[ale] [On-topic] "wa" number in "top"?

[jimpop at yahoo.com (Jim Popovitch)]

On Fri, 2006-09-29 at 20:06 -0600, JK wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> I have an app that regularly (1/day) hangs the machine
> it is running on, without leaving any useful output in
> its log.  When this scenario occurs, a "top" left running
> on the console reveals that at the time of the hang,
> 100% of the CPU time is spent in the "wa" state. 

That's CPU "wait".  If an app in the list is not running close to 100%
then the cpu is overly busy most likely waiting on memory read/writes.
This might be indicative of bad memory (IMHO).

Debian top uses "wa" too.

-Jim P.