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?
--
martin; (greetings from the heart of the sun.)
\____ echo mailto: !#^."<*>"|tr "<*> mailto:"; net@madduck
q: how did you get into artificial intelligence?
a: seemed logical -- i didn't have any real intelligence.
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