Low/Jerky performance in FreeBSD 7

[Yani Brankov]

Hey guys,

I recently updated to FreeBSD 7 and noticed that my box started to 
perform as windows does under heavier loads. The mouse starts to be 
jerky when compiling, window updates/redraws are slow and bump the CPU 
usage up to 100%. I attributed this to the mga driver which comes with 
the distro in the beginning. However, I later noticed the same happens 
even when X has not been started. For instance, I start a kernel compile 
and the console mouse becomes jumpy. All these have never happened 
before with FreeBSD on this box. It has enough memory (1.5G) and 
relatively fast CPU (2.5GHz). I started to think this may be originating 
from kernel level (irq handling, long times in giant locked code during 
syscalls, etc).

I am wondering whether it is only me who has hit this problem or it is 
more common. It may be also related to hardware configuration, etc. I'm 
trying to figure out.

Attaching my dmesg output in case it's important.

Yani
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Copyright (c) 1992-2008 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
	The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE #0: Sun Feb 24 19:59:52 UTC 2008
    root at logan.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.53GHz (2539.10-MHz 686-class CPU)
  Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0xf27  Stepping = 7
  Features=0xbfebfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,DTS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE>
  Features2=0x400<CNXT-ID>
real memory  = 1610547200 (1535 MB)
avail memory = 1564446720 (1491 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <IntelR AWRDACPI>
ioapic0 <Version 2.0> irqs 0-23 on motherboard
kbd1 at kbdmux0
ath_hal: 0.9.20.3 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
hptrr: HPT RocketRAID controller driver v1.1 (Feb 24 2008 19:59:27)
acpi0: <IntelR AWRDACPI> on motherboard
acpi0: [ITHREAD]
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
acpi0: reservation of 0, a0000 (3) failed
acpi0: reservation of 100000, 5fef0000 (3) failed
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x408-0x40b on acpi0
cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
p4tcc0: <CPU Frequency Thermal Control> on cpu0
acpi_button0: <Power Button> on acpi0
pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0
agp0: <Intel 82845G host to AGP bridge> on hostb0
pcib1: <PCI-PCI bridge> at device 1.0 on pci0
pci1: <PCI bus> on pcib1
vgapci0: <VGA-compatible display> mem 0xe4000000-0xe5ffffff,0xe6000000-0xe6003fff,0xe7000000-0xe77fffff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
uhci0: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-A> port 0xd800-0xd81f irq 16 at device 29.0 on pci0
uhci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci0: [ITHREAD]
usb0: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-A> on uhci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb0
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-B> port 0xd000-0xd01f irq 19 at device 29.1 on pci0
uhci1: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci1: [ITHREAD]
usb1: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-B> on uhci1
usb1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci2: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-C> port 0xd400-0xd41f irq 18 at device 29.2 on pci0
uhci2: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci2: [ITHREAD]
usb2: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-C> on uhci2
usb2: USB revision 1.0
uhub2: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb2
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0: <Intel 82801DB/L/M (ICH4) USB 2.0 controller> mem 0xe9100000-0xe91003ff irq 23 at device 29.7 on pci0
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ehci0: [ITHREAD]
usb3: EHCI version 1.0
usb3: companion controllers, 2 ports each: usb0 usb1 usb2
usb3: <Intel 82801DB/L/M (ICH4) USB 2.0 controller> on ehci0
usb3: USB revision 2.0
uhub3: <Intel EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb3
uhub3: 6 ports with 6 removable, self powered
uhub4: <vendor 0x0424 product 0x2502, class 9/0, rev 2.00/0.01, addr 2> on uhub3
uhub4: single transaction translator
uhub4: 2 ports with 1 removable, self powered
uhub5: <vendor 0x0424 product 0x2602, class 9/0, rev 2.00/0.00, addr 3> on uhub4
uhub5: multiple transaction translators
uhub5: 4 ports with 3 removable, self powered
umass0: <Generic Flash Card Reader, class 0/0, rev 2.00/4.44, addr 4> on uhub5
umass1: <Sony DRX-830UL, class 0/0, rev 2.00/4.72, addr 5> on uhub3
pcib2: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 30.0 on pci0
pci2: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib2
rl0: <RealTek 8139 10/100BaseTX> port 0xc000-0xc0ff mem 0xe9000000-0xe90000ff irq 18 at device 6.0 on pci2
miibus0: <MII bus> on rl0
rlphy0: <RealTek internal media interface> PHY 0 on miibus0
rlphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
rl0: Ethernet address: 00:30:1b:ac:d2:33
rl0: [ITHREAD]
fwohci0: <VIA Fire II (VT6306)> port 0xc400-0xc47f mem 0xe9001000-0xe90017ff irq 19 at device 7.0 on pci2
fwohci0: [FILTER]
fwohci0: OHCI version 1.0 (ROM=1)
fwohci0: No. of Isochronous channels is 8.
fwohci0: EUI64 00:30:1b:ac:00:00:d2:97
fwohci0: Phy 1394a available S400, 3 ports.
fwohci0: Link S400, max_rec 2048 bytes.
firewire0: <IEEE1394(FireWire) bus> on fwohci0
fwe0: <Ethernet over FireWire> on firewire0
if_fwe0: Fake Ethernet address: 02:30:1b:00:d2:97
fwe0: Ethernet address: 02:30:1b:00:d2:97
fwip0: <IP over FireWire> on firewire0
fwip0: Firewire address: 00:30:1b:ac:00:00:d2:97 @ 0xfffe00000000, S400, maxrec 2048
sbp0: <SBP-2/SCSI over FireWire> on firewire0
dcons_crom0: <dcons configuration ROM> on firewire0
dcons_crom0: bus_addr 0x14b4000
fwohci0: Initiate bus reset
fwohci0: BUS reset
fwohci0: node_id=0xc800ffc0, gen=1, CYCLEMASTER mode
isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0
atapci0: <Intel ICH4 UDMA100 controller> port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0xf000-0xf00f at device 31.1 on pci0
ata0: <ATA channel 0> on atapci0
ata0: [ITHREAD]
ata1: <ATA channel 1> on atapci0
ata1: [ITHREAD]
pci0: <serial bus, SMBus> at device 31.3 (no driver attached)
pcm0: <Intel ICH4 (82801DB)> port 0xe000-0xe0ff,0xe400-0xe43f mem 0xe9101000-0xe91011ff,0xe9102000-0xe91020ff irq 17 at device 31.5 on pci0
pcm0: [ITHREAD]
pcm0: <Avance Logic ALC650 AC97 Codec>
acpi_tz0: <Thermal Zone> on acpi0
fdc0: <floppy drive controller> port 0x3f0-0x3f5,0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2 on acpi0
fdc0: [FILTER]
sio0: <16550A-compatible COM port> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on acpi0
sio0: type 16550A
sio0: [FILTER]
sio1: <16550A-compatible COM port> port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3 on acpi0
sio1: type 16550A
sio1: [FILTER]
atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> port 0x60,0x64 irq 1 on acpi0
atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
atkbd0: [ITHREAD]
psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
psm0: [ITHREAD]
psm0: model IntelliMouse Explorer, device ID 4
pmtimer0 on isa0
orm0: <ISA Option ROMs> at iomem 0xc0000-0xc8fff,0xcc000-0xd3fff pnpid ORM0000 on isa0
ppc0: <Parallel port> at port 0x378-0x37f irq 7 on isa0
ppc0: Generic chipset (NIBBLE-only) in COMPATIBLE mode
ppbus0: <Parallel port bus> on ppc0
ppbus0: [ITHREAD]
plip0: <PLIP network interface> on ppbus0
lpt0: <Printer> on ppbus0
lpt0: Interrupt-driven port
ppi0: <Parallel I/O> on ppbus0
ppc0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ppc0: [ITHREAD]
sc0: <System console> at flags 0x100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300>
vga0: <Generic ISA VGA> at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0
Timecounter "TSC" frequency 2539103340 Hz quality 800
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
hptrr: no controller detected.
firewire0: 1 nodes, maxhop <= 0, cable IRM = 0 (me)
firewire0: bus manager 0 (me)
ad0: 476940MB <Seagate ST3500641A 3.AAJ> at ata0-master UDMA100
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
cd0 at umass-sim1 bus 1 target 0 lun 0
cd0: <SONY DVD RW DRU-840A SS01> Removable CD-ROM SCSI-0 device 
cd0: 40.000MB/s transfers
cd0: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present - tray closed
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
(da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): got CAM status 0x4
(da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): fatal error, failed to attach to device
(da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): lost device
(da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): removing device entry
da1 at umass-sim0 bus 0 target 0 lun 1
da1: <Generic Flash HS-COMBO 4.44> Removable Direct Access SCSI-0 device 
da1: 40.000MB/s transfers
da1: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
umass0: BBB reset failed, IOERROR
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a
rl0: link state changed to UP