[gentoo-user] Very bad system response

[Michael Schreckenbauer <grimlog@gmx.de>]

Hi List,
I have a very strange thing here. I don't know when this started, but my 
feeling is, that it was around kernel 2.6.15 and it's getting worse with each 
version.
From time to time my system comes to a complete halt, that means not a single 
application shows any response to mouse and/or keyactions, sshing into it 
takes forever. After a while (up to ~30s ) normal reaction is back again. 
Strange thing is, there is no activity at the times this happens. Reading 
email and browsing the web is all that is needed. CPU is at 3-5% according to 
top, mem has ~1GB free according to free.
I can somehow force this behaviour by doing some harddisc io, eg untaring a 
kernel-tarball. But it does not happen everytime I do this.
This is really, really annoying. I have no idea, if this is a kernel, a FS or 
any other issue. Any help with this is most welcome.
Some additional info: fs is xfs, kernel is 2.6.19-gentoo-r4 and I'm a 
KDE-User, but this also happens with xfce4 ;)

Thanks,
Michael
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