> 
> Do you have an NTFS disk mounted? I had a similar problem which was
> "fixed" by not having an NTFS vol mounted. Apparently the ntfs code
> makes a lot of calls to vmalloc which leads to badness.
> 
Both modify_ldt and NTFS make lots of calls to vmalloc.

AFAICS this limits the number of concurrently running processes that are
linked to libpthread to less than 2000 on highmem machines, regardless
of the actual free memory.

Could you try the attached patch?
It should permit you to keep the NTFS vol mounted - libpthread doesn't
need a 64 kB LDT. That should reduce the pressure on the vmalloc area.

The patch applies to both 2.4.16 and 2.5.1

--
	Manfred