high =    +0 C, hyst =    +0 C)   sensor = thermistor           

temp2:     +52C  (high =   +80 C, hyst =   +75 C)   sensor = diode           

temp3:     +68C  (high =   +80 C, hyst =   +75 C)   sensor = thermistor    
```

EDIT: I forgot I have a gentoo serv running 2.6.11 kernel - gonna see if the same happens there (I'm 90% sure it does not).

----------

## erikm

68 deg under load is definitely well under way to becoming a problem. Whats worse is that the typical MB heat sensor has an error margin of around 10 degrees... add that to the reading, and you clearly need better cooling.

----------

## zieloo

Yeap, I know that's not-so-accurate, but 10 degs? As far as I know Celerons are said to run under max temp of around 70-75degs, so...

I know I will need better cooling (pretty hot summer is comming!), but not necessary unless I have my CPU burned...

Ok- so plz tell me why the heck 2.6.7 manage to work under such disasrous conditions? Not even a single mouse lagg! Music does not even stop for 0.01 secs while doing 3 simultaneous compilations or so... That's what needs an explanaition...

----------

## erikm

True. Perhaps 2.6-11 makes better use of your hardware resources, thereby increasing temp.? Just guessing, though...  :Confused: 

----------

## zieloo

So - checking the other machine. Will edit this post in a minute.

EDIT: 2.6.11-ck2

Ran 2 simult. compilations with nice set to '-5' to make it more hardcore:) The effect was similar to what I had described above. Running emerge normally does not affect neither the stability nor anything else of the system:P

/me hitting a wall again.

----------

## zieloo

t-h-i-s i-s i-n-s-a-n-e.

Mouse jumpy movements bring me back to the old, good days of Linux on a box with 64 of sdram swapping like mad.

----------

## Naib

I would say badly configured kernel and/or no DMA on yr HD

I had this back in 2.6.11 and it came down to me badly configuring my kernel - got too cocky.

I would suggest scrapping yr kernel and .config file and start from scratch configuring that kernel

----------

## zieloo

I configure kernels more often than I eat, but I cannot deny a mistake or so, however that seem unreasonable to me as there're NO options I don't know in 2.6.11.

An experiment - will use a kernel that is working ok (2.6.7-ck2, slightly different...) on my box, and the other way round - I'll boot my-badly-configured kernel on the other machine.

----------

## Hara

Have you tried using another OS like knoppix and see if it is still causing problems? (mouse lag, file transfers etc)

Should help rule out some problems.

If you still have problems, its hardware.

If not, than its kernel/driver issues.

You have to do different types of tests to start ruling out problems.

68 degrees is getting hot for a processor. Not critical, but potential to be critical. Cleaning out dust might save you a few degrees, but only a few. (should be a habit anyways)

As a general note, random problems are usually hardware related, especially under high load. Doesn't mean thats your case, but thats what tends to be so.

----------

## zieloo

 *Hara wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Have you tried using another OS like knoppix and see if it is still causing problems? (mouse lag, file transfers etc)
> 
> Should help rule out some problems.
> ...

 

No, and not going to try. System booted from CD will be slower that the one startde from hdd, so any kind of test is just useless.

 *Hara wrote:*   

> 
> 
> If you still have problems, its hardware.
> 
> 

 

No it's not. My hardware was checked and everything was running smoothly until I switched to 2.6.11+ck

 *Hara wrote:*   

> 
> 
> If not, than its kernel/driver issues.
> 
> 

 

That's what I think, too but don't know where exactly the problem comes from. 

 *Hara wrote:*   

> 
> 
> You have to do different types of tests to start ruling out problems.
> 
> 68 degrees is getting hot for a processor. Not critical, but potential to be critical. Cleaning out dust might save you a few degrees, but only a few. (should be a habit anyways)
> ...

 

And it is a habit - don't like dust inside my box. BTW: A comp that my brother uses is full of spiders' webs and insects... :Wink:   :Very Happy: 

When it comes to the temperature I noticed it's always around 68*C for temp3 so either the sensor no 3 does not exist or is just broken. The highest temp2 I've even seen was 52 maybe 53 degrees. The documentation is just a big, black hole, cannot find anything worth reading regarding the sensors.

 *Hara wrote:*   

> 
> 
> As a general note, random problems are usually hardware related, especially under high load. Doesn't mean thats your case, but thats what tends to be so.
> 
> 

 

It's not a random problem. When running 2.6.7 I'm not able to make it lag even once whatever I do, and I'm doing many stupid things there like burning a dvd, watching a film, running 3 compilation, and backuping data copying tens of gigs of data at the same time. Nothing.

So... Hmmm. Am I going to stick with the old 2.6.7 kernel?

----------

## Tsuna

i think you are in the wrong way

temperature is definitly not a problem, 60-70°c is ok for any recent CPU -- see a very complete list @ http://users.erols.com/chare/elec.htm#intel (scroll down to the relevant table)

what processor do you have?

I already experienced similar problems but it was because either I forgot to compile the proper kernel module for my IDE chipset or because I compiled it as a MODULE and not directly inside the kernel (which seems to break the auto-activation of DMA) so I ended up with my hdd working in PIO mode

but you said you had DMA enabled so...

try to post your kernel config:

```
grep "^[^#]" /path/to/your/.config
```

try to see the diffs between your 2.6.11 config and your 2.6.7

```
diff -uN /path/to/your/2.6.11.config /path/to/your/2.6.7.config
```

try to see whether nothing useful could be missing for IDE/DMA to work properly

```
egrep "(dma|ide)" /path/to/your/.config
```

try to reboot with your 2.6.7 kernel, does it work properly?

try to boot with Knoppix as someone suggested, it is indeed a good idea because, as you pointed out, systems running booted from CD are slower than when booted from a HDD, but if Knoppix runs fine with this handicap, then you KNOW it will not be hardware related. Before you boot on the CD, see the boot options of the Knoppix kernel in order to cache the CD in RAM during the boot process (on gentoo the parameter is "docache", I don't remember what it is for Knoppix) this will greatly improve the speed of the system booted from CD

post the output of all the above commands just in case someones sees something you missed...

----------

## stahlsau

Hi,

i just noticed this thread and its very interesting. I always had the impression that kernel 2.4 (!!) was much more snappy and less laggy than 2.6. Not that i have serious lagging problems, but sometimes, for example when copying files etc, i wonder why my pcu gets used 100%, or, when using vmware additional to my other 8 virtual desktops stuffed with open programs my machine gets somewhat unusable. Well, the last one i explain to myself with the use of swap, but does it have to be THAT laggy even with nice -19 etc?

To your problem: maybe it just helps if you use some other cpu-scheduler, maybe CFQ or s/t?

----------

## zieloo

Ok- some technical data;P

```

/dev/hda:

 Model=SAMSUNG SP0802N, FwRev=TK100-24, SerialNo=S00JJ40X661227

 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs }

 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=34902, SectSize=554, ECCbytes=4

 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16

 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=156368016

 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}

 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4

 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2

 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5

 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled

 Drive conforms to: (null):

 * signifies the current active mode
```

hda is the drive where this 'lame' Gentoo is installed. 

```
diff -uN /path/to/your/2.6.11.config /path/to/your/2.6.7.config
```

A file created this way is 3.6KB of size and I'm not going to post it here. 

```
# egrep "(DMA|IDE)" linux-2.6.11-ck8/.config

CONFIG_GENERIC_ISA_DMA=y

CONFIG_ACPI_VIDEO=y

CONFIG_PARIDE=y

CONFIG_PARIDE_PARPORT=y

# Parallel IDE high-level drivers

CONFIG_PARIDE_PD=y

CONFIG_PARIDE_PCD=y

# CONFIG_PARIDE_PF is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_PT is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_PG is not set

# Parallel IDE protocol modules

# CONFIG_PARIDE_ATEN is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_BPCK is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_BPCK6 is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_COMM is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_DSTR is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_FIT2 is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_FIT3 is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_EPAT is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_EPIA is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_FRIQ is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_FRPW is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_KBIC is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_KTTI is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_ON20 is not set

# CONFIG_PARIDE_ON26 is not set

CONFIG_IDE=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE=y

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

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE_SATA is not set

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HD_IDE is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y

CONFIG_IDEDISK_MULTI_MODE=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD=y

# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDETAPE is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEFLOPPY=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDESCSI=y

# CONFIG_IDE_TASK_IOCTL is not set

# IDE chipset support/bugfixes

CONFIG_IDE_GENERIC=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y

CONFIG_IDEPCI_SHARE_IRQ=y

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_IDE_ARM is not set

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y

# CONFIG_IDEDMA_IVB is not set

CONFIG_IDEDMA_AUTO=y

# CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV is not set

CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT=y

# CONFIG_FB_TRIDENT is not set

# CONFIG_SOUND_TRIDENT is not set

```

Note I've supermount and fbsplash (agrh!) patches applied. Seems that fbsplash makes it impossible to re-compile the kernel (!). 

It's gonna be a big, fat post...

Kernel config:

```
CONFIG_X86=y

CONFIG_MMU=y

CONFIG_UID16=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_ISA_DMA=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_IOMAP=y

CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL=y

CONFIG_CLEAN_COMPILE=y

CONFIG_BROKEN_ON_SMP=y

CONFIG_LOCALVERSION=""

CONFIG_SWAP=y

CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y

CONFIG_SYSCTL=y

CONFIG_LOG_BUF_SHIFT=14

CONFIG_HOTPLUG=y

CONFIG_KOBJECT_UEVENT=y

CONFIG_EMBEDDED=y

CONFIG_FUTEX=y

CONFIG_EPOLL=y

CONFIG_CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_SIZE=y

CONFIG_SHMEM=y

CONFIG_CC_ALIGN_FUNCTIONS=0

CONFIG_CC_ALIGN_LABELS=0

CONFIG_CC_ALIGN_LOOPS=0

CONFIG_CC_ALIGN_JUMPS=0

CONFIG_MODULES=y

CONFIG_MODULE_UNLOAD=y

CONFIG_MODULE_FORCE_UNLOAD=y

CONFIG_OBSOLETE_MODPARM=y

CONFIG_KMOD=y

CONFIG_X86_PC=y

CONFIG_MPENTIUM4=y

CONFIG_X86_CMPXCHG=y

CONFIG_X86_XADD=y

CONFIG_X86_L1_CACHE_SHIFT=7

CONFIG_RWSEM_XCHGADD_ALGORITHM=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_CALIBRATE_DELAY=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_TSC=y

CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM=y

CONFIG_MTRR=y

CONFIG_PM=y

CONFIG_SOFTWARE_SUSPEND=y

CONFIG_PM_STD_PARTITION="/dev/md0"

CONFIG_ACPI=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BOOT=y

CONFIG_ACPI_INTERPRETER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_AC=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BUTTON=y

CONFIG_ACPI_VIDEO=y

CONFIG_ACPI_FAN=y

CONFIG_ACPI_PROCESSOR=y

CONFIG_ACPI_THERMAL=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BLACKLIST_YEAR=0

CONFIG_ACPI_BUS=y

CONFIG_ACPI_EC=y

CONFIG_ACPI_POWER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_PCI=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SYSTEM=y

CONFIG_PCI=y

CONFIG_PCI_GOANY=y

CONFIG_PCI_BIOS=y

CONFIG_PCI_DIRECT=y

CONFIG_PCI_MMCONFIG=y

CONFIG_PCI_NAMES=y

CONFIG_BINFMT_ELF=y

CONFIG_BINFMT_AOUT=y

CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC=y

CONFIG_STANDALONE=y

CONFIG_PREVENT_FIRMWARE_BUILD=y

CONFIG_FW_LOADER=y

CONFIG_PARPORT=y

CONFIG_PARPORT_PC=y

CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_CML1=y

CONFIG_PARPORT_SERIAL=y

CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_FIFO=y

CONFIG_PARPORT_1284=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y

CONFIG_PARIDE=y

CONFIG_PARIDE_PARPORT=y

CONFIG_PARIDE_PD=y

CONFIG_PARIDE_PCD=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NBD=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM_COUNT=16

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM_SIZE=4096

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD=y

CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE=""

CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD=y

CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD_BUFFERS=8

CONFIG_IOSCHED_NOOP=y

CONFIG_IOSCHED_DEADLINE=y

CONFIG_IOSCHED_CFQ=y

CONFIG_IDE=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y

CONFIG_IDEDISK_MULTI_MODE=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEFLOPPY=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDESCSI=y

CONFIG_IDE_GENERIC=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y

CONFIG_IDEPCI_SHARE_IRQ=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_GENERIC=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI=y

CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PIIX=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y

CONFIG_IDEDMA_AUTO=y

CONFIG_SCSI=y

CONFIG_SCSI_PROC_FS=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR_VENDOR=y

CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG=y

CONFIG_SCSI_MULTI_LUN=y

CONFIG_SCSI_SATA=y

CONFIG_SCSI_ATA_PIIX=y

CONFIG_SCSI_QLA2XXX=y

CONFIG_MD=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_MD=y

CONFIG_MD_RAID0=y

CONFIG_MD_MULTIPATH=y

CONFIG_I2O=m

CONFIG_I2O_CONFIG=m

CONFIG_I2O_BLOCK=m

CONFIG_I2O_SCSI=m

CONFIG_I2O_PROC=m

CONFIG_NET=y

CONFIG_PACKET=y

CONFIG_PACKET_MMAP=y

CONFIG_UNIX=y

CONFIG_INET=y

CONFIG_IP_MULTICAST=y

CONFIG_IP_ADVANCED_ROUTER=y

CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_MULTIPATH=y

CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_VERBOSE=y

CONFIG_IP_PNP=y

CONFIG_IP_PNP_DHCP=y

CONFIG_IP_PNP_BOOTP=y

CONFIG_IP_PNP_RARP=y

CONFIG_NET_IPIP=y

CONFIG_NET_IPGRE=y

CONFIG_NET_IPGRE_BROADCAST=y

CONFIG_IP_MROUTE=y

CONFIG_IP_PIMSM_V1=y

CONFIG_IP_PIMSM_V2=y

CONFIG_INET_TUNNEL=y

CONFIG_IP_TCPDIAG=y

CONFIG_NETFILTER=y

CONFIG_NETFILTER_DEBUG=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_CONNTRACK=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_FTP=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_IRC=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_LIMIT=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_IPRANGE=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MAC=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_PKTTYPE=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MULTIPORT=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_TCPMSS=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_HELPER=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_STATE=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_CONNTRACK=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_OWNER=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_FILTER=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_REJECT=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_LOG=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_ULOG=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_TCPMSS=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_NEEDED=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_MASQUERADE=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_REDIRECT=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_NETMAP=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_SAME=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_IRC=y

CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_FTP=y

CONFIG_XFRM=y

CONFIG_XFRM_USER=y

CONFIG_NETDEVICES=y

CONFIG_DUMMY=y

CONFIG_TUN=y

CONFIG_NET_ETHERNET=y

CONFIG_MII=y

CONFIG_HAPPYMEAL=y

CONFIG_NET_PCI=y

CONFIG_8139TOO=y

CONFIG_8139TOO_TUNE_TWISTER=y

CONFIG_INPUT=y

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV=y

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_PSAUX=y

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_X=1280

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_Y=1024

CONFIG_INPUT_EVDEV=y

CONFIG_SOUND_GAMEPORT=y

CONFIG_SERIO=y

CONFIG_SERIO_I8042=y

CONFIG_SERIO_SERPORT=y

CONFIG_SERIO_PARKBD=y

CONFIG_SERIO_PCIPS2=y

CONFIG_SERIO_LIBPS2=y

CONFIG_INPUT_KEYBOARD=y

CONFIG_KEYBOARD_ATKBD=y

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSE=y

CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2=y

CONFIG_MOUSE_SERIAL=y

CONFIG_MOUSE_VSXXXAA=y

CONFIG_VT=y

CONFIG_VT_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_HW_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_SERIAL_8250=y

CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_NR_UARTS=4

CONFIG_SERIAL_CORE=y

CONFIG_SERIAL_CORE_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_UNIX98_PTYS=y

CONFIG_LEGACY_PTYS=y

CONFIG_LEGACY_PTY_COUNT=256

CONFIG_PRINTER=y

CONFIG_LP_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_HW_RANDOM=y

CONFIG_RTC=y

CONFIG_AGP=y

CONFIG_AGP_INTEL=y

CONFIG_AGP_INTEL_MCH=m

CONFIG_DRM=m

CONFIG_DRM_I810=m

CONFIG_DRM_I915=m

CONFIG_I2C=m

CONFIG_I2C_CHARDEV=m

CONFIG_I2C_ALGOBIT=m

CONFIG_I2C_I801=m

CONFIG_I2C_I810=m

CONFIG_I2C_ISA=m

CONFIG_I2C_PARPORT=m

CONFIG_I2C_PARPORT_LIGHT=m

CONFIG_I2C_PIIX4=m

CONFIG_I2C_SENSOR=m

CONFIG_SENSORS_W83781D=m

CONFIG_SENSORS_W83L785TS=m

CONFIG_SENSORS_W83627HF=m

CONFIG_SENSORS_EEPROM=m

CONFIG_FB=y

CONFIG_FB_MODE_HELPERS=y

CONFIG_FB_VESA=y

CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT=y

CONFIG_FB_I810=y

CONFIG_FB_I810_GTF=y

CONFIG_FB_INTEL=y

CONFIG_VGA_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_DUMMY_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_FONT_8x8=y

CONFIG_FONT_8x16=y

CONFIG_FB_SPLASH=y

CONFIG_SOUND=y

CONFIG_SOUND_PRIME=y

CONFIG_SOUND_ICH=y

CONFIG_USB=y

CONFIG_USB_DEBUG=y

CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS=y

CONFIG_USB_ARCH_HAS_HCD=y

CONFIG_USB_ARCH_HAS_OHCI=y

CONFIG_USB_EHCI_HCD=y

CONFIG_USB_OHCI_HCD=y

CONFIG_USB_UHCI_HCD=y

CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=y

CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_DEBUG=y

CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_RW_DETECT=y

CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_FREECOM=y

CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_ISD200=y

CONFIG_USB_HID=y

CONFIG_USB_HIDINPUT=y

CONFIG_USB_HIDDEV=y

CONFIG_USB_USS720=y

CONFIG_USB_SERIAL=y

CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_GENERIC=y

CONFIG_USB_GADGET=y

CONFIG_USB_GADGET_NET2280=y

CONFIG_USB_NET2280=y

CONFIG_USB_GADGET_DUALSPEED=y

CONFIG_USB_FILE_STORAGE=y

CONFIG_MMC=y

CONFIG_MMC_BLOCK=y

CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y

CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y

CONFIG_JBD=y

CONFIG_REISERFS_FS=y

CONFIG_REISERFS_PROC_INFO=y

CONFIG_ROMFS_FS=y

CONFIG_DNOTIFY=y

CONFIG_ISO9660_FS=y

CONFIG_JOLIET=y

CONFIG_ZISOFS=y

CONFIG_ZISOFS_FS=y

CONFIG_UDF_FS=y

CONFIG_UDF_NLS=y

CONFIG_FAT_FS=y

CONFIG_MSDOS_FS=y

CONFIG_VFAT_FS=y

CONFIG_FAT_DEFAULT_CODEPAGE=437

CONFIG_FAT_DEFAULT_IOCHARSET="iso8859-2"

CONFIG_PROC_FS=y

CONFIG_PROC_KCORE=y

CONFIG_SYSFS=y

CONFIG_DEVFS_FS=y

CONFIG_DEVPTS_FS_XATTR=y

CONFIG_TMPFS=y

CONFIG_RAMFS=y

CONFIG_SUPERMOUNT=y

CONFIG_MSDOS_PARTITION=y

CONFIG_NLS=y

CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT="iso8859-2"

CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_437=y

CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_850=y

CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_852=y

CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_1250=y

CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_1=y

CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_2=y

CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_15=y

CONFIG_NLS_UTF8=y

CONFIG_4KSTACKS=y

CONFIG_CRC32=y

CONFIG_ZLIB_INFLATE=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_HARDIRQS=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_IRQ_PROBE=y

CONFIG_X86_BIOS_REBOOT=y

```

Rebooting the 2.6.7 kernel looks as if I have a rocket engine instead of my CPU/hdd. I'm using some stupid/silly/zieloo'ed:) comparisons here but be aware of that it's not like this. System IS usable, although for such a sensitive  :Wink:  person like me it really Do make a difference.

I've booted Knoppix - the newest one and an older (sorry but don't remember what kernel version were they using), running ekhm, quite nice...

Now @stahlsau:

In fact, it's very interesting if you're doing a research or sth NOT in this case, though.

Agree - nothing better than a 2.4 kernel. 2.6 still seems as if it's a bigger brother of the development line 2.5. 

Even with swapping the CPU usage shouldn't reach 100%.

Good point - cpu-scheds - will experiment with it soon.

To all:

Thank you for the input and help in trying to solve this issue so far, I hope sb (looking at the kernel config) will spot a mistake or a stupid error there, or whatever that's causing this problem.

PS To stahlsau - what kernel version are you running? Is it only 2.6 (opposing to the 2.4 line) that seems to be 'laggy'?

----------

## stahlsau

 *Quote:*   

> PS To stahlsau - what kernel version are you running? Is it only 2.6 (opposing to the 2.4 line) that seems to be 'laggy'?

 

```
Linux eisenschwein 2.6.11-gentoo-r9 #2 Thu Jun 2 08:27:56 CEST 2005 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2400+ AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux
```

I've experimented a long time with carious patchsets, love, mm, ck, own creations etc., some different schedulers as staircase, CFQ, nick's etc. and at some point i switched back to vanilla/gentoo and didn't notice ANY differences. Very annoying after spending that much time with patching and fixing kernels and stuff. Now i'm with cfq which seems to give the least overhead and feels most responsive on my sys.

Recently i've spent some time experimenting with vm_swappiness to find the optimal integer and swapsize to get off these lags - well, the best working number is 60 i think - the one that's default  :Wink: 

Afterall, i get more and more to the conclusion that all this uber-leet optimisations don't get you anywhere. I've removed most of those crappy cflags, disabled prelinking, got a plain vanilla kernel with a simple scheduler etc and theres no difference to my previous so-heavyly-tuned-system. And much less hassle  :Wink: 

And for those lags i experience sometimes: well, if it happens, i shut down some of those apps on other virtual screens i don't use atm, like gimp, cxoffice etc, and then those lags are mostly gone.

----------

## zieloo

 *stahlsau wrote:*   

>  *Quote:*   PS To stahlsau - what kernel version are you running? Is it only 2.6 (opposing to the 2.4 line) that seems to be 'laggy'? 
> 
> ```
> Linux eisenschwein 2.6.11-gentoo-r9 #2 Thu Jun 2 08:27:56 CEST 2005 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2400+ AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux
> ```
> ...

 

Any differences meaning - it's still lagging? I've had no opportunity to test other (vanillas) kernels, only ck- and gentoo- but if you're saying it's pointless...

 *stahlsau wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Very annoying after spending that much time with patching and fixing kernels and stuff. Now i'm with cfq which seems to give the least overhead and feels most responsive on my sys.
> 
> Recently i've spent some time experimenting with vm_swappiness to find the optimal integer and swapsize to get off these lags - well, the best working number is 60 i think - the one that's default 
> ...

 

Do you realize it's only a temporary 'solution'? The problem is still there - and not using (or even worse - killing) certain apps is not a good advice neither.

Another example from the How-To-Break-Your-Gentoo-Without-Knowing-It series:

Today I prepared a partial update (actually only two packages) of the system. I had to go so I left the box compiling (at the same time). After I'm back I noticed the box almost died running out of memory and swapping heavily. I initially thought I've done sth wrong, but NO! - mozilla and some crap was sucessfully emerged... A number of thinks I do not understand:

- even without free (or potencially free) memory a system should be working, slowly - yes, but working. Not in this case - took me, more-less tens of minutes to bring it to half-alive state (stupid screensaver). Killing crucial apps helped, but again - it's not a solution.

 - Look at the signature - is this box needs to be reboted every time mozilla is being re-merged?

 - Checked emerging times - very good, taking into consideration simultaneous compilations and Celeron specifics:evil: 

 - What came to my mind recently is that it may be problem with swapping, actually with IO disk operations. Remember when I said about copying some data over? Just a plain hypothesis...

 - Another problem about 2.6.11 kernel is that it's lacking of proper support for scsi-emulated-burning. After burning ~10 coasters a bright idea came up to my mind to boot the 2.6.7 kernel... I do not care about it right now as burning a dvd/cd is not essential (yet) and because a more important problem is hiding somewhere.

 - The system is to be chopped into pieces anyway within weeks, but I'd like to know what the reasons of 2.6.11 behaving so wildly (at least for me...) are.

Thanks for you time so far!

----------

## stahlsau

 *Quote:*   

> Do you realize it's only a temporary 'solution'? The problem is still there - and not using (or even worse - killing) certain apps is not a good advice neither. 

 

hehe - of course it's only temporary. But it's not that i never use those apps i spoke of - only i close them when i don't use them atm and the sys is beginning to lag  :Wink: 

Well, that thing with swapping is: i never had swap enabled for a long time, but since i have to use some scientific programs with vmware lately, sometimes memory got full and other programs like firefox got killed. So i enabled swap and no programs get killed anymore, but the system is lagging like hell when swap is used. /me thinks too that it has to do with disk-i/o, but with normal disk-i/o trhose problems don't appear, only while swapping.

----------

## zieloo

[quote="stahlsau"] *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> /me thinks too that it has to do with disk-i/o, but with normal disk-i/o trhose problems don't appear, only while swapping.

 

So... How does swapping in 2.6.11 and 2.6.7 are different? I just don't get it.

----------

## mOjO_420

you prolly know more about linux than I but i think i'll put my two cents in anyway...

I think its safe to say theres something very wrong with the way your system is running 2.6.11... 

Please do try booting to the latest Knoppix (3.9) as it runs 2.6.11. yes of course it would be slow running off of a cd but i think in refusing to do so you are just trying to put all the blame on the kernel and none on your config... besides even running off the CD it couldnt be much slower than what it sounds like you are already using.. so please try that just for comparison... 

also please do a clean boot to 2.6.11 and then run dmesg and post the contents... do the same for 2.6.7...

i'm not saying i can help but i think thats where we need to start looking. 

other thoughts... i assume you changed the symlink for /usr/src/linux to point to the new kernel and re-emerged any drivers that you may need that are separate packages from the kernel...?

----------

## mOjO_420

btw.. i believe they just changed the kernel argument for the scsi emulation... search the forums.. its well documented...

but i also think its deprecated... i burn fine without that argument... 

there were a lot of major kernel changes like that around 2.6.9 or so...

----------

## trbecker

I'm having the same problems under high I/O (backups (compressed or not), decompressing files, copying large files from one location to another, and such.

It doesn't happens in X only, but with terminal screen too.

----------

## trbecker

 *stahlsau wrote:*   

>  /me thinks too that it has to do with disk-i/o, but with normal disk-i/o trhose problems don't appear, only while swapping.

 

You can change your swappiness value (how much things go to swap), by adding vm.swappiness=20 in your /etc/sysctl.conf. The default is 60. This sould reduce your problem, maybe...

EDIT: Reducing mine to 0 has done good to my system. X run better now...

----------

## Jake

I can't explain the excessive resource usage, but kernel preempt should make it more bearable.

----------

## zieloo

 *Jake wrote:*   

> I can't explain the excessive resource usage, but kernel preempt should make it more bearable.

 

You're right, but:

```
$ cat /usr/src/linux-2.6.11-ck8/.config | grep PREEMPT

CONFIG_PREEMPT=y

CONFIG_PREEMPT_BKL=y

# CONFIG_DEBUG_PREEMPT is not set
```

```
$ uname -r

2.6.11-ck8

```

And still, it's running like a cierdo herido  :Razz:  (for those who speak spanish).

The performance is better than before (relatively), somehow, but mouse movements are jumpy especially when compiling heavily, writing gigs of data, etc.

Recently I issued 'du' on all my disks, not only did that ate more than half a gig of memory (is that normal?), but also turned my system almost unresponsive.

I repeat: this is not a really noticeable behavior! Most of the time the system is runinng ok (if you can say so about any of the 2.6.x kernel  :Evil or Very Mad:   :Wink:   )...

----------

## FGA

 *zieloo wrote:*   

> And still, it's running like a cierdo herido  (for those who speak spanish).
> 
> The performance is better than before (relatively), somehow, but mouse movements are jumpy especially when compiling heavily, writing gigs of data, etc.
> 
> Recently I issued 'du' on all my disks, not only did that ate more than half a gig of memory (is that normal?), but also turned my system almost unresponsive.
> ...

 

Have you tried to look the logs to see if there is something wrong? The command dmesg gives you the kernel log.

PD: Se dice "ciervo herido"  :Wink: 

----------

## NeddySeagoon

zieloo,

From your kernel config, you probably dont have DMA enabled on the IDE drive.

The chip set driver is the Intel PIIX one and you mentioned IDE and SATA. If you have the Intel ICH6 chip set, that can do both IDE and SATA, making it do IDE DMA with both sorts of drives attached is next to impossible.

You also have the PIIX SATA driver enabled. Thats a bad sign that points towards the ICH6

Please post 

```
hdparm /dev/hda
```

 and hdparm -tT /dev/hda

Note that your first post showing the various udma modes, is what the drive offered the kernel at start up, not whats in use now, (despite the *).

----------

## zieloo

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> 
> 
> zieloo,
> 
> From your kernel config, you probably dont have DMA enabled on the IDE drive.
> ...

 

Negative, sir! :Smile: 

Just look:

```
# /sbin/hdparm -icd /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 IO_support   =  1 (32-bit)

 using_dma    =  1 (on)

 Model=SAMSUNG SP0802N, FwRev=TK100-24, SerialNo=S00JJ40X661227

 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs }

 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=34902, SectSize=554, ECCbytes=4

 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16

 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=156368016

 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}

 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 

 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 

 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 

 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled

 Drive conforms to: (null): 

 * signifies the current active mode
```

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Please post 
> 
> ```
> ...

 

```
# /sbin/hdparm /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 multcount    = 16 (on)

 IO_support   =  1 (32-bit)

 unmaskirq    =  0 (off)

 using_dma    =  1 (on)

 keepsettings =  1 (on)

 readonly     =  0 (off)

 readahead    = 256 (on)

 geometry     = 16383/255/63, sectors = 156368016, start = 0
```

```
# /sbin/hdparm -Tt /dev/hda

/dev/hda:

 Timing cached reads:   640 MB in  2.51 seconds = 254.82 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:   92 MB in  3.02 seconds =  30.49 MB/sec
```

It's ok as I'm know compiling heavily:)

```
7 users,  load average: 5.27, 4.00, 2.89
```

dmesg:

```
ICH5: IDE controller at PCI slot 0000:00:1f.1

ICH5: chipset revision 2

ICH5: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later

    ide0: BM-DMA at 0xfc00-0xfc07, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA

    ide1: BM-DMA at 0xfc08-0xfc0f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:DMA
```

Will examine this part of kernel configuration as soon as possible.

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> 
> 
> The chip set driver is the Intel PIIX one and you mentioned IDE and SATA. If you have the Intel ICH6 chip set, that can do both IDE and SATA, making it do IDE DMA with both sorts of drives attached is next to impossible.
> 
> You also have the PIIX SATA driver enabled. Thats a bad sign that points towards the ICH6
> ...

 

Yes, it can do both IDE and SATA.

Why do you say "making it do IDE DMA with both sorts of drives attached is next to impossible"? Could you please say something more why is that? Why shouldn't I have the PIIX SATA enabled? Sorry but I hardly understand it...

Anyway, thank you for looking at the issue, Neddy:)

@FGA: 

Nop - nothing exiting in the logs except of:

```
mtrr: base(0xf0020000) is not aligned on a size(0x500000) boundary

mtrr: 0xf0000000,0x8000000 overlaps existing 0xf0000000,0x1000000
```

And I know come se dice  - solamente quiso a ver si hay alguno que entiende Espanol aqui:)

----------

## NeddySeagoon

zieloo,

There have been a lot of posts on the forums from people with the Intel ICH6 IDE/SATA chipset that cannot get the data rates that DMA provides on the IDE part of the ICH6 if they also use the SATA part. I don't know why. I don't have one to study. I have only been able to (attempt to) assist remotely.

From your post, DMA is on and from the data rate, is working.

In SATA, DMA comes as standard, it was not grafted on by different chip set suppliers in different ways as it was when DMA was introduced to IDE.

Can you post your lspci output please?

Having all the drives on the same PCI bus will limit your data rate in drive to drive copies.

----------

## zieloo

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> 
> 
> zieloo,
> 
> There have been a lot of posts on the forums from people with the Intel ICH6 IDE/SATA chipset that cannot get the data rates that DMA provides on the IDE part of the ICH6 if they also use the SATA part. I don't know why. I don't have one to study. I have only been able to (attempt to) assist remotely.
> ...

 

No such problem here... Strange - I haven't came across ANY of those threads, literally zero...

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Can you post your lspci output please?
> 
> 

 

Sure:

```
$ /sbin/lspci 

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82865G/PE/P Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corp. 82865G Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB USB (rev 02)

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB USB (rev 02)

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB USB (rev 02)

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB USB (rev 02)

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB USB2 (rev 02)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA/DB/EB PCI Bridge (rev c2)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801EB LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801EB SMBus Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)

01:01.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

01:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
```

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Having all the drives on the same PCI bus will limit your data rate in drive to drive copies.
> 
> 

 

Yes, I know but it does not bother me;-)

Thanks for answering.

EDIT: Should've given you the verbosed outut of lspci...

Here it is (part of):

```
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])

        Subsystem: Unknown device 1849:24d0

        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-

        Status: Cap- 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-

        Latency: 0

        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 5

        Region 0: I/O ports at <unassigned>

        Region 1: I/O ports at <unassigned>

        Region 2: I/O ports at <unassigned>

        Region 3: I/O ports at <unassigned>

        Region 4: I/O ports at fc00 [size=16]

        Region 5: Memory at 1e000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])

        Subsystem: Unknown device 1849:24d1

        Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-

        Status: Cap- 66Mhz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-

        Latency: 0

        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 5

        Region 0: I/O ports at d000 [size=8]

        Region 1: I/O ports at cc00 [size=4]

        Region 2: I/O ports at c800 [size=8]

        Region 3: I/O ports at c400 [size=4]

        Region 4: I/O ports at c000 [size=16]
```

----------

## NeddySeagoon

zieloo,

You don't have the ICH6 IDE/SATA problem because you dont have the ICH6 chipset

```
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 02) 
```

There is no signs of a SATA controller there at all.

----------

## zieloo

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> zieloo,
> 
> You don't have the ICH6 IDE/SATA problem because you dont have the ICH6 chipset
> 
> ```
> ...

 

Well... So what other possible reasons are?

[ And there IS sata controller, have no idea why it's not listed... ]

----------

## NeddySeagoon

zieloo,

Thats the ICH5 IDE controller which I think is IDE only.

Do you have a PATA to SATA plug in adaptor for your SATA drive ?

What drive letters (/dev/hdX) do you have?

----------

## zieloo

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> zieloo,
> 
> Thats the ICH5 IDE controller which I think is IDE only.
> 
> Do you have a PATA to SATA plug in adaptor for your SATA drive ?
> ...

 

No, it's not ide only... No I have no such switches, the drive is connected directly to the onboard 2-port SATA controller.

The disk is /dev/sda and works perfectly.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

zieloo,

I was curious enough to get the Intel data sheet for your chip.

It provides 2 SATA interfaces. Strange they dont show in the lspci.

----------

## zieloo

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> zieloo,
> 
> I was curious enough to get the Intel data sheet for your chip.
> 
> It provides 2 SATA interfaces. Strange they dont show in the lspci.

 

eheh - strange...

from dmesg:

```
libata version 1.10 loaded.

ata_piix version 1.03

ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:1f.2[A] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5

PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1f.2 to 64

ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xD000 ctl 0xCC02 bmdma 0xC000 irq 5

ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0xC800 ctl 0xC402 bmdma 0xC008 irq 5

ata1: dev 0 cfg 49:2f00 82:346b 83:7f01 84:4003 85:3c69 86:3c01 87:4003 88:20ff

ata1: dev 0 ATA, max UDMA7, 156368016 sectors: lba48

ata1: dev 0 configured for UDMA/133

scsi0 : ata_piix

ata2: SATA port has no device.

scsi1 : ata_piix

  Vendor: ATA       Model: SAMSUNG SP0812C   Rev: SU10

  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 05

SCSI device sda: 156368016 512-byte hdwr sectors (80060 MB)

SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back

SCSI device sda: 156368016 512-byte hdwr sectors (80060 MB)

SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back

 /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: p1 p2 p3 p4 < p5 p6 p7 p8 p9 >

Attached scsi disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0

Attached scsi generic sg0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0,  type 0
```

Maybe something here?

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## NeddySeagoon

zieloo,

Thats OK too. 

I grepped the kernel source in case your SP0812C was blackisted bu there ere not hits, so its not.

Drive chipset pairs get blacklisted when operating them for full performance causes data loss becase they form a buggy combination. I'm out of ideas just now.

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## zieloo

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> zieloo,
> 
> Thats OK too. 
> 
> I grepped the kernel source in case your SP0812C was blackisted bu there ere not hits, so its not.
> ...

 

Great...  :Crying or Very sad: 

What I noticed yesteday it that it often lags while Firefox is operating [but not only FF!...]. Don't know if there's a connection between these two but it always happens if I have > 300MB of RAM used and probably some swap (a compilation running, whatever). 

Don't even know what to check next...

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## frilled

Just to let you know you're not alone. I've had a sluggish desktop under I/O load for some time now. The worst seems to be swap, for no explicable reason. As soon as the boxes swap, desktop responsiveness is down the drain. I'm playing with the vm.swappiness value, but it's not really *that* much of o difference.

It doesn't seem to be a problem with specific chipsets, though, since I have experienced it on quite some boxes with Intel (845, 865, 875P) and VIA chipsets. Of course I have preemptrion on & DMA running etc.

Still have no clue about it. The unfortunate thing is my main workstations boxes have 512MB only, so I tend to have like 8 to 300 megs of swap during the day, depending on workload.

It really sucks, since the desktop experience (lol) really takes a dive once the box starts swapping. While it does a pretty nice job compared to the windoze boxes on similar/identical hardware, once they both start swappping windoze definitley has an edge. Which is ugly an an Evil Thing (TM), of course :->

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## s0be

Just some general tips I've learned from this system:

If things seem to get shakey under high load, check /proc/interrupts and see if you have something generating an abnormal amount of interrupts.

HT can actually be a bad thing under high disc I/O as there is a high overhead for task switches in HT and if you have multiple threads in I/O wait, the load can climb abnormally.

the ICH6 chipset is, in fact, the devil.  Everything runs perfectly on my system(finally) unless I'm burning a CD (DMA is enabled) and then the system scretches to a mouse jumping halt.

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## frilled

As I said I have experienced this with various pieces of hardware, with and without HT...

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## zieloo

 *wgi wrote:*   

> As I said I have experienced this with various pieces of hardware, with and without HT...

 

I do not have HT-enabled system, btw. 

OK - Now as I'm using a completely different desktop box there're no longer such delays. I'd make this thread closed, but the problem persists - there's no doubt about it.

FYI (changed from last time):

```
0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 05)

0000:00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FW (ICH6/ICH6W) SATA Controller (rev 05)
```

Yes, it's ICH6 and I have both sata and ata drives connected - no problems so far. 

Good to hear (thanks for the input, wgi) I am (was) not alone with this issue.

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## zieloo

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> zieloo,
> 
> There have been a lot of posts on the forums from people with the Intel ICH6 IDE/SATA chipset that cannot get the data rates that DMA provides on the IDE part of the ICH6 if they also use the SATA part. I don't know why. I don't have one to study. I have only been able to (attempt to) assist remotely.
> 
> 

 

NeddySeagoon,

I want to inform you that I have switched to the mentioned ICH6 chipset and experienced NO problems regarding ATA+SATA...

----------

## Jakub

Hmm, I'd say it's either some kernel problem (I think you had better stick to a vanilla kernel while looking for the cause of the problem) or a xorg / DE problem (e.g. maybe it's a problem with gnome or some memory-leaking app, etc).

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## zieloo

 *Jakub wrote:*   

> Hmm, I'd say it's either some kernel problem (I think you had better stick to a vanilla kernel while looking for the cause of the problem) or a xorg / DE problem (e.g. maybe it's a problem with gnome or some memory-leaking app, etc).

 

Easy to say... :Confused: 

The only two things that helped me were:

 - To boot the system completely off SATA drive, not because it's faster, better, and so but because no lockups we observed...

 - To change the hardware (MoBo and CPU)...

Ok - no more suggestions are posted so I'm marking this thread as 'closed'. Thank you for the input trying to solve the issue.

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## frilled

Uhm ... well, I still have the problem ...

The machine that performs worst, actually, does have an ICH, but it's an ICH5.

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## mariux2

I had problems with my Gentoo installation being slow (slugish), so i tried Kubuntu and it was ALOT faster.

I dont know what the problems is though, but you are not the only one to find your gentoo slow!

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## frilled

Well, it's not "my gentoo" (phew). Some of the desktops are sluggish under load. The servers (with SCSI RAIDs) do well, so it kinda boils down to the crappy IDE stuff I think.

----------

