Hoi list,

I've recently got a new toy:

NetBSD 2.0E (CIRCE.MP) #0: Wed May 12 21:36:19 CEST 2004
	root@circe.entropie.net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/CIRCE.MP
total memory = 511 MB
avail memory = 492 MB
BIOS32 rev. 0 found at 0xfd8b0
mainbus0 (root)
mainbus0: Intel MP Specification (Version 1.4) (HP       MARSHAL     )
cpu0 at mainbus0: apid 1 (boot processor)
cpu0: Intel Pentium III (686-class), 731.09 MHz, id 0x683
cpu0: features 383fbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR>
cpu0: features 383fbff<PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,MMX>
cpu0: features 383fbff<FXSR,SSE>
cpu0: I-cache 16 KB 32b/line 4-way, D-cache 16 KB 32b/line 4-way
cpu0: L2 cache 256 KB 32b/line 8-way
cpu0: ITLB 32 4 KB entries 4-way, 2 4 MB entries fully associative
cpu0: DTLB 64 4 KB entries 4-way, 8 4 MB entries 4-way
cpu0: calibrating local timer
cpu0: apic clock running at 132 MHz
cpu0: 8 page colors
cpu1 at mainbus0: apid 0 (application processor)
cpu1: starting
cpu1: Intel Pentium III (686-class), 731.02 MHz, id 0x683
cpu1: features 383fbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR>
cpu1: features 383fbff<PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,MMX>
cpu1: features 383fbff<FXSR,SSE>
cpu1: I-cache 16 KB 32b/line 4-way, D-cache 16 KB 32b/line 4-way
cpu1: L2 cache 256 KB 32b/line 8-way
cpu1: ITLB 32 4 KB entries 4-way, 2 4 MB entries fully associative
cpu1: DTLB 64 4 KB entries 4-way, 8 4 MB entries 4-way
mpbios: bus 0 is type PCI   
mpbios: bus 1 is type PCI   
mpbios: bus 2 is type PCI   
mpbios: bus 3 is type ISA   
ioapic0 at mainbus0 apid 2 (I/O APIC)
ioapic0: pa 0xfec00000, version 11, 16 pins
ioapic1 at mainbus0 apid 3 (I/O APIC)
ioapic1: pa 0xfec01000, version 11, 16 pins
mpbios: WARNING: pin 17 for apic 3 too high; assuming ACPI global int value

and it's generally working fine (and stunningly fast compared to my old machine :).
I've only some problem with occasional "hiccups", best seen on playing audio. I've
needed to allow bus-mastering to my emu10ki in the bios to get audio working in the
first place, and when tested later with xmms, it plays fine, but has short stops
from time to time. Once I realised that, I've also seen that those hiccups not only
occur to an audio stream, but also during general use -- X e.g. freezes for a sub-second
period, keypresses get delayed a bit to fire all at once etc.

This doesn't happen in any regular period, nor too often to be annoying to anything
else than listening to music. In Xosview, when it happens, I see 100% CPU usage in
"INT" state (that is, both cpus seem to be burning fully in that state).

Has anyone else seen this ? Know what it is ? How to stop it ? How to watch it
to gain information helpful to debugging it ? Any hints anyone ?

Thanks in advance,

-Martin