Boinc running Seti won't shut down still

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Slim

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Message 695704 - Posted: 29 Dec 2007, 18:17:03 UTC

I has a thread going earlier in the year with issues about 'Bionic' Boinc and seti@home taking up 'all' the CPU time to the point of even timing out my DSL internet line.

I had to quit using it after quite a few years of using Seti classic as my screen saver in Windows.

I had no joy the last time I posted and had to drop it again.

I just got a new monitor and video card and found a bad ram chip so figured I would try again.

No joy, it still won't unlatch my CPU and slows the computer down to nothing. I have to go in and hit the suspend button or reboot.

I have it set so I manually have to turn on the client and manager right now because I don't wan't

I am trying the version 5.10.08 on Ubuntu Linux with 503M ram, 502 swap, Pentium III (Coppermine) 733 mhz and tons of disk space.

Hey I like it that the graphics button finally works and would love to try and tag that as a screen saver, but....

I was not alone, tons of others posted about having the same trouble and likely just gave up like me also.

Is there any fix yet?
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Message 695739 - Posted: 29 Dec 2007, 21:39:56 UTC


I just got a new monitor and video card and found a bad ram chip so figured I would try again.

No joy, it still won't unlatch my CPU and slows the computer down to nothing. I have to go in and hit the suspend button or reboot.

As the symthoms you have written, and from the symthoms from your previous post, I am still think that there is a hardware problem.

Have you tried to let a complete hardware test suite running and verfied that your system is OK ?
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Message 695846 - Posted: 30 Dec 2007, 8:33:26 UTC

Well the benchmarks used to run at "normal" priority so they could theoretically cause problems. But they only run the first time you start up BOINC and then once every 2 weeks or so. They also only last for a couple of seconds, maybe a minute or two on an older P3. However this behavior has changed in the past few months. The benchmarks should now run at idle priority - just like the science apps so CPU time should be yielded as soon as anything else needs it.

Have you tried running the Prime95 torture test for a while and does it cause the same behavior?

Also, since version 5.6 you can give BOINC a maximum % of CPU time it is allowed to use. Setting this to anything under 100% will force BOINC to pause and give up CPU time even if nothing else needs it. This setting is under the "Computing preferences" section in your account.
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Message 696548 - Posted: 1 Jan 2008, 19:19:16 UTC - in response to Message 695739.  


I just got a new monitor and video card and found a bad ram chip so figured I would try again.

No joy, it still won't unlatch my CPU and slows the computer down to nothing. I have to go in and hit the suspend button or reboot.

As the symthoms you have written, and from the symthoms from your previous post, I am still think that there is a hardware problem.

Have you tried to let a complete hardware test suite running and verfied that your system is OK ?


Yes, I had video card and USB mouse issues, both were changed again yesterday plus more RAM was added. I let linux mem program go at the now 1G ram with no errors.

I changed my preferences to have Seti only use 50% of the CPU both here and in my PC, reset the projects and updated the preferences.

The Seti program will not unlatch and will not use less than the whole processor.



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Message 696559 - Posted: 1 Jan 2008, 19:55:15 UTC

How do you know it is seti not letting go of the CPU instead of the computer just locking up? Also, is it an immediate thing or does it take a few minutes before things break?

I would still suggest running the Prime95 torture test for a while. It will generate the same type of load on the CPU as seti.
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Message 696588 - Posted: 1 Jan 2008, 22:05:08 UTC - in response to Message 696559.  
Last modified: 1 Jan 2008, 22:06:27 UTC

How do you know it is seti not letting go of the CPU instead of the computer just locking up? Also, is it an immediate thing or does it take a few minutes before things break?

I would still suggest running the Prime95 torture test for a while. It will generate the same type of load on the CPU as seti.


Will that program also 'supposedly' unlatch the CPU when the computer is in use?

Otherwise.... A load test is a load test. That prime site has been too tied up to get the cruncher by the by and their mirror is gone.

OK, just a few minutes ago I was on a webpage trying to reload the page and it was hanging and hanging, so I went to boinc and suspended the seti and instantly the CPU monitor went to low and the web page refreshed, instantly! This happens every time something is hanging.

The boinc or seti program is still trying to use 100% of my CPU and I have it turned to 50% both online and at home, let alone it won't let go when my PC is in use.

I can post a 'top' screen shot to show you if you would like. I took one when it jammed up the last time as mentioned above.
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Message 696603 - Posted: 1 Jan 2008, 23:21:44 UTC - in response to Message 696588.  



I would still suggest running the Prime95 torture test for a while. It will generate the same type of load on the CPU as seti.


Will that program also 'supposedly' unlatch the CPU when the computer is in use?

This is excatly the point we try to find out.


OK, just a few minutes ago I was on a webpage trying to reload the page and it was hanging and hanging, so I went to boinc and suspended the seti and instantly the CPU monitor went to low and the web page refreshed, instantly! This happens every time something is hanging.

The boinc or seti program is still trying to use 100% of my CPU and I have it turned to 50% both online and at home, let alone it won't let go when my PC is in use.
[quote]
I can post a 'top' screen shot to show you if you would like. I took one when it jammed up the last time as mentioned above.

Yes please, one top with running SETI and one in idle. Also the output of a "vmstat 5" with a running system and a idle system would be nice.

Btw. have you turned of the power management on your system which can cause that the CPU would be clocked down - some Linuxes has a daemon for this.

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Message 697065 - Posted: 3 Jan 2008, 19:33:36 UTC - in response to Message 696603.  
Last modified: 3 Jan 2008, 19:49:11 UTC



I can post a 'top' screen shot to show you if you would like. I took one when it jammed up the last time as mentioned above.

Yes please, one top with running SETI and one in idle. Also the output of a "vmstat 5" with a running system and a idle system would be nice.

Btw. have you turned of the power management on your system which can cause that the CPU would be clocked down - some Linuxes has a daemon for this.


No I haven't looked at the power yet. (edit) Looked, the cpu is/was set to never power down, only the monitor powers down. I run Ubuntu Linux.

I now have 1.5G Ram and here are the top and vmstat and free screen grabs before and after.

For some reason, the way I post these figures in columns isn't showing up in the finished product?

'TOP' running with no Seti or Boinc:

top - 14:11:58 up 7 min, 2 users, load average: 0.50, 0.84, 0.52
Tasks: 91 total, 1 running, 90 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 12.0%us, 4.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 84.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 1555796k total, 352716k used, 1203080k free, 13044k buffers
Swap: 514072k total, 0k used, 514072k free, 203424k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
4747 root 15 0 39700 24m 7492 S 7.0 1.6 0:14.30 Xorg
5291 mike 15 0 43296 17m 11m S 4.3 1.1 0:04.11 gnome-panel
5498 mike 15 0 58668 16m 10m S 1.7 1.1 0:01.54 gnome-terminal
5293 mike 15 0 81664 19m 13m S 1.0 1.3 0:02.13 nautilus
5356 mike 15 0 16456 2700 1756 S 1.0 0.2 0:02.34 gnome-screensav
5289 mike 15 0 18028 10m 7580 S 0.7 0.7 0:03.19 metacity
5518 mike 15 0 2364 1140 876 R 0.3 0.1 0:00.60 top
1 root 18 0 2948 1852 532 S 0.0 0.1 0:02.08 init
2 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 kthreadd
3 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0
4 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0
5 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/0
6 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 events/0
7 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 khelper
26 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.02 kblockd/0
27 root 20 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kacpid
28 root 20 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kacpi_notify

TOP running with Seti and Boinc running 'and' me doing this with my mouse and keyboard:

top - 14:28:58 up 24 min, 2 users, load average: 1.45, 0.84, 0.54
Tasks: 97 total, 2 running, 95 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 4.3%us, 0.7%sy, 94.4%ni, 0.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.7%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 1555796k total, 414040k used, 1141756k free, 14728k buffers
Swap: 514072k total, 0k used, 514072k free, 219300k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
5665 mike 39 19 37076 33m 8 R 95.0 2.2 3:35.32 setiathome-5.27
4747 root 15 0 42464 25m 8144 S 2.0 1.7 0:52.09 Xorg
5660 mike 15 0 45780 16m 12m S 1.7 1.1 0:06.61 boincmgr
5647 mike 15 0 4232 2104 1556 S 0.3 0.1 0:00.24 boinc
1 root 16 0 2948 1852 532 S 0.0 0.1 0:02.08 init
2 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 kthreadd
3 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0
4 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0
5 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/0
6 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 events/0
7 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 khelper
26 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.03 kblockd/0
27 root 20 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kacpid
28 root 20 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kacpi_notify
94 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kseriod
111 root 16 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 pdflush
112 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 pdflush

Now VMSTAT with no Boinc:

mike@mike:~$ vmstat 5
procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu----
r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa
0 0 0 1201972 13740 203660 0 0 281 33 189 456 12 4 78 6
0 0 0 1201964 13748 203660 0 0 0 11 96 60 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201964 13756 203660 0 0 0 2 94 50 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201856 13764 203652 0 0 0 2 92 48 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13764 203656 0 0 0 0 96 59 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13776 203656 0 0 0 26 94 53 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13784 203656 0 0 0 10 97 54 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13792 203656 0 0 0 138 113 96 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13800 203656 0 0 0 2 94 50 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13808 203648 0 0 0 2 93 47 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13808 203656 0 0 0 0 94 58 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13816 203656 0 0 0 2 93 52 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13824 203656 0 0 0 2 95 55 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13832 203656 0 0 0 2 92 57 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13840 203656 0 0 0 3 94 50 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13848 203648 0 0 0 2 92 48 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13848 203656 0 0 0 0 95 59 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13856 203656 0 0 0 2 92 46 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13864 203656 0 0 0 2 95 52 0 0 100 0
0 0 0 1201832 13872 203656 0 0 0 2 121 204 1 0 99 0
0 0 0 1201832 13880 203656 0 0 0 2 167 412 0 0 100 0

The 'FREE' command:
mike@mike:~$ free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 1555796 353948 1201848 0 13928 203652
-/+ buffers/cache: 136368 1419428
Swap: 514072 0 514072
mike@mike:~$

The below 'with' Seti and Boinc running 'and' me doing all this so it shouldn't be running:

mike@mike:~$ vmstat 5
procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu----
r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa
1 0 0 1143080 14428 219236 0 0 218 31 192 451 15 3 77 5
1 0 0 1142940 14444 219272 0 0 1 15 324 91 98 1 0 0
1 0 0 1142908 14452 219280 0 0 0 54 328 112 99 1 0 0
1 0 0 1142940 14464 219280 0 0 0 213 349 132 98 2 0 0
1 0 0 1142940 14464 219280 0 0 0 0 322 93 99 1 0 0
1 0 0 1142940 14472 219280 0 0 0 2 322 99 98 2 0 0
1 0 0 1142940 14480 219280 0 0 0 2 323 87 99 1 0 0
1 0 0 1142940 14488 219280 0 0 0 2 321 84 98 2 0 0
1 0 0 1142940 14496 219280 0 0 0 2 322 96 99 1 0 0
1 0 0 1142832 14504 219272 0 0 0 2 321 83 98 2 0 0
1 0 0 1142816 14504 219280 0 0 0 30 328 93 99 1 0 0
1 0 0 1142816 14512 219280 0 0 0 2 321 94 98 2 0 0
1 0 0 1142816 14520 219280 0 0 0 2 322 86 99 1 0 0
1 0 0 1142692 14536 219272 0 0 0 10 345 1225 92 8 0 0
1 0 0 1142552 14544 219280 0 0 0 55 363 321 95 5 0 0

mike@mike:~$ free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 1555796 412972 1142824 0 14576 219284
-/+ buffers/cache: 179112 1376684
Swap: 514072 0 514072
mike@mike:~$

The program just will not unlatch the CPU.

Mike
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Message 697114 - Posted: 3 Jan 2008, 22:43:52 UTC
Last modified: 3 Jan 2008, 22:45:17 UTC

Thanks for the output. I think it looks OK on the first view.

What excatly do you mean with "The program just will not unlatch the CPU." ?

Is the system permanently unusable if BOINC and SETI is running or is it only permanently ?
What behavior do you have, if you are running prime95 ?
Could you please excatly describe the slowdown. What actions are slowed down. - Eventualy a output series from the "vmstat 5" of such a slowdown would be helpfull.

With powermanagement, I meaned the Ubuntu specific. Ubuntu has a daemon which adjusts the clock, if no processes are running and clocks down your CPU. But I read here a posting, that it could happens, that ubuntu did not detect BOINC as running process and clocks down the CPU. But, I have not found this posting again. So I hope that one of the Ubuntu/Linux guys have an idea.
Anyway, the output from "cat /proc/cpuinfo" would also be nice.
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Message 697370 - Posted: 4 Jan 2008, 19:20:20 UTC - in response to Message 697114.  

Thanks for the output. I think it looks OK on the first view.

What excatly do you mean with "The program just will not unlatch the CPU." ?


The Seti program combined with the boincmgr want 100% of my CPU power. They will not relinquish control when 'I' want to use the computer, like right now.

This causes my other programs, like Firefox to literally hang with the 'waiting for connection' icon revolving.

When I go into boincmgr and suspend the project, the CPU gets let loose and Forefox 'instantly' finishes loading the page.

This happens both with Firefox and my Usenet program Thunderbird.

I have a smaller window for boincmgr so can see the underneath program start working and finish instantly after I suspend boinc's project.

Sorry, but this just isn't acceptable behavior.


Is the system permanently unusable if BOINC and SETI is running or is it only permanently ?


Umm see above, the computer works proper with boinc in suspend mode or just not turned on, otherwise it messes up fairly soon.


What behavior do you have, if you are running prime95 ?


I have not been able to get prime95, their links are down.


Could you please excatly describe the slowdown. What actions are slowed down. - Eventualy a output series from the "vmstat 5" of such a slowdown would be helpfull.


That is the second vmstat 5 copy in my last post, but I didn't have Firefox and Thunderbird running.


With powermanagement, I meaned the Ubuntu specific. Ubuntu has a daemon which adjusts the clock, if no processes are running and clocks down your CPU. But I read here a posting, that it could happens, that ubuntu did not detect BOINC as running process and clocks down the CPU. But, I have not found this posting again. So I hope that one of the Ubuntu/Linux guys have an idea.



Anyway, the output from "cat /proc/cpuinfo" would also be nice.


Ok, here is a vmstat 5 with everything running followed by the cpuinfo:

mike@mike:~$ vmstat 5
procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu----
r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa
2 0 0 1015232 19544 276048 0 0 80 36 253 268 53 3 43 2
1 0 0 1015100 19552 276048 0 0 0 94 359 283 98 2 0 0
1 0 0 1015100 19560 276048 0 0 0 7 339 175 98 2 0 0
1 0 0 1015092 19572 276044 0 0 0 115 414 470 98 2 0 0
1 0 0 1014968 19580 276036 0 0 0 64 339 137 98 2 0 0
1 0 0 1014968 19580 276044 0 0 0 0 323 75 98 2 0 0
1 0 0 1014968 19588 276044 0 0 0 2 323 81 99 1 0 0
1 0 0 1014968 19596 276044 0 0 0 2 324 88 99 1 0 0
1 0 0 1014968 19612 276044 0 0 0 17 323 76 98 2 0 0
1 0 0 1014976 19620 276044 0 0 0 13 358 325 98 2 0 0


mike@mike:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 8
model name : Pentium III (Coppermine)
stepping : 3
cpu MHz : 731.512
cache size : 256 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse up
bogomips : 1480.03
clflush size : 32

Thanks for your time.

I also was hit back with the first generations of Boinc and my Windows 98 with the same issues and had to stop using it in Windows. I used Classic for a lot of years under a couple email names.

I was really hoping the bug was 'actually' fixed when I got an email implying it last year because I am now using Linux.

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Message 697424 - Posted: 4 Jan 2008, 22:53:38 UTC - in response to Message 697370.  
Last modified: 4 Jan 2008, 23:03:48 UTC

What excatly do you mean with "The program just will not unlatch the CPU." ?


The Seti program combined with the boincmgr want 100% of my CPU power. They will not relinquish control when 'I' want to use the computer, like right now.

This causes my other programs, like Firefox to literally hang with the 'waiting for connection' icon revolving.

When I go into boincmgr and suspend the project, the CPU gets let loose and Forefox 'instantly' finishes loading the page.

This happens both with Firefox and my Usenet program Thunderbird.

I have a smaller window for boincmgr so can see the underneath program start working and finish instantly after I suspend boinc's project.

This shows your problem a little bit in a other view.
Is the slowdown only on network access like you have bescribed, or is is also if you start and using other programms and working with the GUI ?


Sorry, but this just isn't acceptable behavior.

As I have explained you in my previos postings in the other threads : it is ok that SETI uses 100 % CPU, the process is running with the lowest prio so your other processes like FF, TB,.. should get the CPU if it need it. The slowown is not normal and we must search for the cause.
But your previous problem describtion was very unprecise. We have look closer to the problem and analyse it and search for the cause.

[
Is the system permanently unusable if BOINC and SETI is running or is it only permanently ?


Umm see above, the computer works proper with boinc in suspend mode or just not turned on, otherwise it messes up fairly soon.

This is not what I have meaned. I meaned if you running BOINC, did this behavior occurs permanently or only tempoarly ?



I also was hit back with the first generations of Boinc and my Windows 98 with the same issues and had to stop using it in Windows. I used Classic for a lot of years under a couple email names.

I was really hoping the bug was 'actually' fixed when I got an email implying it last year because I am now using Linux.

Which bug excactly do you mean ?
Whas this the same hardware like on the Linux system with the problem ? - If yes, I think that you have a hardware problem.

Edit: I had no problem to download prime95. Alternativ... google shows about 74000 results for prime95, the first 20 was alternative download mirrors.
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Message 697493 - Posted: 5 Jan 2008, 2:43:42 UTC - in response to Message 697424.  
Last modified: 5 Jan 2008, 3:32:59 UTC


This shows your problem a little bit in a other view.
Is the slowdown only on network access like you have bescribed, or is is also if you start and using other programms and working with the GUI ?


I don't work with the GUI often, I just use those two programs mostly and it hits the network connection.

I am a Usenet user from 'way' back and barely use the WWW so when my 'text only' Usenet groups and their reader program hangs in space because of some piece of GUI software that isn't even 'supposed' to be running, it just well isn't acceptable. Netscape Communicator got locked up as well as Thunderbird now.


As I have explained you in my previos postings in the other threads : it is ok that SETI uses 100 % CPU, the process is running with the lowest prio so your other processes like FF, TB,.. should get the CPU if it need it. The slowown is not normal and we must search for the cause.
But your previous problem describtion was very unprecise. We have look closer to the problem and analyse it and search for the cause.


It is 'supposed' to 'shut' down, not maybe 'give me space' to work!


This is not what I have meaned. I meaned if you running BOINC, did this behavior occurs permanently or only tempoarly ?


I don't know really. I get mad at it and don't bother to wait until it resolves, because the first few times gave me a DSL timeout, so I just go and suspend it.



Which bug excactly do you mean ?


The first generations of Boinc had a bug that wouldn't allow the CPU use settings in the preferences to work. I got an email back in early 07 I think it was implying the bug was fixed.


Whas this the same hardware like on the Linux system with the problem ? - If yes, I think that you have a hardware problem.


Only the same ASUS CUV4X motherboard, all the add ons and memory chips are new, including a new power supply.


Edit: I had no problem to download prime95. Alternativ... google shows about 74000 results for prime95, the first 20 was alternative download mirrors.


I only used the link provided earlier the other day, haven't tried since, have been busy setting up hardware. I will try again and see if that program will unlatch the CPU.
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Message 697521 - Posted: 5 Jan 2008, 4:06:07 UTC - in response to Message 697493.  
Last modified: 5 Jan 2008, 4:06:35 UTC


Edit: I had no problem to download prime95. Alternativ... google shows about 74000 results for prime95, the first 20 was alternative download mirrors.


I only used the link provided earlier the other day, haven't tried since, have been busy setting up hardware. I will try again and see if that program will unlatch the CPU.[/quote]

Ok, all the links my Google shows for a Linux download lead to the same page and it is down. Yup, 'tons ' of links that all point the same place....

I just spent a half hour trying, that's enough.
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Message 697620 - Posted: 5 Jan 2008, 14:01:04 UTC - in response to Message 697521.  
Last modified: 5 Jan 2008, 14:05:43 UTC


I only used the link provided earlier the other day

There seems to be something wrong as I write this. I just tried grabbing both mprime2414.tar.gz and sprime2414.tar.gz from http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm but in each case the Firefox downloads window showed 'waiting' for a few minutes and then 'completed' - but nothing had actually been downloaded.
The Russian mirror site mentioned at the above site fails to resolve - it seems to no longer exist.

As to your main problem - I do find it a little suspicious that this is the same motherboard which gave similar 'heavy load' problems with BOINC when it was running under Windows. I'm inclined to agree with Dotsch that there's a fundamental hardware problem lurking at the back of all this.

For what it's worth, I have BOINC running perfectly well on an ancient Intel 440BX-based motherboard with 1GB RAM and a PIII CPU. Actually, it's a card adapter carrying the PIII since this motherboard only has a Pentium II slot. I did say it was ancient! :)
I also use this machine as an alternate "browsing base", plus a few other things, yet it's never shown anything like the sort of performance hit you describe. It's left running BOINC 24/7. The OS is a fairly old SUSE 9.3 release. Well, it ain't broke so I ain't fixing it...

If left to its own devices, BOINC will always try to obtain 100% CPU usage (really, like almost any other application would typically want to do) but bear in mind that when using things like 'top' to display loadings, you're only getting a tiny snapshot every second or so. All the time, running processes are given access to resources (and have them taken away) very quickly so what appears to be a constant high load isn't necessarily so. Also, the resource management of Linux is such that as other tasks require more CPU time or other resources, access is granted very efficiently and in a very controlled/controllable way.

It's probably only because of this good behaviour that I'm able to run BOINC on this venerable box - when running Windows98 (on another dusty old partition) and not doing very much at all, it's horribly sluggish.

Just my $0.2, and I hope that whatever's going wrong is quickly nailed.
To err is human; to moo, bovine.
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Message 697662 - Posted: 5 Jan 2008, 16:50:32 UTC - in response to Message 697620.  


I only used the link provided earlier the other day

There seems to be something wrong as I write this. I just tried grabbing both mprime2414.tar.gz and sprime2414.tar.gz from http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm but in each case the Firefox downloads window showed 'waiting' for a few minutes and then 'completed' - but nothing had actually been downloaded.
The Russian mirror site mentioned at the above site fails to resolve - it seems to no longer exist.


I will try again maybe later.


As to your main problem - I do find it a little suspicious that this is the same motherboard which gave similar 'heavy load' problems with BOINC when it was running under Windows. I'm inclined to agree with Dotsch that there's a fundamental hardware problem lurking at the back of all this.


But 'there' is the main trouble, Boinc will not unlatch the CPU like it is instructed to do in the preferences or 'only' actually 'use' the 50% max of the CPU the preferences are set at!

Load stress is something all together different and I would have 'no' load issues, perceived or real if the program would behave as it is supposed to do and just shut off when 'I' want to use 'my' computer.


If left to its own devices, BOINC will always try to obtain 100% CPU usage


It is 'not' being left to it's own devices, I am insisting it use only 50% of my CPU and insisting it shuts down when I am using the computer via the preferences both here and in my PC.


Just my $0.2, and I hope that whatever's going wrong is quickly nailed.


Thanks

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Message 697742 - Posted: 5 Jan 2008, 23:48:10 UTC - in response to Message 697662.  


But 'there' is the main trouble, Boinc will not unlatch the CPU

Hmm, but there's the odd thing: I'm running the same version as you on the same CPU and in less RAM - yet because mine is behaving fine, I really don't think it's BOINC which has the problem.
A few posts back you gave this 'top' output (edited) when running BOINC/seti:

top - 14:28:58 up 24 min, 2 users, load average: 1.45, 0.84, 0.54
Tasks: 97 total, 2 running, 95 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 4.3%us, 0.7%sy, 94.4%ni, 0.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.7%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 1555796k total, 414040k used, 1141756k free, 14728k buffers
Swap: 514072k total, 0k used, 514072k free, 219300k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
5665 mike 39 19 37076 33m 8 R 95.0 2.2 3:35.32 setiathome-5.27
4747 root 15 0 42464 25m 8144 S 2.0 1.7 0:52.09 Xorg
5660 mike 15 0 45780 16m 12m S 1.7 1.1 0:06.61 boincmgr
5647 mike 15 0 4232 2104 1556 S 0.3 0.1 0:00.24 boinc
1 root 16 0 2948 1852 532 S 0.0 0.1 0:02.08 init
2 root 10 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 kthreadd
3 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0
(...)

Here's mine (through 'top -b -n1' and edited for brevity):

top - 22:59:41 up 1 day, 10:21,  5 users,  load average: 1.03, 1.03, 1.03
Tasks:  95 total,   2 running,  93 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
Cpu(s):  0.3% us,  0.2% sy, 98.9% ni,  0.2% id,  0.1% wa,  0.4% hi,  0.0% si
Mem:    776060k total,   644032k used,   132028k free,   214844k buffers
Swap:  1052216k total,        0k used,  1052216k free,   177648k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND                   
 9148 brian     39  19 39272  34m    8 R 90.8  4.6 333:25.84 setiathome-5.27           
 5980 root      15   0 56328  19m 3608 S  7.3  2.6   4:27.36 X                         
 9678 brian     15   0  2052  868  656 R  3.6  0.1   0:00.02 top                       
    1 root      16   0   680  248  216 S  0.0  0.0   0:01.67 init                      
    2 root      34  19     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0 
(...)             
 6639 brian     15   0 11484 6136 5168 S  0.0  0.8   0:43.23 boincmgr
 6640 brian     15   0  3904 2124 1448 S  0.0  0.3   0:05.69 boinc
(...)
 9146 brian     34  19 39272  34m    8 S  0.0  4.6   0:00.12 setiathome-5.27
 9147 brian     34  19 39272  34m    8 S  0.0  4.6   0:00.00 setiathome-5.27           
 9149 brian     34  19 39272  34m    8 S  0.0  4.6   0:00.01 setiathome-5.27           

This is running under KDE and is started manually from a desktop icon with just 'run_manager' as the command component, from within the BOINC installation directory off my home directory. I just installed it with the default GUI stuff as-is, and made no other tweaks to the installation. The machine is generally left running so I've not bothered with any auto-start scripting.
There's also no unusual or heavy network use as a result of running BOINC/seti - only what I might be getting up to (nothing else, apart from a few shell windows waiting for input at the time of this 'top' output).

Load stress is something all together different

Sorry, that was my loose description. I just meant the sort of 'grind to a halt' thing you've described when running BOINC/seti.

Odd...
<scratches head>

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Message 697870 - Posted: 6 Jan 2008, 15:49:23 UTC - in response to Message 697493.  
Last modified: 6 Jan 2008, 15:51:35 UTC

[quote]
This shows your problem a little bit in a other view.
Is the slowdown only on network access like you have bescribed, or is is also if you start and using other programms and working with the GUI ?


I don't work with the GUI often, I just use those two programs mostly and it hits the network connection.

I am a Usenet user from 'way' back and barely use the WWW so when my 'text only' Usenet groups and their reader program hangs in space because of some piece of GUI software that isn't even 'supposed' to be running, it just well isn't acceptable. Netscape Communicator got locked up as well as Thunderbird now.


As I have explained you in my previos postings in the other threads : it is ok that SETI uses 100 % CPU, the process is running with the lowest prio so your other processes like FF, TB,.. should get the CPU if it need it. The slowown is not normal and we must search for the cause.
But your previous problem describtion was very unprecise. We have look closer to the problem and analyse it and search for the cause.


It is 'supposed' to 'shut' down, not maybe 'give me space' to work!


This is not what I have meaned. I meaned if you running BOINC, did this behavior occurs permanently or only tempoarly ?


I don't know really. I get mad at it and don't bother to wait until it resolves, because the first few times gave me a DSL timeout, so I just go and suspend it.

Could you please try it out. It is very important to know what excatly is slowed down when BOINC and SETI is active !
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Message 697872 - Posted: 6 Jan 2008, 16:00:07 UTC - in response to Message 697662.  
Last modified: 6 Jan 2008, 16:20:02 UTC

But 'there' is the main trouble, Boinc will not unlatch the CPU like it is instructed to do in the preferences or 'only' actually 'use' the 50% max of the CPU the preferences are set at!

Where excatly do you have setup your prefs ? - On the prefs over the BOINC manager or over the website ?
Could you please change to the BOINC directory and issue and post the output from the command : "grep cpu_usage_limit global_prefs_override.xml".

Edit : Could you please post the ouput from "ifconfig -a" and "netstat -in".
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Message 697915 - Posted: 6 Jan 2008, 18:33:34 UTC - in response to Message 697742.  


But 'there' is the main trouble, Boinc will not unlatch the CPU

Hmm, but there's the odd thing: I'm running the same version as you on the same CPU and in less RAM - yet because mine is behaving fine, I really don't think it's BOINC which has the problem.


Yours also appears to be broken 'if' you also have it set to shut off when 'you' are using the machine. It isn't unlatching your CPU either.


Load stress is something all together different

Sorry, that was my loose description. I just meant the sort of 'grind to a halt' thing you've described when running BOINC/seti.

Odd...
<scratches head>
[/quote]

I could 'very' well be that my hardware has issues with the sharing, but it wouldn't have any issues if the program would follow it's 'preferences' and shut off!

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Message 697920 - Posted: 6 Jan 2008, 18:46:59 UTC - in response to Message 697872.  

But 'there' is the main trouble, Boinc will not unlatch the CPU like it is instructed to do in the preferences or 'only' actually 'use' the 50% max of the CPU the preferences are set at!

Where excatly do you have setup your prefs ? - On the prefs over the BOINC manager or over the website ?


I use the links provided in the Boinc manager under Projects for my online preferences and account setup and the pull down box at the top of Boinc Manager under 'advanced' and 'preferences' for my local settings.


Could you please change to the BOINC directory and issue and post the output from the command : "grep cpu_usage_limit global_prefs_override.xml".


mike@mike:~$ cd Desktop
mike@mike:~/Desktop$ cd BOINC
mike@mike:~/Desktop/BOINC$ grep cpu_usage_limit global_prefs_override.xml
<cpu_usage_limit>100.000000</cpu_usage_limit>
mike@mike:~/Desktop/BOINC$


Edit : Could you please post the ouput from "ifconfig -a" and "netstat -in".


mike@mike:~$ ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:E0:29:10:AE:D8
inet6 addr: fe80::2e0:29ff:fe10:aed8/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:10315 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:9993 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:6468087 (6.1 MB) TX bytes:2040066 (1.9 MB)
Interrupt:3 Base address:0xe000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:2252 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2252 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1584702 (1.5 MB) TX bytes:1584702 (1.5 MB)

ppp0 Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
inet addr:76.66.132.196 P-t-P:64.230.197.222 Mask:255.255.255.255
UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:1492 Metric:1
RX packets:9222 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:9440 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:3
RX bytes:6307193 (6.0 MB) TX bytes:1815454 (1.7 MB)

mike@mike:~$

mike@mike:~$ netstat -in
Kernel Interface table
Iface MTU Met RX-OK RX-ERR RX-DRP RX-OVR TX-OK TX-ERR TX-DRP TX-OVR Flg
eth0 1500 0 10320 0 0 0 9997 0 0 0 BMRU
lo 16436 0 2558 0 0 0 2558 0 0 0 LRU
ppp0 1492 0 9224 0 0 0 9442 0 0 0 MOPRU
mike@mike:~$

Here you go.
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