File copies makes my computer slow down

Creak · 02-23-2004, 02:11 PM

Hi!

I don't know why, but every file copy i make is followed by a huge "lag". And during this time my hdd is/are working at 100% (XMMS stops for some seconds, then restart, then stops, etc... like if another apps was taking 100% of the cpu).
It reminds me Windows 95

i got it on each command that demand writing access to the hdd like "cp" or "apt-get install"...

Here is my hdd installation:
Master: Seagate 60Go
Slave: IBM 120Go
/dev/hda1 -> /boot
/dev/hda2 -> swap
/dev/hda3 -> windowsxp
/dev/hda5 -> /
/dev/hda6 -> /home
/dev/hdb1 -> /share

I hope someone has a solution, or just have the same problem (maybe the last kernel 2.6 resolve this ?)

Thanks !
Creak

asalford · 02-23-2004, 02:28 PM

During this process is your swap file growing?

How much ram do you have?

Also, read man hdparm to get the stats on your drive.

What type of hd cable are you using and its length?

Creak · 02-23-2004, 03:01 PM

right here, i can say to u that i have 780 Mo of DDR
the cables are normal UDMA 133 (flat with the really really thin cables in it)

for the swap, i dont know... but i've done a "top" and each time my PC goes down, it seems that "kupdated" and "kswapd" takes around 30% of the cpu...

k-thing aren't for KDE apps ??? i run under debian unstable/fluxbox...

I ll see for the man hdparm

Thanks
Creak

Oliv' · 02-23-2004, 03:11 PM

K means kernel in this case... and you can see swap usage during top (the same lines that RAM usage)

h2gofast · 02-23-2004, 03:13 PM

definitely read the man pages for hdparm
as root try hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda for starters.

asalford · 02-23-2004, 03:56 PM

you may want to consider moving the second hd to master on the second ide channel. I missed that earlier.

Creak · 02-23-2004, 08:04 PM

I've looked what was hdparm, i didn't install it because I already have apm and it looks like if I install hdparm I have to uninstall apm... no ?

what is the main difference between those two ?? should i install hdparm instead of apm ??

EDIT> Ok i've installed hdparm (it's ok for apm, i was misunderstanding

)
The DMA seems to be the problem, there is what it says to me :

Code:

~> hdparm -d1 /dev/hda5
/dev/hda5:
 setting using_dma to 1 (on)
 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Invalid argument
 using_dma    =  0 (off)

U have a solution ???

Thanks again for all the answers !
Creak

asalford · 02-23-2004, 08:33 PM

Try setting the 2nd drive as master on the 2nd ide. Also, look at your bios to make sure that you have udma optioned for the drives.

run this command and post the output.

hdparm -Tt /dev/hda

Creak · 02-25-2004, 07:40 PM

Why putting my second disk as master on the 2nd ide will change something ? It's impossible to have more than 2 "fast" hdd on Linux because DMA is disabled otherwise ? I don't understand...

I haven't found anything about DMA in my BIOS... I've checked each tab...

Here is the output of your command :

Code:

~> hdparm -Tt /dev/hda
/dev/hda:
 Timing buffer-cache reads:   1164 MB in  2.00 seconds = 582.00 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:   12 MB in  3.05 seconds =   3.93 MB/sec

Hope it helps

Creak

Creak · 02-26-2004, 08:44 AM

ok !!!! it's almost resolved !!!
I looked over again my kernel config setup, and i saw that i had a module called VIA82CXXX, i loaded it and i tried hdparm -d1 /dev/hda and it's ok !!! it's worked !!!

I got a last problem... the DMA is disable at startup... i don't understand why...
Should i set the via module in the kernel and not in module ??

Thanks a lot for everything !!
Creak

Oliv' · 02-26-2004, 08:56 AM

look in your kernel config if you can enable this option: CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO
This option allows you to automatically enable DMA at startup

asalford · 02-26-2004, 10:10 AM

I am glad you are getting things going.

Quote:

Why putting my second disk as master on the 2nd ide will change something ?

Reading and writing to the same ide simultaneously does slow things down. They inevitably share the bandwidth if both are working on say a file copy from one drive to another. Splitting the drives on independent ide interfaces allows for utilization of both ide interfaces thus, both get the full bandwidth of the ide

Creak · 02-26-2004, 12:36 PM

@Oliv': Here is everything that is set in the IDE chipset section

Code:

#
# IDE chipset support/bugfixes
#
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD640=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y
CONFIG_IDEPCI_SHARE_IRQ=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI=y
CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PIIX=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RZ1000=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_VIA82CXXX=m
CONFIG_IDEDMA_AUTO=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE_MODES=y

To me, it seems like my drives should have DMA at startup, no ?

@alsaford: I understand now, i'll do it asap

But for the moment, i'm going to try to understand why DMA is disabled at startup...

Thanks again !
Creak

Oliv' · 02-26-2004, 12:59 PM

Yes, it should... What you can try is to pass this option to the kernel at boot:
ideX=dma where X is between 0 and 3 for example ide1.... more info in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/ide.txt
It may also comes from that DMA is possible since you have inserted Via82cxx as module... so at boot, the module is probably not inserted and so DMA is not enabled.

Creak · 02-27-2004, 07:49 PM

COOOL !!!

It's ok now !!! everything starts in dma with the good mode (even for the DVD writer

)
To make it work, i had to put via2cxxx in the kernel and not as a module
(maybe a initrd could fix it if i really wanted to have it as a module, but it's ok

)

Thanks a lot for your helps !!
I hope i will help someone someday, but i m still a young padawan

CYa !
Creak