> The problem looks very similar to the one recently reported by Anders:
>
>
http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/2/22/239
>
> "Trying out 2.6.25-rc2 smartd always causes my box to hang. I can
> switch vt:s and the keyboard seems to work.
>
> Using sysrq-e I noticed a callpath open -> ext3 -> journals ->
> sync_buffer -> io_scheduel -> generic_unplig_device. I'd guess the
> open stems from smartd. Removing smartd from the startup, I'm now
> using rc2 fine..."
>
> Initially we thought that it is an IDE regression but after some
> testing and further investigation it seems that IDE changes just made
> it more likely to occur (yesterday it turned out that the kernel with
> the "guilty" IDE commit sometimes boots fine). The issue is easily
> reproducible.
>
> PS We've already verified that it is not PREEMPT related or a compiler
> bug.