Sometimes workunits will not pause
7 Dec 2005 0:47:55 UTC
Topic 190312
(moderation:
I didn't do an exhaustive search for this issue, so please forgive me if it's been discussed elsewhere.
The issue: sometimes when Einstein is ordered to pause, it won't, but BOINC acts as if it was. I have to explicitly shut down BOINC in order for the processes to close.
I have the setting "Leave applications in memory while preempted" turned on in order for the work in progress to not be lost.
Is there any plan to correct this issue?
Sometimes workunits will not pause
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How do you "pause" Einstein?
By putting separate units in the Work tab of Boinc Manager to Suspended?
Or by suspending the whole of the Einstein project in the Projects tab?
Which BOINC version?
How is it installed?
RE: How do you "pause"
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I'm running several BOINC projects and have the general preferences set to "Switch between applications" every 60 minutes. Additionally, I have "Do work while computer is in use?" set to No.
BOINC is version 5.2.13.
The latest example occurred today, where according to BOINC's log, all Einstein work was paused more than an hour before I started using the computer. Other projects had been unpaused after Einstein was "paused". When I started using the computer, those projects paused, but there were still two instances of Einstein running.
RE: but there were still
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Ah... in task Manager you mean?
At such a time make sure you have exited BOINC completely, then re-check the Task Manager. You'll most probably see the two entries continue. They are strays. Just end their process.
It's been a while since I have see this happening.
Keep an eye on it, if it happens more than this one time, report back.
RE: RE: but there were
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Right... I see them in Task Manager. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear earlier... the processes each take 50% CPU, while the other paused projects take 0%. If I exit BOINC completely, the strays actually do exit. I think either an earlier version of Einstein or perhaps Rosetta had this problem, but I had to actually kill the stray processes.
The problem has been happening occasionally since I joined Einstein.
For now, I'm going to prevent BOINC from getting new work for this project. Maybe at some point I'll try it again to see if the issue has been resolved.
If you set leave applications
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If you set leave applications in memory to yes then the processes will still show in task manager even when paused. They should not be getting any CPU time though.
BOINC WIKI
BOINCing since 2002/12/8
RE: If you set leave
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Right, that's how it's supposed to work. Unfortunately, at least in my case, sometimes the applications will be using max CPU. I should mention that I have a dual core processor, so each application will at most show 50% CPU in Task Manager.
Maybe it's a BOINC problem, because now CDPN is doing the same thing. It's supposed to be paused, but is currently running at 50%. Maybe I was a bit premature blaming Einstein on this issue.
I'm new to this BOINC. I
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I'm new to this BOINC. I "did" SETI for quite some time. I'm finding that this einstein is eating up resourses. I expect it to suspend when I use the computer, but it continues to increase the resources it uses. Right now, it just hit 58,000 K and just contiues to climb.
I can't seem to find where I can set my "preferences".
Its starting to cause my system to hang and takes 100% of the CPU. What am I doing wrong?
RE: It's supposed to be
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@skutnar, I'm still trying to figure out "paused" - what exactly you mean by this. Suspended? Preempted? "Not run while computer is busy?" You keep using this term, but there is no "paused" in BOINC other than when one application switches out, the message tab says "pausing result"; there are various times when something should or should not be running.
If we knew exactly what you were expecting, we could tell you if it's a bug, operating as expected, or something that can be changed in the preferences.
@John, the preferences are set under "your account" on the website. You say 58,000K but not 58,000K _what_. Is that RAM, disk space, page faults, CPU seconds...
BOINC will take 100% of your CPU when you are doing nothing else - it will take 0% if your CPU is 100% busy doing _anything_ that is above "idle" priority. So any time you look at it in Task Manager, since nothing else is running, you'll see the various BOINC processes somewhere around 90-95%. That's normal, and shouldn't cause any hang ups or slow downs at all. Please give us as much information as you can on where you are looking and what you are seeing, and what you expect to see instead.
RE: RE: It's supposed to
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I apologize for not responding sooner...
The terminology may be different - perhaps "pausing" or "suspending" depending on the context, but the situation is the same... CPU usage should be 0 when the application is not "running" according to the BOINC Manager.
With the BOINC preferences I have, BOINC switches from one application to another every hour. When the switch occurs, the application that is being "suspended" or "paused" should stop running (CPU usage go to 0), but stay in memory. However, the application doesn't always stop (CPU usage stays >0). So, instead of seeing only two applications with CPU >0 in Task Manager, I will see at least three. This continues to be an issue.
Also with my preferences, when I start to use my computer, BOINC should "suspend" or "pause" all currently running applications. However, some applications may not "pause" or "suspend", which means my CPU will be at least 50% while I'm using the computer. (For the time being, I have the BOINC client overriding the preferences and running all the time.)
In fact, as I write this, Einstein, SETI, and Predictor are all using CPU. According to BOINC, only SETI and Predictor are "running". Predictor is using 50% CPU, SETI and Einstein are splitting the other 50%.
Keep in mind that I have a dual-core processor, so 50% usage in Task Manager could mean 100% on one of the processors for a single-threaded application or a split among the two processors if multi-threaded.
RE: In fact, as I write
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OK, I understand the use of the term now, the "technically correct" term is "preempting"; this is very common on Windows9x, but very rare (now) on WinXP. (Which is why you couldn't find it, it's been months since it was a common problem.) It is _more_ common for Predictor, as their app has not been updated in quite some time and I believe it still uses some older libraries that don't "listen" to stop commands as well as they should, but it can happen to any project's application.
If you are _not_ running CPDN or Rosetta, the best suggestion I can give you is to set the preference "Leave applications in memory when preempted" to "no". This will cost you a small amount of crunching time whenever an application is switched out, but if the "3 at a time" situation is very common, it will probably be better for you in the long run.
If you _are_ running CPDN and/or Rosetta, I hope someone else has some ideas, because I don't know how else to stop this, and setting that value to "no" can cause errors on those two projects. I thought this problem had been solved back around BOINC V4.45...