2.4.0: __alloc_pages: 3-order allocation failed.

John O'Donnell
2001-01-07T22:00:33Z

What does this message mean in my dmesg output?

__alloc_pages: 3-order allocation failed.
__alloc_pages: 3-order allocation failed.
__alloc_pages: 3-order allocation failed.
__alloc_pages: 3-order allocation failed.
__alloc_pages: 3-order allocation failed.
reset_xmit_timer sk=c5b3a680 1 when=0x2f49, caller=c022a202

I have been using my computer pretty heavily today.
At the same time:
KDE...
Gnapster: I share a 45Gb IDE drive (filled) - about 10 to 20 transfers happening
simultaneously - average.
Burning CD-R's: dumping alot of Old Time Radio programs to CD-R
Browsin the web in Mozilla.
Misc terminals..
xwave: recording a 1968 Reel to Reel recording of Eugene Ormandy conducting The
Philadelphia Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake to eventually burn to
audio CD and create mp3's. :-)
Once in a while xingmp3enc for Linux.

I recorded a 200Mb wav file and tried to edit it. Xwave gobbled up all my swap
before bringing up a dialog box - out of memory... My cdburn failed, had to
start over...
I just closed xwave.... I did not reboot yet and am getting these messages.
My machine is still functioning ok - other than about 27Mb still swapped, so once
in a while an app feels sluggish as I believe it is getting paged back in.
I was just curious about the message.

About my home system:

866Mhz PIII (Overclocked to 923Mhz)
256Mb RAM - 133Mhz Bus (Overclocked at 142Mhz)
ISA Aztech FM Radio
PCI 3COM 3c905b 100Mbit Ethernet
PCI Trident 4D NX Wave sound card (4-Front drivers)
AGP 3DFX Voodoo 3000
PCI Adaptec 2940U2W SCSI Adapter (80Mb/Sec Bus)
PCI Adaptec 29160 SCSI Adapter (160Mb/Sec Bus)
9Gb Western Digital 80Mb/sec UW SCSI drives x 4
9Gb Seagate 40Mb/sec UW SCSI drives x 4
SCSI Pioneer DVD 303
SCSI Toshiba 32X CDROM
SCSI HP ScanJet 4c
IDE HP CD Writer+ 9100
SCSI HP C1533A 4mm 8Gb SCSI Tape Drive
IDE Superdisk floppy drive 120Mb
IDE Western Digital WD450AA 45Gb Drive (for the MP3's)
ttyS0: Multitech MT5600ZDXV 56K Voice/Data modem (for answering machine software
I wrote)
ttyS1: Multitech MT2834ZDXb 33.6k Data modem for emergencies
USB Port: Rio500 MP3 Player (64Mb internal + 64Mb Flash Card)
lp0: OkiData OL400 Laser Printer

It runs Slackware Linux 7.0 with alot hacked up.
It is connected to the Internet via a 384k SDSL connection.

mrlinux:~# cat /proc/meminfo
total: used: free: shared: buffers: cached:
Mem: 261292032 195178496 66113536 0 1331200 130674688
Swap: 131567616 26980352 104587264
MemTotal: 255168 kB
MemFree: 64564 kB
MemShared: 0 kB
Buffers: 1300 kB
Cached: 127612 kB
Active: 32476 kB
Inact_dirty: 85812 kB
Inact_clean: 10624 kB
Inact_target: 24 kB
HighTotal: 0 kB
HighFree: 0 kB
LowTotal: 255168 kB
LowFree: 64564 kB
SwapTotal: 128484 kB
SwapFree: 102136 kB

--
<SomeLamer> what's the difference between chattr and chmod?
<SomeGuru> SomeLamer: man chattr > 1; man chmod > 2; diff -u 1 2 | less
-- Seen on #linux on irc
=== Never ask a geek why, just nod your head and slowly back away.===
+==============================+====================================+
| John O'Donnell (Sr. Systems Engineer, Net Admin, Webmaster, etc.) |
| Voice FX Corporation (a subsidiary of Student Advantage) |
| One Plymouth Meeting | E-Mail: johnod@voicefx.com |
| Suite 610 | www.voicefx.com |
| Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462 | www.campusdirect.com |
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