Public bug reported: Since I upgraded from maverick to natty, I observe hangs of truecrypt when copying a number of large files (6 files, ~6 GB) to a truecrypt NTFS partition on an external eSATA drive. I can also reproduce the problem with dd. In the logs I see stuff like this:
Jul 19 22:14:05 carbon kernel: [16293.933122] SLUB: Unable to allocate memory on node -1 (gfp=0x20) Jul 19 22:14:05 carbon kernel: [16293.933125] cache: kmalloc-8192, object size: 8192, buffer size: 8192, default order: 3, min order: 1 Jul 19 22:14:05 carbon kernel: [16293.933128] node 0: slabs: 144, objs: 576, free: 0 Jul 19 22:14:05 carbon kernel: [16293.933146] skbuff alloc of size 3904 failed Jul 19 22:14:05 carbon kernel: [16294.022193] tail: page allocation failure. order:1, mode:0x4020 (more in the attached logs) Also, a truecrypt hang is reported: Jul 19 23:05:37 carbon kernel: [ 1320.651644] INFO: task truecrypt:3186 blocked for more than 120 seconds. Jul 19 23:05:37 carbon kernel: [ 1320.651652] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. Jul 19 23:05:37 carbon kernel: [ 1320.651657] truecrypt D 0000000000000000 0 3186 1 0x00000000 Jul 19 23:05:37 carbon kernel: [ 1320.651667] ffff8800609c7920 0000000000000086 ffff8800609c7fd8 ffff8800609c6000 Jul 19 23:05:37 carbon kernel: [ 1320.651675] 0000000000013d00 ffff88010012df38 ffff8800609c7fd8 0000000000013d00 Jul 19 23:05:37 carbon kernel: [ 1320.651683] ffffffff81a0b020 ffff88010012db80 ffff8800badceeb8 ffff8800baa13d00 Jul 19 23:05:37 carbon kernel: [ 1320.651691] Call Trace: Jul 19 23:05:37 carbon kernel: [ 1320.651707] [<ffffffff8110c110>] ? sync_page+0x0/0x50 (more in the attached logs) I found a workaround for this problem. It seems the system is running out of memory (4GB laptop), so I found the suggestion to raise the parameter vm.min_free_kbytes. This was set to ~7 MB initially, raising it to 131072 prevents the problem from happening. It also seems to raise the IO throughput to the truecrypt device slightly (between 10-20%), the copy process stops less often. ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04 Package: linux-image-2.6.38-10-generic 2.6.38-10.46 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-10.46-generic 2.6.38.7 Uname: Linux 2.6.38-10-generic x86_64 AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23. Architecture: amd64 ArecordDevices: **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices **** card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC269 Analog [ALC269 Analog] Subdevices: 1/1 Subdevice #0: subdevice #0 AudioDevicesInUse: USER PID ACCESS COMMAND /dev/snd/controlC0: ziggy 2053 F.... pulseaudio CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory Card0.Amixer.info: Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xeb000000 irq 54' Mixer name : 'Intel IbexPeak HDMI' Components : 'HDA:10ec0269,104312d3,00100004 HDA:80862804,80860101,00100000' Controls : 15 Simple ctrls : 8 Date: Wed Jul 20 21:12:33 2011 EcryptfsInUse: Yes HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=fdc319bf-2369-407b-ac3b-5480bb23a9f8 InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Beta amd64 (20100406) MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer INC. N61Jv ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE=en_US:en PATH=(custom, user) LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.38-10-generic root=UUID=492a9e89-17ba-42ee-b053-4fc5382d33ed ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7 RelatedPackageVersions: linux-restricted-modules-2.6.38-10-generic N/A linux-backports-modules-2.6.38-10-generic N/A linux-firmware 1.52 RfKill: 0: phy0: Wireless LAN Soft blocked: no Hard blocked: no SourcePackage: linux UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-07-01 (18 days ago) dmi.bios.date: 12/10/2010 dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc. dmi.bios.version: 222 dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567 dmi.board.name: N61Jv dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC. dmi.board.version: 1.0 dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0x00000000 dmi.chassis.type: 10 dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC. dmi.chassis.version: 1.0 dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr222:bd12/10/2010:svnASUSTeKComputerINC.:pnN61Jv:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnN61Jv:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:ct10:cvr1.0: dmi.product.name: N61Jv dmi.product.version: 1.0 dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC. ** Affects: linux (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: Confirmed ** Tags: amd64 apport-bug natty -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/813745 Title: page allocation failure, truecrypt hangs when copying large files To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/813745/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs