I see the following message in the message section of BOINC quite often:

8/19/2005 2:18:39 AM|SETI@home|Result 16no03ab.8424.22737.742326.23_0 exited with zero status but no 'finished' file
8/19/2005 2:18:39 AM|SETI@home|If this happens repeatedly you may need to reset the project.
8/19/2005 2:18:39 AM||request_reschedule_cpus: process exited
8/19/2005 2:18:39 AM|SETI@home|Restarting result 16no03ab.8424.22737.742326.23_0 using setiathome version 4.18
8/19/2005 3:45:22 AM||request_reschedule_cpus: process exited
8/19/2005 3:45:22 AM|SETI@home|Computation for result 16no03ab.8424.22737.742326.23_0 finished

I see there is a 'reset project' button on the projects tab - what happens if I reset SETI? Just how often do I need to get the message above before I reset?

Thanks.

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Jockstocks.com

If you get it half a dozen times, on 2 or more Work Units, then i'd reset.
It means all the Work Units & any results you've produced but haven't yet returned you've down loaded will be deleted & you'll be starting again with a fresh bunch.
From memory you'll also have to re-attach to the project (bit vague on that bit).

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Grant
Darwin NT

I would be cautious about using the "Reset project" button as you will lose all work in that project currently on your computer. This condition is an annoyance most of the time as the WU will restart from the last checkpoint it took. If your project is completing the WUs in about the correct (for your machine) amount of time, I recommend you don't reset. If the same WU is "stuck" and won't complete, then it might be appropriate to use reset.

Note: this condition can be caused be resetting the time on your computer! If you change the time, you might be doing it to yourself!

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Thanks for the responses - my computer clock doesn't seem to keep good time, so that might be the issue. I'll hold off on reseting unless I get that error message a bunch more times.

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Jockstocks.com

Thanks for the responses - my computer clock doesn't seem to keep good time, so that might be the issue. I'll hold off on reseting unless I get that error message a bunch more times.

You could install a clock synchronizer (if you have XP it's already implemented; just activate it) .. this could keep the system clock quite actual.

[quote
You could install a clock synchronizer (if you have XP it's already implemented; just activate it) .. this could keep the system clock quite actual.[/quote]

Actually, I was using a clock synchronizer and found that every time it adjusted my computer clock, the "zero status but no 'finished' file" would happen. Now I only synchronize (manually) two or three times a day. (My computer will lose or gain up to 1 minute per hour! Not nice.) Oh, and the built-in XP synchronizer only executes once a week, as I recall.

If anyone knows why computers lose time (and more importantly, how to prevent them from losing it to start with!), I would very much like to know.

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If anyone knows why computers lose time (and more importantly, how to prevent them from losing it to start with!), I would very much like to know.

Computers lose time because they are not really designed to be clocks. The most common cause is something blocks the CPU briefly so the time cannot be updated. This 'slows' the clock slightly, the more often it happens the more time the clock loses. A good tight death loop (X jump to X) can make this really noticable.

Other causes include not running at a frequency that evenly divides into a real time intraval ie 3.3333 mhz. At this frequency the clock will lose or gain 1/3 of a second every second. A weak battery on the motherboard. This one has more effect when the computer is turned off, but can still happen even if the computer is on 24/7.

The only thing you can really do anything about is making sure the battery is properly charged. Batteries should last several years, so even this one isn't something to worry about on a regular basis.

BTW this exited with zero status message is normally safe to ignore. The client will restart the app automatically in most cases. If there is some real problem the workunit will usually go ahead and error out without running the entire thing.

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BOINC WIKI

BOINCing since 2002/12/8

[/quote]
Computers lose time because they are not really designed to be clocks. The most common cause is something blocks the CPU briefly so the time cannot be updated. This 'slows' the clock slightly, the more often it happens the more time the clock loses. A good tight death loop (X jump to X) can make this really noticable.
[/quote]

Hmmm. Interesting, but if the computer is turned off, the clock continues to run, right? So the clock is independent of the processor being on. Therefore, it must be some other reason, such as the hardware clock being accurate, but the software clock 'losing' a tic now and again? If this is true, I wonder why the O/S doesn't just read the hardware clock when the time/date is needed. Hmmm. Anyone else?

Thanks for your reply.

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Off Topic

To Keck Komputers,

How about either changing that annoying sig so that we don't have to scroll left and right to read a post or just dump it altogether.

Thanks in advance,
-Mrs. anon

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