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Message 58119 - Posted: 4 May 2013, 14:18:41 UTC
Last modified: 4 May 2013, 14:19:34 UTC

Hey guys. I woke up this morning to find that my CPU on my computer is no longer being fully used by BOINC. Normally it is running 12 tasks on the CPU, but is now only running 5, and is only using less than half of my CPU's crunching power.

I double checked my settings and they're all as they should be. I also restarted BOINC a few times, but that didn't resolve the issue.

My computer hasn't crashed or anything other out of the ordinary and everything seems to be running just fine. No settings were changed or anything like that overnight. It was running 12 CPU tasks when I went to bed, and now is only running 5 at a time.

Any ideas how to resolve this?

Thanks.
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Message 58121 - Posted: 4 May 2013, 15:39:06 UTC
Last modified: 4 May 2013, 15:39:49 UTC

Update:

OK, it started only running 4 CPU tasks, then 3 at a time.

I reset the project, downloaded new tasks, and started crunching them. That seems to have resolved the issue I was having, at least for now. I'm back to running 12 CPU tasks and 4 GPU tasks simultaneously.

Hopefully this continues to work now as it was before. I'll let you guys know if it doesn't.

I'm still curious what was going on. Any thoughts?
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Message 58126 - Posted: 5 May 2013, 11:36:57 UTC - in response to Message 58121.  

Update:

OK, it started only running 4 CPU tasks, then 3 at a time.

I reset the project, downloaded new tasks, and started crunching them. That seems to have resolved the issue I was having, at least for now. I'm back to running 12 CPU tasks and 4 GPU tasks simultaneously.

Hopefully this continues to work now as it was before. I'll let you guys know if it doesn't.

I'm still curious what was going on. Any thoughts?


Another person, at another project, reported something similar and fixed it by stopping Boinc and all it's sub proc4esses, then restarting it and it was fine. He was also using Boinc 7.0.64. I wonder if it is a rare Boinc problem? I am also running 7.0.64 on most of my pc's and have not seen it, but two users each on different projects, means it is more then hardware I think. He is running an Intel 8200 quad core and you are running an Intel i7, so the hardware is close but not that close. His problems only affected his cpu units only, as does yours.
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Message 58133 - Posted: 5 May 2013, 19:45:57 UTC - in response to Message 58126.  
Last modified: 5 May 2013, 19:47:45 UTC

I just noticed it starting to happen again. It was only running 10 CPU tasks, then 9.

In order to fix it, I seem to have to both reset the project and restart BOINC.

Kind of weird. The only changes I've made somewhat recently was getting my GPUs to run more tasks at once, but this issue doesn't seem to affect the GPUs crunching, which stays at 4 tasks.

I added the XML files to change how many tasks the GPUs run.

cc_config.xml in the BOINC folder:

<cc_config>
<options>
<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
</options>
</cc_config>


app_config.xml in the milkyway.cs.rpi.edu_milkyway folder:

<app_config>
<app>
<name>milkyway</name>
<max_concurrent>4</max_concurrent>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>.5</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>.05</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
</app_config>


Not sure if that is related, but I added those in fairly recently, and hadn't been having the issue before that.

But then also, I did recently update to 7.0.64 in order for the second config file to work, so it may just be a weird intermittent issue with the version too.
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Message 58139 - Posted: 6 May 2013, 3:05:19 UTC - in response to Message 58126.  

Another person, at another project, reported something similar and fixed it by stopping Boinc and all it's sub proc4esses, then restarting it and it was fine. He was also using Boinc 7.0.64. I wonder if it is a rare Boinc problem? I am also running 7.0.64 on most of my pc's and have not seen it, but two users each on different projects, means it is more then hardware I think. He is running an Intel 8200 quad core and you are running an Intel i7, so the hardware is close but not that close. His problems only affected his cpu units only, as does yours.


Also, thanks for the info, Mikey. Maybe I should report it as a potential bug?
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Message 58140 - Posted: 6 May 2013, 9:04:24 UTC - in response to Message 58133.  

I just noticed it starting to happen again. It was only running 10 CPU tasks, then 9.

In order to fix it, I seem to have to both reset the project and restart BOINC.

Kind of weird. The only changes I've made somewhat recently was getting my GPUs to run more tasks at once, but this issue doesn't seem to affect the GPUs crunching, which stays at 4 tasks.

I added the XML files to change how many tasks the GPUs run.

cc_config.xml in the BOINC folder:

<cc_config>
<options>
<use_all_gpus>1</use_all_gpus>
</options>
</cc_config>


app_config.xml in the milkyway.cs.rpi.edu_milkyway folder:

<app_config>
<app>
<name>milkyway</name>
<max_concurrent>4</max_concurrent>
<gpu_versions>
<gpu_usage>.5</gpu_usage>
<cpu_usage>.05</cpu_usage>
</gpu_versions>
</app>
</app_config>


Not sure if that is related, but I added those in fairly recently, and hadn't been having the issue before that.

But then also, I did recently update to 7.0.64 in order for the second config file to work, so it may just be a weird intermittent issue with the version too.


Bump that max concurrent up to 12 as it also included CPU work in that setting.

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Message 58146 - Posted: 6 May 2013, 15:31:02 UTC - in response to Message 58140.  
Last modified: 6 May 2013, 15:33:06 UTC

Bump that max concurrent up to 12 as it also included CPU work in that setting.


Thanks for the response.

So 12 or 16, you think? Is it just CPU or GPU, or both?

That aside, I seem to run 12 CPU tasks simultaneously without issue for at least a couple days once I restart BOINC and reset the project. I'm running 12 now fine since I reset it last.

Is this related to the issue I'm having?
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Message 58151 - Posted: 6 May 2013, 21:07:58 UTC
Last modified: 6 May 2013, 21:08:52 UTC

The app_config is for both CPU and GPU.

And make that 16 as you have a 12 core machine plus those 2 GTX680's.
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Message 58155 - Posted: 6 May 2013, 23:04:33 UTC - in response to Message 58151.  

The app_config is for both CPU and GPU.

And make that 16 as you have a 12 core machine plus those 2 GTX680's.


When I got home today just now, I noticed only 8 CPU tasks running again.

I updated the app_config file as you suggested and suspended the project and restarted BOINC. Everything seems to be running as it should now, and I didn't have to reset the project to get more CPU tasks to run as I had needed to before updating the app_config file.

Thanks again. This seems to have resolved the issue I was having. I will of course monitor it and let you guys know again if it fails to continue working as it should.

Mikey, you may want to suggest this kind of a solution to the other person that was having similar issues, as it may work for them as well.

Best regards.
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Message 58156 - Posted: 7 May 2013, 0:29:13 UTC
Last modified: 7 May 2013, 0:36:06 UTC

OK, I have the 12 CPU tasks running now, and 4 GPU tasks, but I also have 4 additional CPU tasks which were already partially crunched waiting to run.

I changed the tag in the app_config file to 12 tasks and restarted BOINC again. It looks like it may tally the concurrent tasks for the GPUs and the CPUs separately from each other.

If I find later on that not enough tasks are running, I'll update the file back to 16 for the tag setting again.

I'll let you guys know how it goes in a couple of day to try and isolate a definite solution to the problem I was having.
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Message 58161 - Posted: 7 May 2013, 11:43:11 UTC - in response to Message 58155.  
Last modified: 7 May 2013, 11:56:47 UTC


Mikey, you may want to suggest this kind of a solution to the other person that was having similar issues, as it may work for them as well.

Best regards.


I did that yesterday, and updated it today. Thanks!!
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Message 58193 - Posted: 9 May 2013, 23:36:14 UTC

Just an update to let you guys know that everything is running well here.

The 12 for the tag setting seems to be working just right.

Thanks again for the help.
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Message 62110 - Posted: 5 Aug 2014, 15:36:40 UTC
Last modified: 5 Aug 2014, 15:44:39 UTC

Can some one explain in detail how to set this app-config?
Where is that file? (app_config.xml?) What is the path to the project?
Do I need set this in each project?


Thanks,

D
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Message 62114 - Posted: 5 Aug 2014, 18:55:05 UTC - in response to Message 62110.  

Can some one explain in detail how to set this app-config?
Where is that file? (app_config.xml?) What is the path to the project?
Do I need set this in each project?


Thanks,

D

What is it you want the file to do?
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Message 62118 - Posted: 6 Aug 2014, 10:17:27 UTC - in response to Message 62110.  

Can some one explain in detail how to set this app-config?
Where is that file? (app_config.xml?) What is the path to the project?
Do I need set this in each project?
Thanks,
D


What SwiftMallard is asking you is that since each app_config.xml file is user created and is specific to each users needs. So just saying you want one doesn't help help you create one that will work for you. The file is NOT on your pc right now but is very easy to make and put in the right place, but there are a TON of options that can be in one to make Boinc work your way There ARE limits on what it can do though so up to a point Boinc will work your way, beyond that you are just waiting for the developers to add more options.
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