diff -urN oldtree/mm/page-writeback.c newtree/mm/page-writeback.c
--- oldtree/mm/page-writeback.c	2006-09-24 17:03:56.000000000 -0400
+++ newtree/mm/page-writeback.c	2006-09-26 15:29:56.000000000 -0400
@@ -112,9 +112,6 @@
  *
  * We only allow 1/2 of the currently-unmapped memory to be dirtied.
  *
- * We don't permit the clamping level to fall below 5% - that is getting rather
- * excessive.
- *
  * We make sure that the background writeout level is below the adjusted
  * clamping level.
  */
@@ -148,15 +145,16 @@
 	if (dirty_ratio > unmapped_ratio / 2)
 		dirty_ratio = unmapped_ratio / 2;
 
-	if (dirty_ratio < 5)
-		dirty_ratio = 5;
-
 	background_ratio = dirty_background_ratio;
 	if (background_ratio >= dirty_ratio)
 		background_ratio = dirty_ratio / 2;
 
 	background = (background_ratio * available_memory) / 100;
 	dirty = (dirty_ratio * available_memory) / 100;
+	if (dirty < MAX_WRITEBACK_PAGES) {
+		dirty = MAX_WRITEBACK_PAGES;
+		background = 0;
+	}
 	tsk = current;
 	if (tsk->flags & PF_LESS_THROTTLE || rt_task(tsk)) {
 		background += background / 4;