We had same kind of problems when we upgraded from ADSM 3.2.1.30 to TSM
4.2.1
 o look at an archive , it tooks a very very long time..
To resolve we have executed a convert archive on each clients.  it is a
time consuming operation (average of 8 hours by node) but for my 20 clients
and my DB of 11 Gb, expiration time have been reduced of 80%  (30 to 40
hours before to  4  to 6 hours after the convert).
I have no idea if it can be the same kind of problem by upgrading from
4.2.1.7 to 4.2.2.12 but...

we run TSM on an IBM Netfinity 5000 NT4.0 sp6a  450 Mhz 500 Mb ram.

Bruno Dostie
e-mail    dosb AT premiertech DOT com
www:    www.premiertech.com