Linux Mint Forums

Only from the live DVD?
Have you tested the installed version?
When it comes to things like this it may vary between installed and live DVD
(Note -I'm no expert in the field - but I can handle it if I go slowly )

What about mounting an ISO - does the loop there work?

Seems to be a Debian problem. If so, you can probably also reproduce the same problem on Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives.

You provide steps to replicate the problem, but don't appear to be interested in helping to solve the problem. I don't have a practical reason to mount loopback the exact way that you're doing it, and the practical ways that I do use loopback don't have any problems, so I'm not experiencing this particular error in real-world application. What are you trying to do where this apparant error is a problem?

My thought is that Ubuntu is also Debian-derivative, the problem should replicate on Ubuntu, and Ubuntu has more developer resources to tackle what appears to be an obscure and insidious bug. Does it make sense that the bug is real and affects Mint, but ubuntuforums might be the better place to report and track it than linuxmint/forum?

You say you can't reproduce this on the "latest Ubuntu". Daryna isn't based on the "latest Ubuntu". Problems fixed in Ubuntu-Hardy might remain unfixed in Mint-Daryna, but would be expected to be fixed in Mint-Elyssa. Some problems are fixed in Ubuntu with the server kernel instead of the generic kernel, due to different compile settings. Different kernel compile settings may also explain why the problem doesn't exist in Fedora, although you're sparse on details and it appears you're trying to do this from a LiveCD instead of an actual install. Some problems exist in a LiveCD but not in an actual install, and vice-versa. I, for example, find Mandriva to have desktop eyecandy features that only work from the LiveCD but are broken on actual install.

When you say "Mint 4.0 KDE", I assume "with all available upgrades already patched. When you say "Fedora 9", I assume "full install, full upgrades, not running under vmware". When you say "AMD 4200+ 1 Gb", I assume "real computer, not a vmware session." But you talk of vmware and your initial report is weak on specifics, so I don't know if I'm safe in my assumptions.

Things to consider:
1. Are you running these test OS versions from full install, LiveCD, vmware virtualization of install, or vmware virtualization of LiveCD?
2. Can you reproduce the bug in Elyssa? If this is fixed in Hardy, it should be fixed in Elyssa.
3. Can you reproduce the bug in Ubuntu Gutsy? If this is broke in Daryna, it should be broke in Gutsy.
4. This is broke in Lenny, Etch, etc. Is it still broke if you upgrade or recompile the kernel?
5. Can you fix the problem in any of the distros where it is manifest with a non-stock kernel? If so, how?

The Debian developers may "have better things to do" because the problem is fixed in Ubuntu Hardy and the fix just needs to propogate back to Debian. If the problem is fixed (or not reproducable, which isn't necessarily the "same thing") in Hardy, fixed in Elyssa, then run Elyssa or Hardy.

From what I can gather, my guess is that your problem is related to the iowait error - a known Gutsy bug fixed in Hardy. If true, then I'm not at all surprised the problem exists in Daryna (same guts as Gutsy), and would be surprised if the problem exists in Elyssa. Furthermore, a kernel upgrade to Lenny should fix it also - assuming that Hardy's fix is already backported to Lenny. But the same kernel fix might not be available in Daryna, or might require a custom recompile. Has this been attempted?

There is a problem. It manifests in some distro installs and not in others. The distros where the problem doesn't manifest have newer kernels.