I have found a reproducable bug in Linux 2.0.31. When copying a large
file (140 megabytes) from an ext2fs partition from one hard disk to an
ext2fs partition to another disk (tried it both as /dev/hdb3 and as
/dev/hdc3), the system will hang. Usually it hanged after 60-70
megabytes, but once it hanged at 15-20 megabytes. The system also
hanged when I tried to fetch the file directly from the net to the
/dev/hdb3 or /dev/hdc3 partition. Once I got the following message on
the console:
Kernel panic: skput:over: 00191fa8:246
In swapper task - not syncing
Turning off the swap did not help anything.
Copying the file went without problems with the 2.0.30 kernel.
Unfortunately I don't have any experience in kernel hacking and bug
hunting, so I cannot tell you whether the bug is in the IDE or in the
ext2fs code.
My system is: P75 with 32MB RAM, 1GB IDE hard disk, and the second
disk was 1,7GB IDE, tried as primary slave and secondary master. As I
haven't faced any problems with this setup before, I'm fairly
confident that this is not a hardware problem, but something in the
ext2fs code or in the IDE driver. I'm glad to provide more
information if needed.
With best regards,
Marko Mäkelä