I'm using the 2.2.17 kernel-image on a system. The whole system seems to pause briefly when commiting data to the IDE hard drive. This has never happened with my own kernel builds, however I can't see any relevant differences in the configuration.
I just tried this on another system and I see a similar effect; one has a BX chipset, the other a VIA 82c686a chipset. Any clue what's likely causing this?