task blocked for more than 120 seconds

Question

I'm getting a lot of stuff like this on my ec2 instance:

kernel: [141720.410047] INFO: task kjournald:14019 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
kernel: [141720.410205] INFO: task flush-202:112:2005 blocked for more than 120 seconds.
.......

my os is ubuntu 10.10 2.6.35-22-virtual #33-Ubuntu SMP Sun Sep 19 21:05:42 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I was advised to install a new kernel, but unsure how to proceed.

Answer 1

You can install a new kernel upgrade on an Ubuntu instance on EC2 using:

sudo apt-get update &&
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y

Then, if all went well:

sudo reboot

The most recent released kernel for Ubuntu 10.10 on EC2 is

2.6.35-31-virtual

You might also consider upgrading to a more recent version of Ubuntu which comes with an even newer kernel. For example, Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric currently runs this kernel after dist-upgrade:

3.0.0-14-virtual

Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick, which you are running, reaches its end of life in a few months (April 2012), so you'll need to upgrade to a newer release anyways.

Here's a bug report that may relate to the problem you're seeing:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/666211

Answer 2

Looks like you have a problem with your storage. Newer kernels might have a bigger timeout. However 120s it's a lot for a flush.