What happens if you kldunload the firewire driver? Also, what happens if you boot w/o it loaded in the first place?
kldunload does not make a difference, it still eats irqs. Not loading it in the first place works around the issue, and returns the machine's responsiveness back to normal. It's the workaround I'm using for now.
Lars -- Lars Eggert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> USC Information Sciences Institute
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