Thread 'Boinc doesn't respond to mouse movement'
Message boards : Questions and problems : Boinc doesn't respond to mouse movement
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Send message Joined: 12 Dec 10 Posts: 7 
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I have nine computers running various Boinc projects. Six on win XP-Pro, three on Win2KPro. Eight of them run fine with no problems, but the ninth one has a problem with Boinc. It does not stop computing immediately I move the mouse. All of the others display a little yellow pop-up dialog next to the Boinc tray icon, stating that computation has been suspended the moment a key is touched, the mouse is moved or, on some of the computers, when the touchscreen is touched. This one (one of the Win XP-Pro computers) keeps running. There is no popup window, and in fact there is no Boinc icon in the tray (even thought boinctray.exe is running in the Task Manager) Any clues? ID: 36043 ·  |
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Send message Joined: 5 Oct 06 Posts: 5149 
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Owing to an unfortunate naming choice by the BOINC developers, you have fallen into a common misconception. The icon you see in the system tray on Windows machines actually belongs to BOINC Manager. As the name Manager implies, this is a command-and-control module, not a program which does any actual work. It is also the module responsible for handling communications with you, the user, which is why you see bubble notifications coming from it. boinctray.exe, despite the name, has no connection with the system tray. It is a small helper application, which runs entirely silently and without an icon - indeed, it has no user interface at all. The main work is done by boinc.exe, and by the science applications it controls. It is entirely possible to run boinc.exe, and to be doing useful science, without ever seeing BOINC Manager or its icon after the initial setup. So, having got that confusion out of the way, what exactly is the problem? Are you sure that BOINC's science applications continue to run, using 100% (or whatever) CPU time, even after you touch the keyboard/mouse/screen? Open Windows Task Manager, and watch what CPU %age is shown against the System Idle Process. Or could it be that the major concern is the lack of reassurance you're getting, because of the absence of the popup window? ID: 36044 · |
 Gundolf JahnSend message Joined: 20 Dec 07 Posts: 1069 
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Any clues? Are the Activities set to "Run based on preferences"? Are the (local) Preferences set to disallow computing while computer is in use? Are you using the GPU for crunching on that host? Gruß, Gundolf ID: 36045 · |
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Send message Joined: 12 Dec 10 Posts: 7
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Richard Here is exactly what it happening 1. I switch on computer and boinc loads automatically. I start doing whatever it was I turned the computer on for. Then I go away to do something else, leaving the computer idle. 2. When I come back, the HDD light is on continuously, and the computer will not respond to movement of the mouse or keyboard. Eventually, it does respond but is very slow in doing so. The screen "refreshes" very very slowly, and eventually (sometimes as long as 5 minutes after I have been trying to get it to respond) the HDD light goes out, and the computer acts normally. 3. As long as I keep using the computer, I have no problems, but if I stop for more than a few minutes, the HDD light comes on, and the whole problem begins again I have established that it is Boinc causing this, by shutting it down in the task manager. This problem only happens when Boinc is running. boinc.exe, boincmgr.exe and boinctray.exe are all running in the task list. EDIT: Actually, I have just checked again. boinctray.exe is NOT in the tasklist, but it IS checked in the startup list in msconfig. Could that be the problem. From what you say, boinctray monitors the mouse & keyboard Gundulf Activity is set to "Run based on preferences" & "Network activity is based on preferences Preferences are set as follows Processor usage: While computer is on batteries is unchecked While computer is in use is unchecked Only after computer has been idle for 5 minutes All other settings are default. ID: 36049 · |
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Send message Joined: 5 Oct 06 Posts: 5149
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That rather sounds as if the keyword in your opening post is "immediately": BOINC is shutting down the running science application(s), but just not as quickly as you would like. In turn, that sounds as if you're attached to a project which uses a very large amount of RAM, relative to the amount of free RAM available in that particular machine. Which project, which application (some projects have multiple applications for different work types), and how much RAM do you have in the machine? I wouldn't even attempt to run WinXP in under 512MB these days, preferably 1GB minimum with BOINC on top - and more for heavy-duty projects. ID: 36050 · |
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Send message Joined: 12 Dec 10 Posts: 7
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I am attached to; Rosetta Einstein SETI They are split 33% each way All of the other eight computers respond with the "bubble" dialog (and stop computing) the instant the mouse is moved (as I would expect) RAM is 2GB on this machine NOTE: Should I be able to locate boinctray.exe somewhere on my computer? I have done a search and cannot find it. It is listed in the msconfig startup list, but does not appear to be running. I will check this out in some of the other computers when I get to work. In the meantime, I have "snoozed" boinc on this computer so that I can get some of my own work done :) ID: 36052 · |
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Send message Joined: 5 Oct 06 Posts: 5149
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Won't be SETI. I don't know Rosetta's characteristics, someone else will have to chip in. Einstein is usually well-behaved while running, but has a very heavy memory footprint when starting a task (especially the Global Correlations S5 search #1 v3.02). There's only one Ian Cook active at Einstein, and he only has one computer, running Windows XP: is this yours? If so, you haven't returned a task in over a month. If the tasks are starting, but failing to get past the initial 'high memory' phase, then you have a bigger problem than just a missing pop-up. Check whether an anti-virus program might be blocking the application, or whether it's having difficulty reading files off the disk (run chkdsk or similar). ID: 36053 · |
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Send message Joined: 12 Dec 10 Posts: 7
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No, that does not appear to be me. Must be another Ian Cook When I click on Einstein in the projects list, then the "Your Computers" button, it lists these computers. It says there are 10, but I know there are only 9 (the extra one appears as a Windows 2000 OS; it lists four but I KNOW I only have three running W2K) Eight of the nine computers run on a network and access the internet via a gateway. They should all have the same IP number. The ninth one (the one I am having trouble with) is this one and it is on its own connection with a different ISP. ID: 2675774 ID: 1215196 ID: 1623297 ID: 3754983 ID: 2226452 ID: 2259627 ID: 1623312 ID: 1683725 ID: 2675525 ID: 1623317 Here is the task list for those computers 211115251 89529103 1623297 13 Dec 2010 1:33:30 UTC 27 Dec 2010 1:33:30 UTC In progress --- --- --- --- Global Correlations S5 HF search #1 v3.06 (S5GCESSE2) ID: 36057 · |
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Send message Joined: 5 Oct 06 Posts: 5149
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Well, whatever host 2675774 is doing, it isn't Einstein - no tasks listed. NB, if you look at that page while logged in under your "smartcooky" account, you'll see a lot more detail - like IP addresses - than we can. But at first glance, it doesn't sound like a networking, or even a BOINC-related, issue. I'd do a thorough check on that machine, and make sure it isn't running any malware. Even a single-core Celeron shouldn't thrash like that when you reactivate it. ID: 36059 · |
Jord Send message Joined: 29 Aug 05 Posts: 15632 
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As per the recent log: YOU must free -0.0 MB before BOINC gets space. I always like BOINC's weirdest behaviours. Not only must you free zero MB, no... you must free negative zero MB. :-D Forwarded that one to Einstein's admins. As to your computer problem, you're in good hands, I am not going to input any of my interference. :) ID: 36060 · |
 Send message Joined: 3 Apr 06 Posts: 547 
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Apparently more of smartkooky's computers have such problems: the mentioned Celeron 3.06GHz WinXP 2675774, Celeron 2.93GHz Win2k 3754983, Celeron 2.80GHz Win2k 2226452, Celeron 2.93GHz Win2k 2675525. Neither of them has got any credit on Einstein (and some on Rosetta) for months already (-> no successfully crunched and returned task), the second one not even one task since attached to Einstein (well, it was just a few days ago). ID: 36064 · |
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Send message Joined: 12 Dec 10 Posts: 7
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I have solved most of these problems. Firstly, I hadn't realised that when I replace a computer, the old computer remains on the list. Some of the computers were listed three times, and one was listed that doesn't even exist anymore?? This would explain why there appeared to be up to 15 computers on the list, many of which had not returned tasks. So, I have merged the ones that I knew were the same, and deleted the non-existent one. As I said earlier, eight of these computer are at my business but the ninth computer; the one I have been having trouble with, is at home. I have fixed this one by re-installing Boinc with the latest version. No problems since then. Question? I currently have all nine computers attached to the same three projects, (SETI, Rosetta and Einstein) split 33-33-33 between them. Would it be better to rearrange this so that single projects were attached to each computer, i.e. 1+2+3 to SETI, 4+5+6 to Rosetta and 7+8+9 to Einstein. Is it better from the number crunching" point of view, or doesn't it matter? ID: 36078 · |
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Send message Joined: 3 Apr 06 Posts: 547
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I currently have all nine computers attached to the same three projects, (SETI, Rosetta and Einstein) split 33-33-33 between them. Would it be better to rearrange this so that single projects were attached to each computer, i.e. 1+2+3 to SETI, 4+5+6 to Rosetta and 7+8+9 to Einstein. Is it better from the number crunching" point of view, or doesn't it matter? I'd say "it doesn't matter", or "as you like it". From the technical point of view. From the "administrative side" - I'd keep at least some overlap between projects on some machines. Or one machine on all projects. Some web settings are e.g. propagated over "project web page -> BOINC client -> another project web page -> another BOINC client -> another project web page -> ..." path. Some folks have reported in the past (mostly with hyper-threading CPUs), that their machines seem to have higher throughput then apps are mixed, compared to similar machines crunching purely one application type. But this may be not relevant at all with your HW and recent applications. Peter ID: 36079 · |
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