[ltp] general performance question on R51

[Paul H. Yoshimune]

Takis Diakoumis wrote:

>Hi
>
>i have a thinkpad r51 (1.6Ghz, 512MB RAM) running debian etch with
>custom kernel 2.6.11.
>
>i have installed and configured everything nicely (including the ir -
>which i don't use but is pretty cool to have).
>
>anyway, i've noticed what i would consider strange behaviour - though
>i've never owned a laptop before so i'm not sure.
>
>i notice very brief system hangs every now and then - usually when
>accessing a large directory through something like nautilus, or starting
>an application or even compiling some small code snippet. the hang is
>usually not for longer than about a second or two. the mouse if in
>motion will skip across the screen, gkrellm which i have running will
>freeze, if i'm playing some music with xmms or similar it will pause
>briefly then continue as if a cd is skipping or something. i understand
>that single drive reads across partitions can be pretty intesive though
>i did not expect this sort of performance.
>
>(i have switched gkrellm thinking it was its constant updating was the
>problem - but no change)
>
>its pretty annoying to be listening to some music or something while
>browsing the web and then skip skip skip..... hang hang hang.... (i'm
>being a little dramatic - but you get the picture).
>
>basically, is this normal or have i screwed something up!!??
>
>it happens when the system is on ac power and battery.
>i do have the latest ibm-acpi installed and it seems to be working fine.
>i don't really know where to look.
>
>any suggestions would be appreciated.
>thanks.
>
>Takis
>
>  
>
Check to be sure you have DMA enabled, and that the various 'hdparm' 
settings are reasonable.  RH9 on a T42 stalls constantly under heavy HD 
usage (i.e., untarring a large file, compiles, etc.) - essentially 
locking up for second at a time, and then recovers.  RHEL4 enables DMA 
on this machine, which VASTLY reduces this behavior...

-Paul