Well, I haven't tried the network cable trick yet and I may not.

I disabled the screen saver and have not had another reboot. I am still waiting to call this cured. I got to wondering if there could be a conflict when the work unit displayed ran to completion and uploaded.

I don't know that this is it but am continuing to monitor it. And what the heck, the screen saver only runs when I am not here so why would I care if it is on display...

I am having the same reboot problems , with the same messages in the logs. I have stopped boinc and have had no further problems. ASUS motherboard also , tried 2 different power supplies , my temps run a bit hotter , but still plenty of cooling, i even run other programs , to just tax the cpu to bring up the heat , but no reboots . Only with BOINK runnning.

Since BOINC projects tend to stress the CPU continuously, it is still likely to be a cooling problem. Suggestions: Try 5.8.1 currently in testing, or wait for 5.8.x to be released (probably a week or two - just a guess) and set the CPU usage for BOINC down to 80% (or maybe even lower). Or try one of the CPU throttling programs.

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BOINC WIKI

I am running XP Pro SP2, 2Gig, 450 watt PS, Intel Duo. Been running BOINC with SETI and Gene checking for over a year. Have had the system for over 2 years. In the last 4 months, the system has been rebooting at irregular intervals. Finally turned off Screen Saver (changed to another Saver Display) and the reboots have disappeared.
Seems to lend credence to something in the Screen Saver. Haven't tracked to SETI or Gene, but will now see if I can get more info.

cheers...bob

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I am running XP Pro SP2, 2Gig, 450 watt PS, Intel Duo. Been running BOINC with SETI and Gene checking for over a year. Have had the system for over 2 years. In the last 4 months, the system has been rebooting at irregular intervals. Finally turned off Screen Saver (changed to another Saver Display) and the reboots have disappeared.
Seems to lend credence to something in the Screen Saver. Haven't tracked to SETI or Gene, but will now see if I can get more info.

cheers...bob

You're looking in the wrong direction. Many people run the screen savers without issue, so the problem lies in the hardware. My guess would be a dirty GPU fan or a video card slipping out of it's slot and needs to be reseated.

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I am running XP Pro SP2, 2Gig, 450 watt PS, Intel Duo. Been running BOINC with SETI and Gene checking for over a year. Have had the system for over 2 years. In the last 4 months, the system has been rebooting at irregular intervals. Finally turned off Screen Saver (changed to another Saver Display) and the reboots have disappeared.
Seems to lend credence to something in the Screen Saver. Haven't tracked to SETI or Gene, but will now see if I can get more info.

cheers...bob

You're looking in the wrong direction. Many people run the screen savers without issue, so the problem lies in the hardware. My guess would be a dirty GPU fan or a video card slipping out of it's slot and needs to be reseated.

Could be drivers too.

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I researched this same issue with my machine and I came to the conclusion it is one of 3 things: Memory conflict of some sort, Power supply problem of some sort, or Some problem with the Boinc software itself - possibly, but not limited to, incompatibility with certain drivers, code bugs, etc..etc...

I basically have not run Seti since the last version came out because my machine does a hard restart each and every time work starts to process. I'm most inclined to believe the power supply is wonky because this issue started after I upgraded to the last mgr AND after a weird power failure/spike at my apartment. The same spike may very well have cratered my 160gb maxtor drive.

I am running XP Pro SP2, 2Gig, 450 watt PS, Intel Duo. Been running BOINC with SETI and Gene checking for over a year. Have had the system for over 2 years. In the last 4 months, the system has been rebooting at irregular intervals. Finally turned off Screen Saver (changed to another Saver Display) and the reboots have disappeared.
Seems to lend credence to something in the Screen Saver. Haven't tracked to SETI or Gene, but will now see if I can get more info.

cheers...bob

You're looking in the wrong direction. Many people run the screen savers without issue, so the problem lies in the hardware. My guess would be a dirty GPU fan or a video card slipping out of it's slot and needs to be reseated.

Could be drivers too.

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I researched this same issue with my machine and I came to the conclusion it is one of 3 things: Memory conflict of some sort, Power supply problem of some sort, or Some problem with the Boinc software itself - possibly, but not limited to, incompatibility with certain drivers, code bugs, etc..etc...

I basically have not run Seti since the last version came out because my machine does a hard restart each and every time work starts to process. I'm most inclined to believe the power supply is wonky because this issue started after I upgraded to the last mgr AND after a weird power failure/spike at my apartment. The same spike may very well have cratered my 160gb maxtor drive.

I am running XP Pro SP2, 2Gig, 450 watt PS, Intel Duo. Been running BOINC with SETI and Gene checking for over a year. Have had the system for over 2 years. In the last 4 months, the system has been rebooting at irregular intervals. Finally turned off Screen Saver (changed to another Saver Display) and the reboots have disappeared.
Seems to lend credence to something in the Screen Saver. Haven't tracked to SETI or Gene, but will now see if I can get more info.

cheers...bob

You're looking in the wrong direction. Many people run the screen savers without issue, so the problem lies in the hardware. My guess would be a dirty GPU fan or a video card slipping out of it's slot and needs to be reseated.

Could be drivers too.

PSU's are not that expensive. If you think it is a bit dicey (and the timing makes it seem as if it very well might be the PSU getting hit with a voltage spike) you should try replacing it.

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BOINC WIKI

Just for the record, i seem to have the same problem.
WinXP SP2, Athlon XP 1800, 1gb ram (512+2*256)
Everything worked fine till yesterday.

I ran memtest86, no errors
replaced graphics card with an old one, didn't help (i suspected a defective gpu fan, even though the fan is defective, this seems not to be the problem)
ran cpu burn-in, worked fine (will perform a longer test later)

At the moment it seem that my system reboots after 30 minutes (max) of boinc running. Suspending boinc stops the rebooting. I'll leave it off for now and run a benchmark tool later twoday to see what happens...

cu
martin

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Rebooting when running uner full load generally indicates a cooling problem, usually with the CPU.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I agree with you that this certanly looks like a hardware fault (of whatsoever kind), but as a matter of fact, I can run any cpu and/or graphics benchmark program without any problems. I also ran memtest86 wich didnt show any errors.
And my temps are ok (max 71°C Processor, and ~60°C System, Room ~32°C)

I further noticed that if the hard drive is busy (eg virus scan) the rebooting happens more frequently.
But I ran cpu burn-in with a simultanious virus scan without reboots.

I also played nexuiz for about 1,5 hours without problems.
I thought that an overheating ram module could be the problem, but memmory intensive applications (photoshop, games) can be used for hours without reboots.

Maybe my mainboard is faulty, but I don't have any problems when boinc is not started, so I just leave it off for now until i buy a now pc...

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CPU benchmark programs aren't always the best stress testers. What CPU burn-in did you use? Have you tried using Prime95 as a CPU burn-in? Is it a faulty PSU unable to provide the correct voltages during high loads?

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And my temps are ok (max 71°C Processor, and ~60°C System, Room ~32°C)

Actually they're pretty high.
I used to have a 1800+ CPU & from what i can vaguely remember even in ambient temps of around 35°C the CPU was never more than 65°C & the system temp was always below 50°C (that was after BIOS update to fix xome other issus but it also gave a more accurate CPU temperature reading). Although i did have a 4000RPM screamer of a fan on the heatsink.
Is the Power Supply Unit fan running?

I further noticed that if the hard drive is busy (eg virus scan) the rebooting happens more frequently.
But I ran cpu burn-in with a simultanious virus scan without reboots.

Makes me think a PSU problem is even more likely.
It's stressing under increased load, probably as a result of all that heat in the case.

Pull the side panel off of the case & aim a small desktop fan in there. If it fixes the problem then it's definately heat related.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I know its hotter than normal, but consider 1) the system is _quiet_ (very important for me *g*) 2) the high room temp (in winter the system and cpu are ~5°C cooler)
And the max. temperature for the Athlon XP1800+ is 100°C so this should be ok for the processor. (I suspect that the mainboard is overheating and/or faulty)
I do have the latest bios, so I hope that the readings are more or less correct.

I used a program calld CPU Burn-in: http://users.bigpond.net.au/cpuburn/
Acoording to that page it also stresses the FPU.
But I'll give prime 95 and the desktop fan a try today.

For your info:
I have a ~2000rpm 6cm fan on the cpu cooler (small and slow, i know, but silent ;)
a 12cm 1200rpm fan that blows into the case and a pretty fast (don't know how fast it is) 8cm fan that blows out.
And then the power supply with 2 fans, one that sucks air from the case in and one that blows the air out.
The fans are of course running ;-)

The system might be replaced in the near future so I just leave boinc off and backup everything very frequent ;-)

Update: Ok, Prime95 is definetly a better stress test, I just reached an all time high cpu temp of 74°C but no problems so far.

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I have a ~2000rpm 6cm fan on the cpu cooler (small and slow, i know, but silent ;)[quote]
That's one reason the CPU is so hot.
Most heatsink/fan combinations of that period require a 4,000 RPM fan to give good cooling. The other option would be to get a more recent heatsink/fan assembly that will give good cooling at low fan speeds.


[quote]a 12cm 1200rpm fan that blows into the case and a pretty fast (don't know how fast it is) 8cm fan that blows out.

That also, depending on how it is set up, can increase the case temperature considerably by reducing the amount of air the CPU has to cool things down as well as causing a cooling "short circuit" by causing poor air flow through the case.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I ran the prime95 torture test in all 3 modes now with the following results:

Small/In-place large FFTs: after ~10min prime95 crashes and windows wants to send an error report.
Blend: reboots as with boinc, just faster

I think that maybe:
1) the cpu is a bit too hot indeed (mode 1 and 2)
2) an overheating ram module causes the reboot (the 3rd prime95 mode uses ~750mb ram)

@cooling "short circuit": Thanlks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind. Maybe I'll do some tests and switch fans off to see how this affects the temperature. Although I think this is not the case for the cpu, the area with the ram modules is certanly out of the main airstream. So this might be the reason for the reboots.

I won't put any money into this old PC so the cpu will stay as hot as it is for now, especially as I now mainly use the pc as an office-machine.

And thanks for all the advice!

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If you want to contribute until you get a new computer, you could always limit your CPU usage through your preferences (Your Account -> General Preferences -> Use at most X% of CPU).

I don't know what you plan on doing with your old system once you upgrade, but if you plan on keeping it around as a spare, perhaps buying a new ~$12-25 CPU fan with some thermal paste would be a wise investment. Then you could use it as a second machine on your account.

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