I've just installed Vista Ultimate x64 and converted my existing XP Pro x86 into the "Old Version of Windows" OS in a dual boot configuration. I've installed BOINC on the new x64 OS and attached 2 projects; SETI & Einstein. All seems to be working OK. In the "my computers" section of my profile, each OS shows up as a separate computer, as I would expect. My question is why my x86 OS shows up as 4 CPUs in my profile and the x64 shows up as two? Physically, there are dual 3.6 GHz Xeons in the computer. I assume that the hyper-threading in x86 causes my profile to show 4 CPUs. With the x64 OS, only 2 CPUs are listed. Is there not hyper-threading in x64? Does this difference really mean anything? Will BOINC process work faster on one OS versus the other? Which is faster, the x86 or the x64 OS?

They should show up the same amount of CPUs with either OS. Vista x64 does support HyperThreading, so it should show 4 as well.

Are you using different BOINC location settings under each OS? Is one location set to use 2 CPUs max while the other is set to use 4?

I noticed that you're using two different versions of BOINC too under each OS. It probably would have made more sense to simply use a single installation of BOINC and run it under both OSes (BOINC.EXE and BOINCMGR.EXE). That way, you wouldn't have to worry about having two different computer IDs, nor would you have to worry about missing deadlines under a different OS.

To side-step the issue that both OSes have their own Program Files folder, you could use an installation destination of C:\\BOINC instead of the default location so that it is accessible by both OSes without causing problems.

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... Are you using different BOINC location settings under each OS? Is one location set to use 2 CPUs max while the other is set to use 4?...

...To side-step the issue that both OSes have their own Program Files folder, you could use an installation destination of C:\\BOINC instead of the default location so that it is accessible by both OSes without causing problems.

Thanks for your comments.

I do NOT use multiple locations. My entry for "maximum processors" was set to "4", so I changed it to "8" just to see if it would make any difference. I'd shouldn't since there are physically only 2 hyper-threaded processors.

I think that using a single installation of BOINC would be too confusing (for me at least). For one thing, each OS is on a separate physical drive. Win XP Pro assigns "C:" to the physical drive from which it boots and the other drive (the one containing the VISTA OS) is assigned D:. Vista also assigns "C:" to the physical drive from which it boots and the other drive (the one containing XP Pro) is assigned D:. If I placed BOINC at C:\\BOINC under XP Pro, then it would be located at D:\\BOINC under Vista Ultimate x64.

Any other ideas, especially about the 2 versus 4 processors?

I think that using a single installation of BOINC would be too confusing (for me at least). For one thing, each OS is on a separate physical drive. Win XP Pro assigns "C:" to the physical drive from which it boots and the other drive (the one containing the VISTA OS) is assigned D:. Vista also assigns "C:" to the physical drive from which it boots and the other drive (the one containing XP Pro) is assigned D:. If I placed BOINC at C:\\BOINC under XP Pro, then it would be located at D:\\BOINC under Vista Ultimate x64.

Well, it would still work. The shortcut file would simply denote a different drive under XP, but it'd still be linked to the appropriate app. But if you're not comfortable with that, then I guess two different installations is the only way to go.

Any other ideas, especially about the 2 versus 4 processors?

How about exiting BOINC Manager and restarting it, then posting the messages here from the Messages tab will help to see if Vista is recognizing all CPUs?

Or open Task Manager (right-click on the task bar and select Task Manager) in Vista, then click on the Performance tab. Under "CPU Usage History", how many graphs does it show? Two or four? This will help determine if Windows is "seeing" all four virtual CPUs or it's only "seeing" two, and that in turn will help determine if the problem is Windows Vista or BOINC.

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will help determine if the problem is Windows Vista or BOINC.

MANY THANKS!

It was a BIOS problem. I had a local IT place install the dual boot with Vista x64 and they reset the BIOS as part of what they did. It never occurred to me that they had done that until you asked if it was a Vista or BOINC problem. I've got it fixed now and all 4 CPUs show in the "CPU Usage History".

With that fixed, I think I'll try your other suggestion about creating one BOINC installation. Can you give me a thumbnail sketch of how to proceed? Do I have to delete both installations of BOINC or can I leave BOINC v5.8.15 that I installed on Vista this week and just reinstall on XP Pro? How to I handle the different drive letters via a shortcut as you mentioned? I'd like to do this so that i only have one set of work and don't miss deadlines.

MANY THANKS!

It was a BIOS problem. I had a local IT place install the dual boot with Vista x64 and they reset the BIOS as part of what they did. It never occurred to me that they had done that until you asked if it was a Vista or BOINC problem. I've got it fixed now and all 4 CPUs show in the "CPU Usage History".

Great! Glad that's all sorted out.

With that fixed, I think I'll try your other suggestion about creating one BOINC installation. Can you give me a thumbnail sketch of how to proceed? Do I have to delete both installations of BOINC or can I leave BOINC v5.8.15 that I installed on Vista this week and just reinstall on XP Pro? How to I handle the different drive letters via a shortcut as you mentioned? I'd like to do this so that i only have one set of work and don't miss deadlines.

Well, to make things easier (since you cannot easily combine two BOINC installations into a single folder without running into issues), I'd suggest starting with one BOINC installation (say, the XP one) and open BOINC Manager, and select the Projects tab, then select the project (SETI@Home), then press the "No New Tasks" button (it will change to "Allow New Tasks") and let it finish out all workunits that it has already downloaded. Once they have been completed, make sure all the work has been successfully returned to SETI. Once everything is returned, uninstall BOINC.

Repeat this process for Vista.

After you have uninstalled BOINC from both OSes, simply re-install the program, but change the default installation folder to C:\\BOINC under either OS (say, XP, which will make this drive D: for Vista). Verify that it can connect to the SETI@Home servers. Make sure you use your existing account when you re-attach.

Then, boot into Vista. Open drive D:, navigate to the BOINC folder and right click on BOINCMGR.EXE (the BOINC Manager), then click on "Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut)". This will automatically create a shortcut on your Vista desktop with the correct drive letter of D:\\BOINC\\BOINCMGR.EXE.

Click and drag this shortcut from your Desktop to your Start button, then drag it over to your "All Programs" link, then drop it into your Startup folder. This will move the shortcut into your Startup folder and automatically make BOINC Manager start up with Vista every time you boot, and it will share the same installation with XP.



I hope those instructions were clear and concise enough for you. It may be easier to print out these instructions once you attempt to do the re-install so that you don't have to keep coming back here to see what the next step is.

Hope that helps!

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