Ok so here is the problem, this machine I am typing on has two 3.2GHz 4MB Cache Xeon CPU's with Hyper threading, making technically 4 processors. I have HT enabled in the BIOS, windows sees 4 CPU's and checking everything out I get 4 CPU's when checking the resources in Task Manager..I get one graph for each CPU core (4 total)...but no matter what I do BOINC will only use three tasks at the same time (2 for the CPU's and 1 CUDA for the GPU).

Is this an issue with the latest release of BOINC because I know under SETI classic all four ran and it ran 4 tasks simultaneously, and it did that under the original releases of BOINC too, in the time I have been away has this changed? Seems a shame to have the ability to run 4 simultaneously and yet the machine won't..any help or comments greatly appreciated.

By the way, yes I did read all other threads on this, yes all preferences are setup to use 100% of CPU's and 100% of the time..no luck so far...

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By the way, yes I did read all other threads on this, yes all preferences are setup to use 100% of CPU's and 100% of the time..no luck so far...

But which preferences?

The Online preferences or the ones in BOINC Manager?

If the online ones and you want to use those, then please do the following:
- Open BOINC Manager.
- If not there yet, go to Advanced view.
- In the Tools menu (top bar), click Computing preferences.
- Click Clear.

This should reset BOINC to be using the online preferences.
(Local preferences override online ones).

If that doesn't fix the problem, could you please post the contents of your global_prefs.xml file? You can find that file in your BOINC Data directory, which by default on Windows 7 lives a hidden life in C:\Programdata\BOINC\

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Hi, Thanks for the reply...

Nothing has been sorted as yet, cannot get it to recognise the multiple CPU's.

Here is the contents of the global Pref's file..although i actually have SETI to run always..

<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<global_preferences> <source_project>http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/</source_project> <source_scheduler>http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi</source_scheduler> <mod_time>1327616485</mod_time> <run_on_batteries>1</run_on_batteries> <run_if_user_active>1</run_if_user_active> <run_gpu_if_user_active>1</run_gpu_if_user_active> <idle_time_to_run>1</idle_time_to_run> <suspend_if_no_recent_input>3</suspend_if_no_recent_input> <suspend_cpu_usage>50</suspend_cpu_usage> <leave_apps_in_memory>0</leave_apps_in_memory> <cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>60</cpu_scheduling_period_minutes> <max_cpus>100</max_cpus> <max_ncpus_pct>100</max_ncpus_pct> <cpu_usage_limit>100</cpu_usage_limit> <disk_max_used_gb>500</disk_max_used_gb> <disk_min_free_gb>0.001</disk_min_free_gb> <disk_max_used_pct>80</disk_max_used_pct> <disk_interval>60</disk_interval> <vm_max_used_pct>85</vm_max_used_pct> <ram_max_used_busy_pct>50</ram_max_used_busy_pct> <ram_max_used_idle_pct>95</ram_max_used_idle_pct> <work_buf_min_days>0</work_buf_min_days> <work_buf_additional_days>3</work_buf_additional_days> <confirm_before_connecting>0</confirm_before_connecting> <hangup_if_dialed>0</hangup_if_dialed> <max_bytes_sec_down>5000000</max_bytes_sec_down> <max_bytes_sec_up>2500000</max_bytes_sec_up> <daily_xfer_limit_mb>200</daily_xfer_limit_mb> <daily_xfer_period_days>1</daily_xfer_period_days> <dont_verify_images>0</dont_verify_images> -<venue name="home"> <run_on_batteries>1</run_on_batteries> <run_if_user_active>1</run_if_user_active> <run_gpu_if_user_active>1</run_gpu_if_user_active> <idle_time_to_run>1</idle_time_to_run> <suspend_if_no_recent_input>0</suspend_if_no_recent_input> <suspend_cpu_usage>50</suspend_cpu_usage> <leave_apps_in_memory>0</leave_apps_in_memory> <cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>60</cpu_scheduling_period_minutes> <max_cpus>100</max_cpus> <max_ncpus_pct>100</max_ncpus_pct> <cpu_usage_limit>100</cpu_usage_limit> <disk_max_used_gb>500</disk_max_used_gb> <disk_min_free_gb>0.001</disk_min_free_gb> <disk_max_used_pct>50</disk_max_used_pct> <disk_interval>60</disk_interval> <vm_max_used_pct>75</vm_max_used_pct> <ram_max_used_busy_pct>50</ram_max_used_busy_pct> <ram_max_used_idle_pct>95</ram_max_used_idle_pct> <work_buf_min_days>0</work_buf_min_days> <work_buf_additional_days>3</work_buf_additional_days> <confirm_before_connecting>0</confirm_before_connecting> <hangup_if_dialed>0</hangup_if_dialed> <max_bytes_sec_down>4000000</max_bytes_sec_down> <max_bytes_sec_up>1000000</max_bytes_sec_up> <daily_xfer_limit_mb>200</daily_xfer_limit_mb> <daily_xfer_period_days>1</daily_xfer_period_days> <dont_verify_images>0</dont_verify_images> </venue> </global_preferences>

Interestingly on this machine I cannot get the ATI GPU to run SETI even though it is capable and has in the past...is this a windows 7 issue?

Thanks for the help.

Jim

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Post the first ~30 lines of messages from Event log
(this will show us several 'things' which we can discuss later)

SETI never used ATI GPUs 'by default' (there is no standard SETI app for ATI)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/apps.php

(I don't know can Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium use 2 physical CPU chips)

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 

(I don't know can Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium use 2 physical CPU chips)

Good catch.

Windows 7 Home Premium is limited to a single CPU socket. Pro and Ultimate are limited to 2. That doesn't say anything for the maximum amount of cores that it can use, though.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/system-requirements writes:

PCs with multi-core processors:
Windows 7 was designed to work with today's multi-core processors. All 32-bit versions of Windows 7 can support up to 32 processor cores, while 64‑bit versions can support up to 256 processor cores.

PCs with multiple processors (CPUs):
Commercial servers, workstations, and other high-end PCs may have more than one physical processor. Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate allow for two physical processors, providing the best performance on these computers. Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium will recognize only one physical processor.

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Thanks for the replies everyone...that Windows 7 information is useful and explains a lot, it also explains that MS are cheapskate fiddlers because under XP this machine ran 4 units simultaneously because it recognised the HT Cores of the 2 CPU's..seems I will have to upgrade with to 7 pro to really get the meat going here.

As for the ATI problem...Great, half the GPU's in cards are ATI now thanks to the acquisition of them by AMD who are really pushing them...seems I will have to buy another CUDA based card to get over that issue too...

I wonder if there is a register switch that will allow Windows 7 to recognise all the cores?

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they mentioned that seti doesnt have a stock ATI app. There is however an optimized app that can be easily installed using the lunatics installer.

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

...under XP this machine ran 4 units simultaneously because it recognised the HT Cores of the 2 CPU's..seems I will have to upgrade with to 7 pro to really get the meat going here.

Your Windows 7 recognizes multiple cores, it also recognizes hyper threading. It does not recognize multiple CPUs, which you have. And no, it's not something in the registry that can be set or undone. It's built into the kernel, so only by changing the kernel can you change that behaviour.

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that Windows 7 information is useful and explains a lot, it also explains that MS are cheapskate fiddlers because under XP this machine ran 4 units simultaneously because it recognised the HT Cores of the 2 CPU's..seems I will have to upgrade with to 7 pro to really get the meat going here.

The same was true for Windows XP; XP Home was limited to a single CPU regardless of cores or HyperThreading, XP Pro was limited to two CPUs regardless of cores or HyperThreading.

You must have been using XP Professional if it worked before, and switched to Win7 Home on the new computer. Since Win7 Home is cheaper than Win7 Pro, I would say it isn't Microsoft that are the "cheapskate fiddlers", nor are they at fault for this.