From owner-freebsd-hackers Sun Nov 3 9:49:45 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DA24537B401; Sun, 3 Nov 2002 09:49:43 -0800 (PST) Received: from sol.aptsolutions.com (sol.aptsolutions.com [63.231.253.1]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0138043E75; Sun, 3 Nov 2002 09:49:42 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from godfrey@sol.aptsolutions.com) Received: from sol.aptsolutions.com (localhost.aptsolutions.com [127.0.0.1]) by sol.aptsolutions.com (8.12.2/8.12.2) with ESMTP id gA3HoAGK043886; Sun, 3 Nov 2002 11:50:10 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from godfrey@sol.aptsolutions.com) X-Authentication-Warning: sol.aptsolutions.com: Host localhost.aptsolutions.com [127.0.0.1] claimed to be sol.aptsolutions.com Received: (from godfrey@localhost) by sol.aptsolutions.com (8.12.2/8.12.2/Submit) id gA3Ho94s043885; Sun, 3 Nov 2002 11:50:09 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from godfrey) Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 11:50:09 -0600 From: Jason Godfrey To: Jeff Jirsa Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Disk activity leading to hangs Message-ID: <20021103115009.C43728@sol.aptsolutions.com> References: <20021102235447.D35685@sol.aptsolutions.com> <20021102220616.S7015-100000@boris.st.hmc.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <20021102220616.S7015-100000@boris.st.hmc.edu>; from jeff@unixconsults.com on Sat, Nov 02, 2002 at 10:12:09PM -0800 Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG (CC'ing to freebsd-hackers, since a previous discussion took place there.) Thanks. I tried pinging the machine after a hang, but no response. After a bit of experimentation it seems that the hang (at least on the AMD) occurs under write activity. (A yes > /tmp/foo hangs it.) It seems to hold up under read loads. I'm hoping someone on the lists has either a workaround/fix or could maybe say "I've hit this, but when I switched to a non-maxtor drive things worked." - Jason On Sat, Nov 02, 2002 at 10:12:09PM -0800, Jeff Jirsa wrote: > On Sat, 2 Nov 2002, Jason Godfrey wrote: > > > > > Basically under heavy disk load (buildworld, large package install, nightly > > script run) the system will hang hard. The two systems have very little in > > common, one is a P2 400 running FreeBSD-Stable from Oct 2, the other (a new > > machine) is a AMD 1600+ running FreeBSD 4.5-Release. The faster machine seems > > to hit the hange much more regularly. > > > > The only thing in common between the two machines I can think of is that they > > both have Maxtor IDE drives on a Ultra-ATA channel. (On the P2 400 I've been > > running in PIO mode, as that _seems_ to reduce the frequency of the hangs. > > On the AMD it seems to make no difference.) > > > > I've seen it too, with a 4.5 system with a maxtor drive. Unfortunately, > I've never been able to track it down to anything certain: I was (and > still am) leaning towards poor hardware over an OS fault. The only thing > leading me to believe it's NOT a hardware issue is that the kernel seems > to be running, although nothing responds: network activity lights flash on > the NIC and switch, but NOTHING else works (have to powercycle). > > I remember someone else pointing out the same problem about a year ago, > and nobody ever offered any explanation of the problem or even hinted at a > solution. > > The last thread is here (watch the line wrap): > http://docs.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=6504+0+archive/2002/freebsd-hackers/20020512.freebsd-hackers > > > - Jeff To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message