Hi,
I'm running 6.10.17 i686-pc-linux-gnu
but recently (in the last week) it has been having problems. One specific task will run, even though other tasks and workunits are waiting, and Boinc will not switch to the other tasks. I've tried disconnecting from the project(s) that are causing trouble and starting again, but with no luck. Whereas before this, Boinc will happily run more than one task at the same time, now it is stuck on running only one at a time.

Can anyone suggest a remedy?

Thanks

Paul

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http://www.paullee.com

Oh yes, another problem: sometimes my client doesn't upload completed results to the server. I had to go into the Boinc manager and click "update". This doesn't seem to be related to any remote server downtime, but something specific to my machine. I've changed no settings recently, so I am at a loss as to what to do.

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http://www.paullee.com

Two separate problems, you'd be better off posting both problems in their separate threads.

Your first one:
- Make sure you run at "Based of preferences" (BOINC Manager->Advanced view->Activity menu)
- Update to 6.10.58 if you can. These updates do have a lot of bug-fixes in them.
- Check all your preferences, on line and local, for what setting you have for "On multiprocessors use at most 100% of the processors". Ignore the option to set processors by number, that's for older (pre 6) BOINC versions only and won't work on the present range. You should run at 100% processors.
- Check that you have work enough in cache. If only one task is there, that'll account for your problem then. BOINC Manager->Advanced view->Tasks tab (if you can use the GUI), else from a terminal window type boinccmd --get_results and hit Enter.

Your second one:
- Check that your network settings are based on preferences (BOINC Manager->Advanced view->Activity menu->Network activity settings) or use boinccmd --set_network_mode mode_duration, where mode_duration can be always, auto or never.
- Make sure that the server didn't have earlier problems. Some projects have middle-of-the-night maintenance during which you won't be able to upload. BOINC will automatically put itself in a state of backing off until it can reach the server.
- Check the messages (BOINC manager->Messages (tab) and scroll back up to see what may have been happening around the uploading. You can filter for messages from the one project only.

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Does that specific task checkpoint? If you have your preferences set to not leave preempted tasks in memory, BOINC will not interrupt tasks that have not written a checkpoint.

Gruß,
Gundolf

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Computer sind nicht alles im Leben. (Kleiner Scherz)

It would help if the OP (and all others asking for help with similar problems) could name the specific projects they are having problems with. For example, as well as the checkpointing problem, task switching is known to suffer from problems when the AQUA multi-threaded applications are included in the mixture.

If AQUA is included, v6.10.56 might be a better choice than v6.10.58

Hi,
I've checked my preferences, and Boinc is using those to run. Nothing else seems amiss.

Gundolf, I'm not sure what "checkpoint" means. Looking at the tasks, it seems to be the climate prediction that is causing the problem. This is causing a problem using up all the resources and not letting anything else run.

Best wishes

Paul

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http://www.paullee.com

Looking at the tasks, it seems to be the climate prediction that is causing the problem. This is causing a problem using up all the resources and not letting anything else run.

Okay, AFAIK, CPDN does checkpoints. So, maybe the CPDN task is in Earliest Deadline First (high priority) mode. That happens, if BOINC thinks a specific task won't finish before deadline without taking precautions. Check the Status column in the Tasks tab of BOINC manager.

Gruß,
Gundolf

Hi Paul

Are these your computers? It's probably the computer with one core (the Intel with Linux) that has this problem.

Assuming that this is the problem computer, it has a FAMOUS model. They have a 3-month deadline. Actually, if CPDN models miss their deadline the CPDN server still accepts all the results and the researchers will still use them. But Boinc doesn't know about that. It thinks the climate models have to meet their deadline.

FAMOUS takes about 10 days to run on a medium-fast computer that's on all the time. That's quite a lot of processing time. If your computer isn't on all the time Boinc probably thinks the model risks not finishing on time.

I wouldn't worry about this. If Boinc gives CPDN extra time now it will remember what it's done and will make up for this later by giving your other projects extra time in the future when it can. If you let Boinc do its own thing and decide what should run when it very nearly always does the right thing.

By the way, that computer's FAMOUS is producing an interesting graph showing the volcanic effects very clearly.