Just tried it again (after avoiding any situation triggering this bug as much as possible for a while), and apparently some update in the meantime has indeed fixed it. Nothing remains of the symptoms described; under heavy load everything keeps running, albeit slower of course.
Thanks for your time and effort. ** Changed in: linux-source-2.6.17 (Ubuntu) Status: Needs Info => Fix Released -- System unresponsive during disc writes (on Edgy; regression) https://launchpad.net/bugs/74780 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs