0003006: Load Average ~0.40 when system is idle

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Category

Severity

Reproducibility

Date Submitted

Last Update

0003006

[CentOS-5] -OTHER

major

always

2008-07-21 01:54

2008-08-02 00:36

Reporter

belswick

View Status

public

Assigned To

Priority

normal

Resolution

open

Platform

Supermicro X7DBN

Status

new

CentOS 5.2

Projection

none

OS Version

5.2

ETA

none

Fixed in Version

Product Version

5.2

Target Version

Product Build

kernel 2.6.18-92.1.6.el5PAE

Summary

0003006: Load Average ~0.40 when system is idle

Description

On a Supermicro X7DBN (Blackford) motherboard with the Intel (ESB2/Gilgal) 82563EB Dual-Port Ethernet chip on board, the system load average hovers around 0.40 while the system is idle. Top and uptime both report the same result.

Steps To Reproduce

1. Install CentOS 5.2 on a Supermicro X7DBN motherboard.
2. Boot the system and wait five minutes for the load to settle.
3. Run top and observe the load average. Load average will be about 0.40
4. Shut down the ethernet interfaces and observe the load average drop to 0.00
5. Start the ethernet adapters and watch the load average run back to about 0.40.

This happens with a boot from the Live CD as well, if you don't want to do a full install to reproduce.

Additional Information

1. Tested on two different mobos of the same model with slightly different CPU setup, same result. One mobo had 1x Intel Xeon 4-core, the other had 2x Intel Xeon 2-core CPUs.

2. The kernel is 2.6.18-92.1.6.el5PAE but I have seen this with more than one recent CentOS kernel.

3. I have a third machine (in production) with the same motherboard, which does not exhibit this issue. That machine is running kernel 2.6.18-53.1.14.el5

4. See discussion on [CentOS] mailing list for more discussion of this issue.

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Notes
(0007791) belswick (reporter) 2008-08-02 00:36	The problem seems to be an unhappy interaction between the 2.6.18-92.1.6.el5 kernels and the Intel e1000e v0.2.0 driver. Installing the Intel e1000e v0.4.1.7-NAPI driver seems to solve the problem. If someone could please do whatever notification is appropriate, this information may be helpful to others.

Issue History
Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2008-07-21 01:54	belswick	New Issue
2008-08-02 00:36	belswick	Note Added: 0007791
2009-02-10 12:24	lynrin	Issue Monitored: lynrin
2009-02-10 12:29	lynrin	Issue End Monitor: lynrin