found this bug reported already: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=29162 also discussed here http://groups.google.com/group/linux.kernel/browse_thread/thread/47b82ab31ae4a056/62b9059817eafb39 The reporter also mentions, that the deadlock is triggered by KMail, as it was on my machine at least once. Time to reinstall and finally get rid of reiserfs. :-) Thomas Koch, http://www.koch.ro