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PV 745n intermittenly freezes for 5-10 seconds during heavy loads
We're using our 745n as a file hoster on a small image hosting service. From time to time, especially during backups (but not always), the disc subsystem seems to completely stop responding. The system is still available (via remote desktop), and permon, taskman, etc continue to run, but there's no output from the network share setup on the box.
Pages/sec drop to zero, CPU use pretty much flattens out, and the system, at least for a few seconds, seems to just freeze.
Avg. Pages per second is around 280.
Any ideas?
Ripside
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October 17th, 2005 02:00
JMansford
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May 26th, 2006 08:00
Yep, mine did this too. I was chatting with a Windows OS MVP who had me look at all sorts of performance counters and his best guess was a bad driver.
Mine got better when I wiped out the RAID 5 partition and replaced it with a RAID 10 one. I think the RAID controller is sheet.
Is yours working any better now?
Joel.
Ripside
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May 26th, 2006 12:00
JMansford
21 Posts
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May 26th, 2006 12:00
JMansford
21 Posts
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May 26th, 2006 13:00
FYI I ruled out the network drivers. My 725n had Broadcom nics, and then the 745n had Intel NICs.
The lockups are very strange, absolutely everything stops, an RDP session may time out, if you're on the console Taskmanager freezes (including the CPU graphs). I found there to be very little evidence that the lock-up had occurred because like you say it was sooo brutal.
I did briefly look at trying to put proper Adaptec drivers on for the controller (rather than Dell ones). However Adaptec now require you to register and put in serial numbers before they let you at the drivers.
Adaptec seem to be quite a way ahead with the drivers so maybe they've already fixed it !?? (Assuming it's the RAID controller at fault of course).
Ripside
11 Posts
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May 26th, 2006 13:00
Yeah, I think its got to be something with the RAID or network drivers.
Under load, ours behaved as if it just shut itself down for a few seconds at a time, every 5-10 seconds. That's brutal if you're using it in a production environment.
745n was definately not Ready For Prime Time, and we also got nowhere with support.
Luckily (for Dell) the 775's and 220's perform very well. We've moved beyond even that to an EMC CX300 shelf direct attached to 2 775's, and the performance gain is phenomenal over the 220 SCSI direct attach.
I'd still like to use the 745n for small applications, if there's a resolution anyone comes up with, I'm up to try anything.