I joined SETI@home just a couple of days ago or so. For some reason, my fan started making a noise after a while – a noise that has grown louder the more I have run SETI@home (probably due to the constant high speed of the fan). The noise is there regardless of the speed at which the fan is operating. Therefore, I decided to stop the work until Apple has had a look at my (only one month old) notebook.

Anyway, to get to the point... I chose "No new tasks" and let BOINC finish the ones I had in queue. However, when I look at the web page, it says that I still have one unfinished task, which has been downloaded and is in progress. It was the fourth task, and I have downloaded, completed, uploaded and reported a lot of other tasks since then. Why is that? Is the problem on client or server side? What will happen if I don't finish the task in time? Is it possible to manually download and run it?

Thanks!

Why is that? Is the problem on client or server side? What will happen if I don't finish the task in time? Is it possible to manually download and run it?

This happens when the server tries to send you a task, but something along the way happens and contact to your computer is lost. The database has already appointed this task to you, but it never arrived. We call them ghost tasks. Happens to all of us at times.

They'll time out eventually and be sent to someone else instead. You can't download them in any way.

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