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Re: modem <-> performance weirdness



On Mon, Sep 09, 2002 at 06:35:32PM +0200, martin f krafft wrote:
> i have an old 486DX2-66. it happily does pppoe/pppd + iptables
> MASQUERADE + bind9 + dhcpd for my home network all day long. it's
> system load usually doesn't exceed 0.20. it's running sarge with
> a custom 2.4.18 kernel.
> 
> there's also a modem connected to the machine on ttyS0, linked to
> /dev/modem, simply because i need to establish some non-ISP PPP
> connections with the outside world and send faxes.
> 
> here's a problem that baffles me:
> 
>   when i use /usr/bin/pon or minicom to simply dial out to another
>   modem where there's a pppd+mgetty waiting to accept calls, the
>   system goes gaga. with that i mean this:
>     - as soon as the connection is started (i.e. the modem screams),
>       the system load just keeps climbing. i just had it at 76.00.
>     - i can't see the top output, because top doesn't update anymore
>     - the entire system is unresponsive
>     - only when i physically turn off the modem, then the computer
>       goes back to normal
> 
> i have experimented with the above to a point where i've disabled
> as many processes as possible, and then tried again. but even with
> only 14 processes running, the same happens.
> 
> how should i go from here? what can i try to narrow in on the problem?

I never used it but:

# apt-get install hwtools
$ cd /usr/share/doc/hwtools/
$ links irqtune.html # lynx

   irqtune changes the IRQ priority of devices to allow devices that
   require high priority and fast service (e.g. serial ports, modems) to
   have it.

   With irqtune, a 3X speedup of serial/modem throughput is possible.


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