On Sun, Jan 12, 2003, Gabor Szabo wrote about "99.6% idle 5.16 load": > It had 5.16 load and 99.6% idle time. > > What can be the cause ? > What else should I check for this ?
If you have load 5 but no process is using CPU time, it is most likely that you have 5 processed in the "D" (uninterruptable sleep) state. Run "ps aux" and look for a "D" in the STAT column to confirm this hunch. "D" is a state a process is typically in when the kernel programmers found it hard to allow a process to die - such as while pages are swapped into memory, or in certain stages of NFS transactions. Normally a process is in the D state for a very short time, so you wouldn't notice it. But some kernel bugs cause processes to be stuck in D state, with you unable to kill them and them taking up "load" forever. Note that the load figure, in this case, is only fictional - the D processes do not actually impose any load on the machine (except memory waste, of course). A common reason for accumulating "D" processes like you describe (but I don't know if your setup fits this possibility) is that you mount (via NFS, Samba, etc.) a directory from another computer, and the other computer stops responding. Certain tasks which run periodically (such as updatedb, backup, etc.) can then hang (in the D state, sometimes) each time they are run. I hope at least some of my hunches are relevant and helpful ;) -- Nadav Har'El | Sunday, Jan 12 2003, 10 Shevat 5763 [EMAIL PROTECTED] |----------------------------------------- Phone: +972-53-245868, ICQ 13349191 |Cat rule #2: Bite the hand that won't http://nadav.harel.org.il |feed you fast enough. ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
