From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Mar 18 14:47:32 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.FreeBSD.org [8.8.178.115]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9F77ADB1; Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:47:32 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from prvs=17892983bb=killing@multiplay.co.uk) Received: from mail1.multiplay.co.uk (mail1.multiplay.co.uk [85.236.96.23]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 09B3CF4C; Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:47:31 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r2d2 ([46.65.172.4]) by mail1.multiplay.co.uk (mail1.multiplay.co.uk [85.236.96.23]) (MDaemon PRO v10.0.4) with ESMTP id md50002792453.msg; Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:47:20 +0000 X-Spam-Processed: mail1.multiplay.co.uk, Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:47:20 +0000 (not processed: message from valid local sender) X-MDDKIM-Result: neutral (mail1.multiplay.co.uk) X-MDRemoteIP: 46.65.172.4 X-Return-Path: prvs=17892983bb=killing@multiplay.co.uk X-Envelope-From: killing@multiplay.co.uk Message-ID: From: "Steven Hartland" To: "Nathan Whitehorn" , References: <35878.1363607691@critter.freebsd.dk> <514715F9.2080506@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: FreeBSD is very slow when Memory chip sizes are imbalanced in slots Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:47:35 -0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5931 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.6157 X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:47:32 -0000 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nathan Whitehorn" To: Sent: Monday, March 18, 2013 1:26 PM Subject: Re: FreeBSD is very slow when Memory chip sizes are imbalanced in slots > On 03/18/13 07:18, Mehmet Erol Sanliturk wrote: >> On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 4:54 AM, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote: >> >>> In message >> DjjMoe5ttGA@mail.gmail.com>, Tom Evans writes: >>> >>>> You say this, have you actually measured/checked. sysutils/dmidecode >>>> will interrogate your BIOS and tell us what it thinks is installed in >>>> each RAM socket. It is not uncommon for RAM to say one thing on the >>>> outside, and report something completely different to the BIOS. >>> >>> I can only second Tom's call for a proper scientific approach to >>> debugging this issue, rather than just assume that it is the >>> operating systems fault. >>> >>> -- >>> Poul-Henning Kamp | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20 >>> phk@FreeBSD.ORG | TCP/IP since RFC 956 >>> FreeBSD committer | BSD since 4.3-tahoe >>> Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence. >>> >> >> >> I am a graduate of Operations Research and Statistics option of a >> Mathematics department . >> All of your considerations are considered . It is so much apparent that , >> the cause is FreeBSD . >> >> In my previous year message and in its subsequent messages , there are >> sufficiently detailed information . >> >> >> This message is caused from the following fact : >> >> In previous year case , KDE used was a cause , but FluxBox was working fast >> . >> Now , I have installed 10.0 current . It does not have KDE in packages . I >> have installed FluxBox . >> It is not a few second slow : Many minutes to start Firefox , and activate >> a menu of it ! >> >> What is the point of measuring milliseconds when the difference is around >> many minutes ? >> >> PC-BSD installation ( it is a graphical installation after starting X ) is >> taking many hours to reach 20 percent completion . >> The same is for GhostBSD : Start it at night , at the next morning , it is >> likely that it is not finished yet . >> >> >> Then : WQhat will be measured ? >> >> Linux installations are around 30 minutes . >> Starting/Opening menus are instantenous : I do no have chronometer , but >> everything is within a second . >> >> >> Thank you very much . > > The problem is that "slow" doesn't mean anything. An incomplete list of > things it might be related to: > 1. Something to do with the way KDE is built (options, system compiler) > 2. A disk I/O issue > 3. A memory speed issue > 4. Some other process using CPU that isn't running on Linux > 5. A scheduler issue triggered by some property of the machine > > Doing some of these smaller tests will help pin down which of these are > causing the problem. Without that, there's no possibility to even start > debugging. Even just running top and seeing whether you are spinning in > a user thread, in the kernel, or waiting while the slow things are > happening would be extremely helpful. Surely you can eliminate all of those and confirm / deny the original diagnosis by simply installing balanced memory in the machine and checking to see if the problem goes away? Could this be an NUMA related issue? Regards Steve ================================================ This e.mail is private and confidential between Multiplay (UK) Ltd. and the person or entity to whom it is addressed. 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