>
> > Alternatively there is a sched_idle kernel patch, so you could
> > start your X with it and it will only get the cycles *not* used
> > by *any* other program. Again, you see this can be ... strange.
>
> Don't use that for the X server. Any program going into a tight loop
> will deprive the X server of any CPU time, so you won't be able to do
> _anything_ (besides logging in over the network or a serial port) when
> this happens, and if you don't have the necessary equipment, need the
> reset button.
>
I have something interesting for you all, as far as cpu cycles, DMA and IRQ
problems relating to ftape, and a few other very specific kernel drivers and
modules. I don't know why this is, but, nine the less, I think this may help
others quite abit. Allow me to explain the entire scnerio.
First, ftape totally agreed with my nice new-used Dual P133... after about a
year, it stopped working properly... It kept burping, producing id_am
errors, CRC errors, piles of overruns, and the like. It couldn't write to
the tape either. I employed an old slow 386 to handle the task of backing
up. It works like a champ.
Now for the wierd part.
Last week I had a horrible hardware malfunction. One of my trusty hard disks
litterally caught fire, and the root disk got scrambled. Fortunately I had 3
things on my side:
1: I always keep a bootable hard disk with recent tools to recover,
and a recent version of ftape on it, incase of disaster.
2: I have an identical spare replcaement for the exploded drive.
3: my backup wasn't horridly old :-)
Well, I put the ftape drive on the crashed computer along with the emergency
drive, booted up, and restored all my files.... interestingly enough...
there were no id_am errors and the like... This was my first clue that
something is going on here... it mysteriously worked... hrmmm...
Oddly, it now works on fine on my system now... even with the old restored
stuff...
So I asked myself... *WHAT HAS CHANGED*
The hardware is the same...
The software is certainly the same...
mmmm... change? YES one very IMPORTANT chang had occured...
The file system is now DEFRAGMENTED.
I had installed all the libraries by hand compiling... and over the course
of a year or 2 they certainly must have gotten fragmented, along with all
the other files from all of my hand upgrades!
Possible solutions for the rest of you:
1: e2defrag is a good utility to try... two things to remember, tho
a: the fs cnnot be live, defrag it from an emergency restore disk
b: you will not be able to boot after it's defraged untill you lilo it...
2: destroy and recover the entire primary system disk. Yes, it's quite a
harsh way to defragment , but it may prove worthy of a last ditch effort.
I really hope this helps someone.
I don't know how it could possibly affect a kernel driver or module, but,
it really seems to. I do notice the same behavior on another system with
fragmented libraries... so there definately is a relationship. Perhaps it's
taking to much time to load in a library with seeks and whatnot and is
chopping up the timing to the tape deck? I asked Alan Cox ( I talk to him
daily ) and he said that it is a possibility.
All i do know is that now ftape works wonderful again...
and hey...
my whole system runs really smooth too...
yes, I know ext2fs is fragment resistant...
but nothing is bulletproof...
last time the system did get a frag check it showed 20% fragmentation...
Yes, i beat my machine to death :-)
Oh... btw, since this defrag, it even works when there's heavy net traffic,
serial i/o, sound blaster jamming away mod files, and I'm in X.... and the
tape doesn't even shoeshine :-) (HP-Colorado T-300 @ 1000mbps, dual p133
single cpu mode)
I have got to try SMP mode next... we'll see what happens. I recently diched
SMP because it was loosing serial IRQ... this defragmentation might even
help that :-) Soon as I can, I'll let everyone know how it worked out.
Yours,
--
http://dr.ea.ms http://IDE.cabi.net http://startrek.off.net
http://CPM.doa.org
________________
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