Milkyway Tasks Keep Stopping

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pjchris

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Message 112892 - Posted: 12 Oct 2023, 12:44:51 UTC

Milkyway project tasks stop after 3-5% incremental progress, never resume unless I pause Manager and Un-pause it, or restart BOINC completely. (Also, BOINC not switching between tasks or projects.) Have reinstalled project and BOINC. No difference. Also does this on a laptop running windows 10 32 Byte
Windows 10 Pro 22H2 Up to date 64 Byte, Desktop computer
BOINC 7.24.1 (x64)
AMD Processor Phenome II x6 1090T 3.2GHz
12 GB Memory
Settings: Processors - 100%, 50% Usage, 50% Memory
CPU Not Busy - Processors 100%, 50% Usage, 50%, Memory

My Windows 11 desktop machine is not experiencing either problem.

Suggestions please
PJCHRIS
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Profile Dave
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Message 112893 - Posted: 12 Oct 2023, 14:06:51 UTC - in response to Message 112892.  

this post in the Milky Way fora seems to be on the subject. I only looked at the first page of posts but given the thread runs to a second page , it seems to be an issue with the project.
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robsmith
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Message 112894 - Posted: 12 Oct 2023, 14:07:10 UTC

A couple of questions
By Settings: "Processors - 100%, 50% Usage, 50% Memory" do you mean "use all 6 cores for 50% of the time" or "use 50% of the cores 100% of the time"?
Are you running any other projects, if so which, and are they displaying the same pattern of behaviour?

For now I'll assume the former is the correct interpretation.
You may find by allowing BOINC to run on 5 or the 6 cores will actually be faster (more tasks per hour) and les intrusive on the operating system than using all 6. This can be done by setting "use at most xx% of cores to 83%.
Also it is generally better to run the cores 100% of the time instead of a fraction of the time, this is particularly true on AMD Phenom chips which could stutter badly during the repeated start/stop cycles.

Task and project swapping can be rather random, indeed I can't remember the last I saw actually happen - BOINC appears to prefer to complete a running task than swap tasks & projects.
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pjchris

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Message 112896 - Posted: 12 Oct 2023, 15:15:50 UTC - in response to Message 112894.  
Last modified: 12 Oct 2023, 15:16:40 UTC

I was running 100 percent of the cores (6) 50% of the time. No other projects are having a problem on any of my computers.

I have changed the CPU usage to 84% (now running 5 tasks for Asteroids project with no stoppages for the last half hour). I reset the Milkyway project and am awaiting tasks to see if the change has had any effect. I'll post an update once Milkyway posts some tasks and I see how it does. Thanks for the response.
PJCHRIS
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Profile Dave
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Message 112897 - Posted: 12 Oct 2023, 15:19:39 UTC - in response to Message 112896.  

I was running 100 percent of the cores (6) 50% of the time. No other projects are having a problem on any of my computers.


As Rob says, much better to restrict the number of cores in use. 50% of cores 100% of the time or even 5/6 ocres 100% of the time is much better than the stopping and starting which will cause the CPU to heat up and cool down reducing its lifespan.
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pjchris

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Message 112938 - Posted: 15 Oct 2023, 21:39:10 UTC - in response to Message 112897.  

I have switched all my BOINC instances on Windows 10 and 11 to run 50% of the CPU's 100% of the time. All now are running the Milkyway project without pauses or stops. As was noted earlier in a response, most of the tasks run all the way to completion without any switching between tasks. I don't really care about that. So, I believe my problem is SOLVED.
PJCHRIS
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Message boards : Questions and problems : Milkyway Tasks Keep Stopping

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