Bug#590689: linux-2.6: Sudden slowdowns that feel like freezes in X

[Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>]

Hi again. :)

Willi Mann wrote:

> I'm experiencing this problem with rc5 and rc6 of 2.6.35. Mostly when using
> Iceweasel - so far I've only seen it when clicking on links and thus causing
> another tcp connection to occur - the machine sometimes hangs completly. Hitting
> Ctrl+Alt+F1 doesn't appear to work at first, but after some time (probably 10
> to 40 seconds), the switch to the virtual console works. I've so far always
> hit this key combination multiple times, which, despite really pressing down
> Ctrl and Alt and then hitting F1, caused the Iceweasel Help dialog to occur.
>
> The cursor in the virtual console doesn't blink as usual, the time of the cursor
> visible and invisible phases varies a lot, but is at least as long as the regular
> time. I haven't yet checked whether the problem also causes a time drift.
>
> Note however that the cursor in the virtual console blinks regularly again after 
> some time. 

Neat.  Did this problem eventually go away, or do you still experience it?
If the former, what's the oldest fixed version you remember
(/var/log/dpkg.log* can help)?

My best guess for a fix is not likely to be right for this one:
v2.6.36-rc4~25 (mm: page allocator: calculate a better estimate of
NR_FREE_PAGES when memory is low and kswapd is awake, 2010-09-09).

Thanks,
Jonathan