I agree with you when you say it's not as general ... i'm sure that otherwise the problem would have been already reported and fixed ... however giving info about the config might be useful ... here's mine : system 1 : cat /proc/pci PCI devices found: Bus 0, device 0, function 0: Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C597 [Apollo VP3] (rev 4). Master Capable. Latency=16. Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe0000000 [0xe3ffffff]. Bus 0, device 1, function 0: PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C598/694x [Apollo MVP3/Pro133x AGP] (rev 0). Master Capable. No bursts. Min Gnt=12. Bus 0, device 7, function 0: ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C596 ISA [Mobile South] (rev 6). Bus 0, device 7, function 1: IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. Bus Master IDE (rev 6). Master Capable. Latency=64. I/O at 0xe000 [0xe00f]. Bus 0, device 7, function 2: USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. UHCI USB (rev 2). IRQ 10. Master Capable. Latency=64. I/O at 0xe400 [0xe41f]. Bus 0, device 7, function 3: Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C596 Power Management (rev 0). Bus 0, device 12, function 0: Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 8). IRQ 12. Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=8.Max Lat=56. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe9100000 [0xe9100fff]. I/O at 0xe800 [0xe83f]. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe9000000 [0xe90fffff]. Bus 1, device 0, function 0: VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage Pro AGP 1X/2X (rev 92). IRQ 11. Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=8. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe4000000 [0xe4ffffff]. I/O at 0xd000 [0xd0ff]. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe6000000 [0xe6000fff]. cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : AuthenticAMD cpu family : 5 model : 9 model name : AMD-K6(tm) 3D+ Processor stepping : 1 cpu MHz : 400.915 cache size : 256 KB fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 1 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr mce cx8 pge mmx syscall 3dnow k6_mtrr bogomips : 799.53 kernel: ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: VP_IDE: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 39 Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: VP_IDE: chipset revision 6 Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: VP_IDE: not 100%% native mode: will probe irqs later Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: VP_IDE: VIA vt82c596a (rev 06) IDE UDMA33 controller on pci00:07.1 Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: ide0: BM-DMA at 0xe000-0xe007, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: ide1: BM-DMA at 0xe008-0xe00f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:DMA Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: hda: FUJITSU MPE3084AE, ATA DISK drive Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: hdc: TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-6402B, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14 Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15 Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: hda: 16514064 sectors (8455 MB) w/512KiB Cache, CHS=1027/255/63, UDMA(33) Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: hdc: ATAPI 32X CD-ROM drive, 256kB Cache, UDMA(33) Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12 Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: Partition check: Dec 1 21:01:39 kernel: hda: hda1 hda2 < hda5 hda6 hda7 hda8 hda9 > gcc --version 2.96 see config-1 attached for .config system-2 cat /proc/pci PCI devices found: Bus 0, device 0, function 0: Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX - 82443BX/ZX Host bridge (rev 3). Master Capable. Latency=64. Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf8000000 [0xfbffffff]. Bus 0, device 1, function 0: PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX - 82443BX/ZX AGP bridge (rev 3). Master Capable. Latency=128. Min Gnt=140. Bus 0, device 7, function 0: ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 ISA (rev 2). Bus 0, device 7, function 1: IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 IDE (rev 1). Master Capable. Latency=64. I/O at 0x1040 [0x104f]. Bus 0, device 7, function 2: USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 USB (rev 1). IRQ 9. Master Capable. Latency=64. I/O at 0x1060 [0x107f]. Bus 0, device 7, function 3: Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 2). IRQ 9. Bus 0, device 12, function 0: Multimedia audio controller: Yamaha Corporation YMF-740C [DS-1L Audio Controller] (rev 3). IRQ 10. Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=5.Max Lat=25. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf4108000 [0xf410ffff]. Bus 0, device 16, function 0: Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 8). IRQ 9. Master Capable. Latency=66. Min Gnt=8.Max Lat=56. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf4100000 [0xf4100fff]. I/O at 0x1000 [0x103f]. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf4000000 [0xf40fffff]. Bus 1, device 0, function 0: VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage Pro AGP 1X/2X (rev 92). IRQ 11. Master Capable. Latency=66. Min Gnt=8. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf5000000 [0xf5ffffff]. I/O at 0x9000 [0x90ff]. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf4200000 [0xf4200fff]. cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 7 model name : Pentium III (Katmai) stepping : 3 cpu MHz : 548.741 cache size : 512 KB fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 2 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse bogomips : 1094.45 Dec 1 21:15:12 kernel: PIIX4: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 39 Dec 1 21:15:12 kernel: PIIX4: chipset revision 1 Dec 1 21:15:12 kernel: PIIX4: not 100%% native mode: will probe irqs later Dec 1 21:15:12 kernel: ide0: BM-DMA at 0x1040-0x1047, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA Dec 1 21:15:12 kernel: ide1: BM-DMA at 0x1048-0x104f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:pio Dec 1 21:15:12 random: Initializing random number generator: succeeded Dec 1 21:15:12 kernel: hda: IBM-DTTA-371010, ATA DISK drive Dec 1 21:15:12 kernel: hdb: FUJITSU MPE3136AH, ATA DISK drive Dec 1 21:15:13 kernel: hdc: SONY CD-ROM CDU4821, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive Dec 1 21:15:13 kernel: ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14 Dec 1 21:15:13 kernel: ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15 Dec 1 21:15:13 kernel: hda: 19746720 sectors (10110 MB) w/465KiB Cache, CHS=1229/255/63, UDMA(33) Dec 1 21:15:13 kernel: hdb: 26679688 sectors (13660 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=1660/255/63, UDMA(33) Dec 1 21:15:13 kernel: ide-floppy driver 0.97 Dec 1 21:15:13 kernel: Partition check: Dec 1 21:15:13 kernel: hda: hda1 hda2 < hda5 hda6 hda7 hda8 hda9 hda10 hda11 > Dec 1 21:15:13 kernel: hdb: hdb1 gcc --version 2.96 see config-2 attached for config safemode wrote: > On Sat, 2001-12-01 at 23:54, Charles-Edouard Ruault wrote: > > The symlink problem you're reporting is exactly what i've been experiencing among > > other things ... > > on both systems i had multiple ext2 partitions and one reseirfs partition. > > The problem showed up after a few days of uptime. Both machines where not heaviliy > > loaded and had no memory shortage. > > It looks like it also happened on my third system, which had only 2 ext2 partitions > > . I was able to clean up this one with fsck and rebooted safely to 2.4.14 .... > > Given the fact that i'm not the only one to see the problem with 2.4.16 i'll safely > > backtrack all my machines to 2.4.14 ... > > If i can be of any help to pinpoint the problem please let me know. But since i'm > > not a kernel hacker i don't think i'll be pluging into the sources myself on my own > > ! > > Thanks for the feedback ! > > Charles-Edouard Ruault > > > > Stephane Jourdois wrote: > > > > > On Sat, Dec 01, 2001 at 05:52:39PM -0700, Jeff Merkey wrote: > > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "J Sloan" > > > > > Just to be positive, can you reproduce the problem without nwfs? > > > > Yes. The problem shows up on ext2 partitions only. > > > I destroyed a hard disk yesterday with 2.4.16, using ext3. A heavy load > > > (compiling The gimp and several other things) and everything came bad, symlinks > > > didn't work... (for exemple ln -s linux-2.4.17-pre2 linux did a link from linux > > > to linux either using linux-2.4.17-pre2 and /usr/src/linux-2.4.17-pre2. > > > > I see this lockup when I have more than one file system mounted at a time. It > > > > does not happen when only a single volume (superblock) has been mounted, only > > > > with multiples. Ditto the ext2 corruption. It only shows up when more than one > > > > superblock is active. > > > I had only one partition mounted at the moment (/dev/hda1 on / type ext3) > > > > > > Just in case : debian sid, gcc 2.95.4, everything up to date. > > > > > > We're living in a dangerous world, since 2.4.10... > > This is not as general as you may think. Most people are not > experiencing anything like this. I'm using debian unstable (3.0) the > same gcc as above and such and not getting any of this corruption or > memory instability. And i have 4 mounts of ext3fs's and with 2.4.16, i > had a week uptime. Everyone experiencing these problems should include > motherboard / chipset and ide controller along with the kernel config to > see if there is something similar across them. It shouldn't be hard, > few experience this kind of problem or there would have been a lot more > people submitting reports of "it doesn't work". I, for one, have had > no corruption. > > 00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8371 [KX133] (rev 02) > 00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8371 [KX133 AGP] > 00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] > (rev 22) > 00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. Bus Master IDE (rev 10) > 00:07.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] > (rev 30) > > ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with > idebus=xx > VP_IDE: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 39 > VP_IDE: chipset revision 16 > VP_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later > ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with > idebus=xx > VP_IDE: VIA vt82c686a (rev 22) IDE UDMA66 controller on pci00:07.1 > ide0: BM-DMA at 0xc000-0xc007, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:pio > ide1: BM-DMA at 0xc008-0xc00f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:DMA > PDC20262: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 68 > PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 00:0d.0 > PDC20262: chipset revision 1 > PDC20262: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later > PDC20262: (U)DMA Burst Bit ENABLED Primary PCI Mode Secondary PCI Mode. > ide2: BM-DMA at 0xe800-0xe807, BIOS settings: hde:DMA, hdf:DMA > ide3: BM-DMA at 0xe808-0xe80f, BIOS settings: hdg:DMA, hdh:DMA > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Name: .config > .config Type: Plain Text (text/plain) > Encoding: quoted-printable