Heavy IO in 2.4.13-ac4 with preempt patch -> kupdated hogs system

["Kahli R. Burke" <kahliburke@home.com>]

Hello,

    I have seen this with the above mentioned kernel, and 2.4.10 with no 
extra patches.  When I perform some IO intensive operation (and I'm 
thinking it may just be writing, not reading), such as copying 300MB 
from one filesystem to another, or ripping a CD, the system gets VERY 
slow.  It happens in bursts, if I'm in X the mouse will move normally 
for a second, then the system will appear to hang completely for a few 
seconds, then it will move normally, and so on.  If I look at top, I see 
my system load go up above 3, kupdated hogs the CPU, and the system 
slice of the CPU is up at about 99%.  It seems like the throughput is 
way less than it should be, although I haven't benchmarked it.

    Has anyone else been experiencing this, or might have an idea on 
where to look for answers?

    Other than that, system seems to be quite stable and performs well.

Thanks for any assistance.  If I missed any important info, let me know...

    Here is my hardware:

    Athlon 1.2 GHz
    ABit KT7A-RAID MB, (I think it's the VIA Apollo KT133A chipset)
    320MB RAM
    Assorted HD's, some ATA-66, some not, not using the HPT 370 RAID 
right now
    GeForce2 32MB
    and a bunch of other stuff I don't think is relevant.

    Here's excepts from .config that may be relevant (it's probably 
still too much, I apologize but I 'm not sure exactly what might be wanted)

     grep "[y|m]" .config | grep -v "^#" | grep -v "CONFIG_NLS_" | grep 
-v "CONFIG_SOUND" | grep -v "CONFIG_INPUT"


CONFIG_X86=y
CONFIG_ISA=y
CONFIG_UID16=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_ISA_DMA=y
CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL=y
CONFIG_MODULES=y
CONFIG_MODVERSIONS=y
CONFIG_KMOD=y
CONFIG_MK7=y
CONFIG_X86_WP_WORKS_OK=y
CONFIG_X86_INVLPG=y
CONFIG_X86_CMPXCHG=y
CONFIG_X86_XADD=y
CONFIG_X86_BSWAP=y
CONFIG_X86_POPAD_OK=y
CONFIG_RWSEM_XCHGADD_ALGORITHM=y
CONFIG_X86_TSC=y
CONFIG_X86_GOOD_APIC=y
CONFIG_X86_USE_3DNOW=y
CONFIG_X86_PGE=y
CONFIG_X86_USE_PPRO_CHECKSUM=y
CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM=y
CONFIG_MTRR=y
CONFIG_SMP=y
CONFIG_PREEMPT=y
CONFIG_HAVE_DEC_LOCK=y
CONFIG_NET=y
CONFIG_X86_IO_APIC=y
CONFIG_X86_LOCAL_APIC=y
CONFIG_PCI=y
CONFIG_PCI_GOANY=y
CONFIG_PCI_BIOS=y
CONFIG_PCI_DIRECT=y
CONFIG_PCI_NAMES=y
CONFIG_HOTPLUG=y
CONFIG_PCMCIA=m
CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y
CONFIG_SYSCTL=y
CONFIG_KCORE_ELF=y
CONFIG_BINFMT_AOUT=y
CONFIG_BINFMT_ELF=y
CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC=y
CONFIG_PM=y
CONFIG_PARPORT=m
CONFIG_PARPORT_PC=m
CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_CML1=m
CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_FIFO=y
CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_PCMCIA=m
CONFIG_PARPORT_1284=y
CONFIG_PNP=y
CONFIG_ISAPNP=y
CONFIG_PNPBIOS=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NBD=m
CONFIG_MD=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_MD=m
CONFIG_MD_LINEAR=m
CONFIG_MD_RAID0=m
CONFIG_MD_RAID1=m
CONFIG_MD_RAID5=m
CONFIG_MD_MULTIPATH=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LVM=m
CONFIG_PACKET=y
CONFIG_NETLINK=y
CONFIG_RTNETLINK=y
CONFIG_NETLINK_DEV=m
CONFIG_NETFILTER=y
CONFIG_NETFILTER_DEBUG=y
CONFIG_UNIX=y
CONFIG_INET=y
CONFIG_IP_MULTICAST=y
CONFIG_IP_ADVANCED_ROUTER=y
CONFIG_RTNETLINK=y
CONFIG_NETLINK=y
CONFIG_IP_MULTIPLE_TABLES=y
CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_FWMARK=y
CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_NAT=y
CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_MULTIPATH=y
CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_TOS=y
CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_VERBOSE=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_CONNTRACK=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_FTP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_QUEUE=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_LIMIT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MAC=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MARK=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MULTIPORT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_TOS=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_TCPMSS=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_STATE=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_UNCLEAN=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_OWNER=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_FILTER=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_REJECT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_MIRROR=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_NEEDED=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_MASQUERADE=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_REDIRECT=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_FTP=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_MANGLE=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_TOS=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_MARK=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_LOG=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_TCPMSS=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_COMPAT_IPCHAINS=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_NEEDED=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_COMPAT_IPFWADM=m
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_NEEDED=y
CONFIG_IDE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y
CONFIG_IDEDISK_MULTI_MODE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDESCSI=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y
CONFIG_IDEPCI_SHARE_IRQ=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ADMA=y
CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PIIX=y
CONFIG_PIIX_TUNING=y
CONFIG_IDEDMA_AUTO=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE_MODES=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ATARAID=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ATARAID_PDC=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ATARAID_HPT=m
CONFIG_SCSI=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR=m
CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG=m
CONFIG_SCSI_DEBUG_QUEUES=y
CONFIG_SCSI_MULTI_LUN=y
CONFIG_SCSI_CONSTANTS=y
CONFIG_SCSI_PPA=m
CONFIG_SCSI_SYM53C8XX=m
CONFIG_NETDEVICES=y
CONFIG_DUMMY=m
CONFIG_NET_ETHERNET=y
CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_3COM=y
CONFIG_EL1=m
CONFIG_EL2=m
CONFIG_ELPLUS=m
CONFIG_EL16=m
CONFIG_EL3=m
CONFIG_3C515=m
CONFIG_VORTEX=m
CONFIG_LANCE=m
CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_SMC=y
CONFIG_WD80x3=m
CONFIG_ULTRA=m
CONFIG_SMC9194=m
CONFIG_AT1700=m
CONFIG_DEPCA=m
CONFIG_HP100=m
CONFIG_NET_PCI=y
CONFIG_PCNET32=m
CONFIG_ADAPTEC_STARFIRE=m
CONFIG_AC3200=m
CONFIG_APRICOT=m
CONFIG_CS89x0=m
CONFIG_TULIP=m
CONFIG_DE4X5=m
CONFIG_DGRS=m
CONFIG_DM9102=m
CONFIG_EEPRO100=m
CONFIG_FEALNX=m
CONFIG_NATSEMI=m
CONFIG_NE2K_PCI=m
CONFIG_8139CP=m
CONFIG_8139TOO=m
CONFIG_SIS900=m
CONFIG_EPIC100=m
CONFIG_SUNDANCE=m
CONFIG_TLAN=m
CONFIG_VIA_RHINE=m
CONFIG_WINBOND_840=m
CONFIG_PPP=m
CONFIG_PPP_ASYNC=m
CONFIG_PPP_SYNC_TTY=m
CONFIG_PPP_DEFLATE=m
CONFIG_PPP_BSDCOMP=m
CONFIG_PPPOE=m
CONFIG_VT=y
CONFIG_VT_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_SERIAL=y
CONFIG_UNIX98_PTYS=y
CONFIG_MOUSE=y
CONFIG_PSMOUSE=y
CONFIG_AGP=y
CONFIG_AGP_ALI=y
CONFIG_AGP_AMD=y
CONFIG_AGP_SIS=y
CONFIG_AGP_INTEL=y
CONFIG_AGP_I810=y
CONFIG_AGP_VIA=y
CONFIG_DRM=y
CONFIG_DRM_OLD=y
CONFIG_AUTOFS4_FS=y
CONFIG_REISERFS_FS=m
CONFIG_EXT3_FS=m
CONFIG_JBD=m
CONFIG_JBD_DEBUG=y
CONFIG_FAT_FS=m
CONFIG_MSDOS_FS=m
CONFIG_VFAT_FS=m
CONFIG_TMPFS=y
CONFIG_ISO9660_FS=y
CONFIG_JOLIET=y
CONFIG_PROC_FS=y
CONFIG_DEVPTS_FS=y
CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y
CONFIG_NFS_FS=y
CONFIG_NFSD=y
CONFIG_SUNRPC=y
CONFIG_LOCKD=y
CONFIG_MSDOS_PARTITION=y
CONFIG_NLS=y
CONFIG_VGA_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT=y
CONFIG_FB=y
CONFIG_DUMMY_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_FB_VESA=y
CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT=y
CONFIG_FBCON_CFB8=y
CONFIG_FBCON_CFB16=y
CONFIG_FBCON_CFB24=y
CONFIG_FBCON_CFB32=y
CONFIG_FONT_8x8=y
CONFIG_FONT_8x16=y
CONFIG_MIDI_EMU10K1=y
CONFIG_USB=y
CONFIG_USB_DEBUG=y
CONFIG_USB_UHCI=m
CONFIG_USB_UHCI_ALT=m
CONFIG_USB_OHCI=m
CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=m
CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_DEBUG=y
CONFIG_USB_STORAGE_HP8200e=y
CONFIG_USB_PRINTER=m