CPU Throttling

DanNeely
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Topic 192694

A while back I remember seeing some discussion of a way to limit the maximum share of CPU time an app could consume even if nothing else was loading the processor. I believe that most of the discussion was in the context of keeping laptops from overheating. I need a tool to do the same thing to throttle a badly behaving application that is hammering the CPU hard enough to cause the UI threads of other applications to become largely nonresponsive. While twiddling my thumbs for half an hour and getting paid does have some small degree of personal appeal my employer understandably feels different about the matter.

Bikeman (Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein)
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CPU Throttling

Quote:
A while back I remember seeing some discussion of a way to limit the maximum share of CPU time an app could consume even if nothing else was loading the processor. I believe that most of the discussion was in the context of keeping laptops from overheating. I need a tool to do the same thing to throttle a badly behaving application that is hammering the CPU hard enough to cause the UI threads of other applications to become largely nonresponsive. While twiddling my thumbs for half an hour and getting paid does have some small degree of personal appeal my employer understandably feels different about the matter.

What would be the OS the app is running under?

CU

BRM

Michael Karlinsky
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RE: I need a tool to do the

Quote:
I need a tool to do the same thing to throttle a badly behaving application that is hammering the CPU hard enough to cause the UI threads of other applications to become largely nonresponsive. While twiddling my thumbs for half an hour and getting paid does have some small degree of personal appeal my employer understandably feels different about the matter.

Threadmaster

HTH

Michael

Bernd Machenschalk
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Doesn't CPU-throtteling work

Doesn't CPU-throtteling work with newest (Development) BOINC Clients?

BM

BM

DanNeely
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It's a windows XP machine.

It's a windows XP machine. Since TMs website only mentions 2k and 2k3 server will I have any problems running it?

DanNeely
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The badly behaved app I need

The badly behaved app I need to stomp on isn't boinc related. I don't want to name names but it's one of the Irrational spawn of a computing mega corp that predates the vacuum tube.

Richard Haselgrove
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Does a reference to this SETI

Does a reference to this SETI problem/solution help?

DanNeely
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Not sure. Seti's been

Not sure. Seti's been blocked by netnanny.

Richard Haselgrove
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Problem: RE: This is a

Problem:

Quote:

This is a strange issue I have not seen on any other platforms I have (including some dual-core Athlons.)

Platform: Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz Laptop.
OS: Windows XP SP2
BOINC 5.7.2, Boinc 5.6.5, Boinc 5.4.11

Symptoms: When BOINC/Seti (or any other project) is running, I can't hibernate, can't open word or excel files by clicking on the file. Can't open a web page by clicking on a link in Thunderbird (whether or not Firefox is running at the time.)

As soon as boinc stops running either by being paused or suspended, or even when I use CPU throttling (which actually (but may be irrelevant)just pauses the app/s regularly) then word/excel document opens, the link is opened, or the laptop suspends.

In other words, the action I tried to do goes into some resource wait state and does not go forward until the CPU drops below 100% - it is waiting for BOINC. This of course should not happen. Nothing should have to wait for BOINC.

Happens with all recent versions of BOINC that I have tried.

Edit: This behaviour does not happen for opening all file types. It happens for Word and Excel, but not PPT and PDF. One thing I can see that is consistent across the file types is that those file types that have a problem have a DDE message in the "open" section under "file types", whereas those that do not have a DDE message. (although they might use DDE)


Solution:

Quote:

Found the problem. It's called "Thinkvantage Away Manager". It's a piece of IBM bloatware that is supposed to improve performance by stopping some tasks from running when the CPU is busy. Seems to me it chains itself into some software interrupts and then refuses to run when CPU is 100%.

Anything chained behind it in the SWIs waits forever to run.

Uninstalled it and everything is fine now....

DanNeely
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I don't have anything called

I don't have anything called "Thinkvantage Away Manager" in add/remove programs, listed as a service, or anything with a similar name in my running process list.

Richard Haselgrove
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RE: I don't have anything

Message 63998 in response to message 63997

Quote:
I don't have anything called "Thinkvantage Away Manager" in add/remove programs, listed as a service, or anything with a similar name in my running process list.


Oh well, false alarm then, but I thought it was worth a try - you were a bit coy about the finer details of your question, but some of the clues seemed to fit.

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