On Tue, 30 May 2006 09:01:48 -0400, Big Bob Smith
<YouCantHandleTheTruth@nonya.net> wrote:

On Sun, 28 May 2006 10:57:42 GMT, "uray" <remove-uray@att.net> wrote:

"Big Bob Smith" <YouCantHandleTheTruth@nonya.net> wrote in message 
news:j9ps62lur2lrko4vqrt64k4arog9mo0ckp@4ax.com...

On Fri, 19 May 2006 22:14:36 GMT, f/fgeorge <ffgeorge@yourplace.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 19 May 2006 10:31:42 -0400, Big Bob Smith
<YouCantHandleTheTruth@nonya.net> wrote:

Howdy All

I've run into a bit of a puzzler when running BOINC on one of my home
PCs. The problem/symptons as follows - hope someone has seen something
like this before and has a solution.

This PC is a 2G Pentium 4 with 2G of RAM....it has been running Seti
and BOINC for over 3 years without incident. In the last 3 months when
running BOINC ..the BOINC process shoots up to the "normal" 97-99% of
CPU useage and stays there ..for about 2 minutes. At about 2 minutes
in the "System" process in Task Manager starts up (it normally is 2%
or less) and runs steadily @ 50% of CPU - but only while BOINC is
running.........shut off BOINC and it drops back to under 2%.....

50% of the cpu would indicate that you have HT or even a dual core and
the second core or the HT part is not now crunching. If you have
either a dual core or HT check your Boinc settings and make sure they
are set to allow 2 cpus, at least, to bring it up to 100%.

Well it cant be that ......forgot to mention I'm running Windows
2000......so HT isnt enabled. So far it has me stumped....

Double check that HT is disabled in BIOS just to be sure.  Also, how much 
memory do you have and what BOINC apps are you running?  Perhaps you are low 
on memory and the system starts paging like mad.  Check the memory usage of 
the BOINC apps.  Perhaps a broken BOINC app with a memory leak?

Yes HT is off in BIOS.............this system has 2 GIG of RAM and the
BOINC version is 5.4.9.........dont run any types of managers or
viewers just BOINC. Paging file is set to 800m and optimized for
Background Services...........

System (and DPC) are using between 65-85% CPU
BOINC uses the rest usually nomore than 25%.......
At this rate it takes 15-20 hours per WU ...............
Exit BOINC and the System CPU useage drops to 0-1%.......

I have uninstalled (and manually removed all BOINC/Seti entries)
before reinstalling the new 5.4.9 version.

Still looking for answers...............I have 3 other PCs crunching
WUs in the normal "new"  time frame ....at this rate this particular
PC will do one WU every 42 - 48 hours..........not so hot for a 2G
P4......

Ben Ellenburg

Then it sounds like it is in the settings on the web page. Do you have
the Boinc set to run only under certain hours or after x amount of
time unused. Here are my general settings:
Primary (default) preferences 
Processor usage 
Do work while computer is running on batteries? 
(matters only for portable computers) no 
Do work while computer is in use? yes 
Do work only between the hours of (no restriction) 
Leave applications in memory while preempted? 
(suspended applications will consume swap space if 'yes') yes 
Switch between applications every 
(recommended: 60 minutes) 60 minutes 
On multiprocessors, use at most 4 processors 
Disk and memory usage 
Use no more than 5 GB disk space 
Leave at least
(Values smaller than 0.001 are ignored) 0 GB disk space free 
Use no more than 95% of total disk space 
Write to disk at most every 60 seconds 
Use no more than 75% of total virtual memory 
Network usage 
Connect to network about every 
(determines size of work cache; maximum 10 days)  4 days 
Confirm before connecting to Internet? 
(matters only if you have a modem, ISDN or VPN connection) no 
Disconnect when done? 
(matters only if you have a modem, ISDN or VPN connection) no 
Maximum download rate: no limit 
Maximum upload rate: no limit 
Use network only between the hours of 
Enforced by versions 4.46 and greater (no restriction) 
Skip image file verification? 
Check this ONLY if your Internet provider modifies image files (UMTS
does this, for example). 
Skipping verification reduces the security of BOINC. no 
 
Mine runs 24/7/365. I do have some extra settings for home, work and
school.