ext3 on Linux 2.2 is flaky in general even on i386 as far as I am concerned. Basically, the newer ext3 stuff stopped getting applied to the 2.2 tree. If you want ext3 you pretty much have to go to 2.4. BTW: I did attempt ext3 on an i386 2.2 kernel and had limited success. I bit the bullet and went to 2.4 and everything's sweet.