[CentOS] Load Average ~0.40 when idle

Sat Jul 19 20:48:55 UTC 2008
listmail <listmail at entertech.com>

I am running CentOS 5 on a dual-dual-core Intel machine, and I am seeing
a load average of between 0.35 and 0.50 while the machine is idle, i.e.
no processes appear to be running.

Both top and uptime report the same thing. Looking at top, I cannot see 
any processes that are using CPU time except for top and init, and they are
not using enough cycles to push up the load average.

According to top, there are occasional tiny (like 0.5%) bumps in the
system usage occasionally, and almost no user space usage. Again, not
enough to account for the load average I am seeing.

I have tried a couple of kernel updates, and upgraded from CentOS 5.0 to 5.2,
none of which make any difference.

Has anyone else seen this? And can anyone recommend a way to figure out
what is causing the load average to be this high when the machine is idle?

Thanks,
--Bill