Many years ago, I downloaded and helped process data units for SETI. I had no problem for several years. Because of moves, both nationally and internationally, I let it lapse. Three years ago when I bought my latest computer (Dell Inspiron 17) I attempted to get back into processing data for SETI. However, I found that when I downloaded, installed and began running the data, my computer's CPU began running at a severely over speed rate, so much so that the program, which runs as a screensaver, kept shutting off. I eventually uninstalled it and have not gone back since.

My Dell laptop has an Intel Core i3 CPU m370 @ 2.4 gHz, 4 gig of RAM and a 64-bit operating system.

I have attempted to tweak several of the Computer Preference settings but my computer still over-clocks and eventually the SETI screensaver will simply shut down completely.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

---

Have you downloaded any software to try and monitor your CPU or regulate the CPU? The other option (after modifying your settings on your laptop) might be to get a program that will allow you to control the speeds. I remember someone mentioning ThrottleStop as a way to control the speeds. Might be something to look into. Lets see what ideas some of the others have first thou.

Your CPU has a built-in feature called SpeedStep, which will throttle down the speed of the CPU when it's idle, or not doing much. This to conserve energy and that it won't get as hot.

As soon as you allow Seti to run, SpeedStep will increase the processor speed, thus increasing the energy usage, which results in heat. Which will probably be interfering with other things your laptop has set up, as laptops are notorious when it comes to heat.

Settings in preferences you certainly should check are:
Suspend work when non-BOINC CPU usage is above 25%, set this to higher or disable it (set it to 100).
Suspend work if no mouse/keyboard activity in last X minutes, this will allow BOINC to suspend when the computer goes into low power mode, which will probably happen when you've not touched the keyboard/mouse(pad) for several minutes.

You can try to disable Speedstep in the BIOS, but this will normally only allow the CPU to then run in the low speed. What you want to check is the Power Options in Windows, though, and change the behaviour of your CPU's power usage there.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/power-management
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/9090/learning-windows-7-manage-power-settings/

---