On Thu, Dec 20, 2007 at 07:26:51AM -0600, Troy wrote:
> I believe the high waiting time (as indicated by the last column on the
> right) is the result of slow disk performance, not a slow CPU.

Your analysis is correct.

>                                                                 As
> previously stated, I tried some disk utilities on the "Ultimate Boot CD",
> and no issues were found with the HDD.  However, does anyone have a
> different disk utility program they recommend?

What does 'hdparm /dev/hda' say?  Does it say anything about DMA and
umaskirq?  Try 'hdparm -d1 -u1 -c1 -m8 /dev/hda' and see if it
improves things.  You can run 'hdparm -t /dev/hda' before and after
running hdparm as suggested above.

> Some other issues I noticed are:
> 1. extremely slow boot - 5 minutes!

Something is seriously wrong here.  Check the kernel log for io errors
(using 'dmesg').  You'll know'em when you see'em.

Cheers,
florin

-- 
Bruce Schneier expects the Spanish Inquisition.
      http://geekz.co.uk/schneierfacts/fact/163
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