Kernel 2.4.17 gets really slow when handling large files

[chrkok@chem.rug.nl (Christiaan Kok)]

Dear people,

I have a problem with kernel 2.4.17 and as far as I have testen all the 2.4.X
kernels before it. When handling large files, like moving or viewing movies
(700 Mb) (with mplayer) my system suddenly slows down a lot. This can only be
repaired by a reboot. hdparm -Tt /dev/hdX values drop from around 25 MB/s to
around 8 MB/s but DMA is still on (at least that is what hdaprm reports). In
is a such a state it is imposible to burn cds for instance but networkspeed is
unharmed.

My system is a AMD Athlon 650 on a Aopen AK74 (VIA chipset )/
640Mb memory/NVidia TNT2 with X4 driver from NVidia/2 network cards (vanilla)/
SoundBlaster 128 with ALSA drivers/128MB swap.

I tested with 2.4.17/2.4.10/2.4.10-ac4/2.4.6 and they all have this problem.  

Is this a well-known problem for 2.4.X kernels? Is there a work-around 
available, so I can happily watch movies again?

with best regards,

Christiaan Kok