I appreciate any help here, this is similar to this post:

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=6138#35408

but I could not see how to fix my particular problem. My PC is new, it has been running fine for a month or so and today I looked in on and found that it was only using 5 cores instead of the normal 12. Looking at res-mon I saw that some cores were 'parked', didn't know what that was, found way to stop it in registry, back to re-mon and they are not parked, can all 12 be driven to 100% usage [OCCT], but BOINC will not return to using all 12.

I still have no clue why the parking happened. From the referenced thread, I see to post these data:

global_prefs.xml:

<global_preferences>
    <source_project>http://www.gpugrid.net/</source_project>
    <source_scheduler>http://www.ps3grid.net/PS3GRID_cgi/cgi</source_scheduler>
<mod_time>1259155534</mod_time>
<run_on_batteries>0</run_on_batteries>
<run_if_user_active>1</run_if_user_active>
<run_gpu_if_user_active>1</run_gpu_if_user_active>
<idle_time_to_run>3</idle_time_to_run>
<suspend_if_no_recent_input>0</suspend_if_no_recent_input>
<cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>60</cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>
<hangup_if_dialed>0</hangup_if_dialed>
<work_buf_min_days>0</work_buf_min_days>
<work_buf_additional_days>2</work_buf_additional_days>
<max_cpus>16</max_cpus>
<max_ncpus_pct>100</max_ncpus_pct>
<cpu_usage_limit>75</cpu_usage_limit>
<disk_interval>60</disk_interval>
<disk_max_used_gb>4</disk_max_used_gb>
<disk_max_used_pct>50</disk_max_used_pct>
<disk_min_free_gb>0.1</disk_min_free_gb>
<vm_max_used_pct>75</vm_max_used_pct>
<ram_max_used_busy_pct>50</ram_max_used_busy_pct>
<ram_max_used_idle_pct>90</ram_max_used_idle_pct>
<max_bytes_sec_down>0</max_bytes_sec_down>
<max_bytes_sec_up>0</max_bytes_sec_up>
<dont_verify_images>0</dont_verify_images>
<venue name="home">
<run_on_batteries>0</run_on_batteries>
<run_if_user_active>0</run_if_user_active>
<run_gpu_if_user_active>0</run_gpu_if_user_active>
<idle_time_to_run>3</idle_time_to_run>
<suspend_if_no_recent_input>0</suspend_if_no_recent_input>
<cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>60</cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>
<hangup_if_dialed>0</hangup_if_dialed>
<work_buf_min_days>1</work_buf_min_days>
<work_buf_additional_days>1</work_buf_additional_days>
<max_cpus>16</max_cpus>
<max_ncpus_pct>100</max_ncpus_pct>
<cpu_usage_limit>50</cpu_usage_limit>
<disk_interval>60</disk_interval>
<disk_max_used_gb>100</disk_max_used_gb>
<disk_max_used_pct>50</disk_max_used_pct>
<disk_min_free_gb>0.001</disk_min_free_gb>
<vm_max_used_pct>75</vm_max_used_pct>
<ram_max_used_busy_pct>50</ram_max_used_busy_pct>
<ram_max_used_idle_pct>90</ram_max_used_idle_pct>
<max_bytes_sec_down>0</max_bytes_sec_down>
<max_bytes_sec_up>0</max_bytes_sec_up>
<dont_verify_images>0</dont_verify_images>
</venue>
</global_preferences>

And I have an overide prefs, that thread said I shouldn't and I don't remember doing anything atypical to generate it but here it is, global_prefs_overide.xml:

<global_preferences>
   <run_on_batteries>0</run_on_batteries>
   <run_if_user_active>1</run_if_user_active>
   <run_gpu_if_user_active>1</run_gpu_if_user_active>
   <suspend_cpu_usage>0.000000</suspend_cpu_usage>
   <start_hour>0.000000</start_hour>
   <end_hour>0.000000</end_hour>
   <net_start_hour>0.000000</net_start_hour>
   <net_end_hour>0.000000</net_end_hour>
   <leave_apps_in_memory>1</leave_apps_in_memory>
   <confirm_before_connecting>0</confirm_before_connecting>
   <hangup_if_dialed>0</hangup_if_dialed>
   <dont_verify_images>0</dont_verify_images>
   <work_buf_min_days>0.000000</work_buf_min_days>
   <work_buf_additional_days>2.000000</work_buf_additional_days>
   <max_ncpus_pct>100.000000</max_ncpus_pct>
   <cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>60.000000</cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>
   <disk_interval>60.000000</disk_interval>
   <disk_max_used_gb>4.000000</disk_max_used_gb>
   <disk_max_used_pct>50.000000</disk_max_used_pct>
   <disk_min_free_gb>0.100000</disk_min_free_gb>
   <vm_max_used_pct>75.000000</vm_max_used_pct>
   <ram_max_used_busy_pct>50.000000</ram_max_used_busy_pct>
   <ram_max_used_idle_pct>90.000000</ram_max_used_idle_pct>
   <max_bytes_sec_up>0.000000</max_bytes_sec_up>
   <max_bytes_sec_down>0.000000</max_bytes_sec_down>
   <cpu_usage_limit>75.000000</cpu_usage_limit>
   <daily_xfer_limit_mb>0.000000</daily_xfer_limit_mb>
   <daily_xfer_period_days>0</daily_xfer_period_days>
</global_preferences>

My messages:

12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Starting BOINC client version 6.10.58 for windows_x86_64
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Config: GUI RPC allowed from:
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Config:   192.168.1.106
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Libraries: libcurl/7.19.7 OpenSSL/0.9.8l zlib/1.2.3
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Data directory: C:\ProgramData\BOINC
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Running under account rob
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Processor: 12 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU       X 980  @ 3.33GHz [Family 6 Model 44 Stepping 2]
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Processor: 256.00 KB cache
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss htt tm pni ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 syscall nx lm vmx tm2 popcnt aes pbe
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		OS: Microsoft Windows 7: x64 Edition, (06.01.7600.00)
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Memory: 11.99 GB physical, 29.98 GB virtual
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Disk: 93.54 GB total, 42.92 GB free
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Local time is UTC -6 hours
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		ATI GPU 0: ATI Radeon HD5800 series (Cypress) (CAL version 1.4.880, 1024MB, 2800 GFLOPS peak)
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM	Collatz Conjecture	Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM	Collatz Conjecture	URL http://boinc.thesonntags.com/collatz/; Computer ID 47351; resource share 200
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM	Einstein@Home	URL http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/; Computer ID 3732309; resource share 200
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM	lhcathome	URL http://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/; Computer ID 9896574; resource share 500
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM	Milkyway@home	URL http://milkyway.cs.rpi.edu/milkyway/; Computer ID 238159; resource share 200
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM	SETI@home	URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID 5625160; resource share 400
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		General prefs: from http://www.gpugrid.net/ (last modified 25-Nov-2009 07:25:34)
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Host location: none
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		General prefs: using your defaults
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Reading preferences override file
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Preferences:
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		   max memory usage when active: 6139.55MB
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		   max memory usage when idle: 11051.20MB
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		   max disk usage: 4.00GB
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		   (to change preferences, visit the web site of an attached project, or select Preferences in the Manager)
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM		Not using a proxy
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM	Milkyway@home	Restarting task de_nbody_model7_3_50169_1292143157_0 using milkyway_nbody version 21
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM	Milkyway@home	Restarting task de_nbody_model2_3_58203_1292155760_2 using milkyway_nbody version 21
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM	Milkyway@home	Restarting task de_nbody_model7_3_72966_1292205278_1 using milkyway_nbody version 21
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM	Milkyway@home	Restarting task de_nbody_model2_3_85090_1292229836_0 using milkyway_nbody version 21
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM	Collatz Conjecture	Restarting task collatz_1292225166_115815_1 using collatz version 209

And the app_info.xml for collatz:

<app_info>
 <app>
 <name>collatz</name>
 </app>
 <file_info>
  <name>collatz64_cal_2.09_ati.exe</name>
  <executable/>
 </file_info>
 <file_info>
  <name>brook64.dll</name>
  <executable/>
 </file_info>

 <app_version>
  <app_name>collatz</app_name>
  <version_num>209</version_num>
  <plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
  <avg_ncpus>0.02</avg_ncpus>
  <max_ncpus>1</max_ncpus>
  <flops>1.0e11</flops>
  <coproc>
   <type>ATI</type>
   <count>1</count>
   </coproc>
   <cmdline></cmdline>
  <file_ref>
   <file_name>collatz64_cal_2.09_ati.exe</file_name>
   <main_program/>
  </file_ref>
  <file_ref>
   <file_name>brook64.dll</file_name>
  </file_ref>
 </app_version>

 <app_version>
  <app_name>collatz</app_name>
  <version_num>208</version_num>
  <plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
  <avg_ncpus>0.02</avg_ncpus>
  <max_ncpus>1</max_ncpus>
  <flops>1.0e11</flops>
  <coproc>
   <type>ATI</type>
   <count>0.33</count>
   </coproc>
   <cmdline></cmdline>
  <file_ref>
   <file_name>collatz64_cal_2.09_ati.exe</file_name>
   <main_program/>
  </file_ref>
  <file_ref>
   <file_name>brook64.dll</file_name>
  </file_ref>
 </app_version>

 <app_version>
  <app_name>collatz</app_name>
  <version_num>206</version_num>
  <plan_class>ati13ati</plan_class>
  <avg_ncpus>0.02</avg_ncpus>
  <max_ncpus>1</max_ncpus>
  <flops>1.0e11</flops>
  <coproc>
   <type>ATI</type>
   <count>0.33</count>
   </coproc>
   <cmdline></cmdline>
  <file_ref>
   <file_name>collatz64_cal_2.09_ati.exe</file_name>
   <main_program/>
  </file_ref>
  <file_ref>
   <file_name>brook64.dll</file_name>
  </file_ref>
 </app_version>
</app_info>

I haven't done anything recently to alter the BOINC environment that I am aware of, also I have a lappy with a quad-core i7 and it is fine with 9 tasks running as normal.

Any info is greatly appreciated, I am still trying to get any idea whatsover about the 'parking' thing, but that is fixed as near as I can tell, and my BOINC is still 7/13 on the fritz. I hate it when that happens.

Thanks again!

Edit/Addendum: Well, the cores came back online, I did nothing to bring this about. There was a large back-log of results to upload and those are gone also, surely that isn't the problem? I see large backlogs routinely and didn't have this problem. Oh well, I would still appreciate any insight anyone might have. Thanks again, really, if you made it this far.

---

You must be joking, Oh man you must be joking

[...] today I looked in on and found that it was only using 5 cores instead of the normal 12. Looking at res-mon I saw that some cores were 'parked', didn't know what that was, found way to stop it in registry, back to re-mon and they are not parked, can all 12 be driven to 100% usage [OCCT], but BOINC will not return to using all 12.
I still have no clue why the parking happened.

I believe you could/should enable core parking again. It just means that if there is not enough CPU work to keep all cores busy, just partially, then the OS puts some time-slices together on some of the cores, tries to completely free up other cores and can then "switch them off" (well, it's just a matter of milliseconds, in the next moment they will maybe again be utilized with something useful) to be able to spare some power to keep energy consumption lower if possible.

From the referenced thread, I see to post these data:
[....]
I haven't done anything recently to alter the BOINC environment that I am aware of, also I have a lappy with a quad-core i7 and it is fine with 9 tasks running as normal.

I haven't noticed anything "terribly wrong" with your setup.

Edit/Addendum: Well, the cores came back online, I did nothing to bring this about. There was a large back-log of results to upload and those are gone also, surely that isn't the problem? I see large backlogs routinely and didn't have this problem.

You noted "a large back-log of results to upload" - are you really sure you've had enough work for all 12 cores?

Peter

...found way to stop it in registry...

Was a reboot necessary after that?

12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM Processor: 12 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU X 980 @ 3.33GHz [Family 6 Model 44 Stepping 2]
12/14/2010 6:40:35 PM Processor: 256.00 KB cache

Did BOINC at any time show something other than 12 cores at this place?

You can check the log file in C:\ProgramData\BOINC\stdoutdae.txt and for older entries in stdoutdae.old.

There was a large back-log of results to upload and those are gone also, surely that isn't the problem?

Did the machine have any tasks in status "Ready to start" or "Waiting to run" at the time? Pending uploads tend to block the download of new tasks, so perhaps there haven't been more than 5 tasks available.

Gruß,
Gundolf

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Computer sind nicht alles im Leben. (Kleiner Scherz)