If you echo a value (any value; for example the default 128) to /sys/block/dm-0/queue/nr_requests the shell you are in hangs. After about 5 seconds, the whole system hangs 100%. The system responds to interrupts (ping / sysrq) but that's it. For the rest it's dead in the water. This is with Linux 2.6.0 and the deadline IO scheduler. There is no oops or panic. With sysrq I managed to get a backtrace of the process doing the echo: bash R 00000001 16 657 1 656 (NOTLB) f6d45e60 00000082 c2432c80 00000001 00000003 00000000 c03ba4a0 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 f738b680 f738b714 c01484d4 f738b714 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 f738b680 00001000 00000000 Call Trace: [] vmtruncate+0x79/0x112 [] inode_setattr+0x106/0x17d [] notify_change+0x119/0x16a [] unlock_page+0x15/0x57 [] do_wp_page+0x2c7/0x2f2 [] buffered_rmqueue+0xc4/0x143 [] __alloc_pages+0xa7/0x317 [] queue_var_store+0x23/0x31 [] queue_requests_store+0x11b/0x17d [] queue_attr_store+0x32/0x36 [] flush_write_buffer+0x3b/0x47 [] sysfs_write_file+0x5a/0x69 [] sysfs_write_file+0x0/0x69 [] vfs_write+0xb0/0x119 [] sys_write+0x42/0x63 [] syscall_call+0x7/0xb A "show regs" shows: SysRq : Show Regs Pid: 6, comm: events/0 EIP: 0060:[] CPU: 0 EIP is at smp_call_function+0x130/0x15b EFLAGS: 00000297 Not tainted EAX: 00000000 EBX: 00000001 ECX: 00000000 EDX: 00000002 ESI: 00000001 EDI: 00000297 EBP: f7fda580 DS: 007b ES: 007b CR0: 8005003b CR2: 400c6fe0 CR3: 36c1d000 CR4: 000006d0 Call Trace: [] mce_checkregs+0x0/0x92 [] do_mce_timer+0x27/0x2b [] mce_checkregs+0x0/0x92 [] worker_thread+0x1be/0x283 [] do_mce_timer+0x0/0x2b [] default_wake_function+0x0/0x12 [] default_wake_function+0x0/0x12 [] worker_thread+0x0/0x283 [] kernel_thread_helper+0x5/0xb The sysrq reboot function doesn't work - it you use it, the kernel stops responding to sysrq requests as well. Mike. -- When life hands you lemons, grab the salt and pass the tequila. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/