Free one_page currently adds the page to a fake list then free_page_bulk takes it off again and then calles __free_one_page. Make free_one_page go directly to __free_one_page. Saves list on / off and a temporary list in free_one_page. Signed-off-by: Christoph Lameter Index: linux-2.6.18-rc4/mm/page_alloc.c =================================================================== --- linux-2.6.18-rc4.orig/mm/page_alloc.c 2006-08-18 14:52:29.451028823 -0700 +++ linux-2.6.18-rc4/mm/page_alloc.c 2006-08-18 14:52:35.046386459 -0700 @@ -432,9 +432,11 @@ static void free_pages_bulk(struct zone static void free_one_page(struct zone *zone, struct page *page, int order) { - LIST_HEAD(list); - list_add(&page->lru, &list); - free_pages_bulk(zone, 1, &list, order); + spin_lock(&zone->lock); + zone->all_unreclaimable = 0; + zone->pages_scanned = 0; + __free_one_page(page, zone ,order); + spin_unlock(&zone->lock); } static void __free_pages_ok(struct page *page, unsigned int order)