Hey guys, I'm having a problem with BOINC 6.2.18 where it runs for a while and then all of a sudden everything freezes for a few seconds. The mouse slows down, any sound stutters like crazy and any program or other interaction stops and starts several times a second. This happens at intervals of about 3 seconds, so it freezes for 3 seconds, frees up for 3 more, freezes for 3 seconds, etc, etc. I have to restart to fix it but it sometimes happens as soon as Windows has finished booting up (BOINC is on autostart). Always happens when BOINC is running, or has been running. I spent a day without running it and had no problems so it definately seems to be BOINC. I think it's either the RAM or the CPU. It's an intel core 2 duo e8400. 4GB ram (4 1gb's) on a 32 bit windows xp. Anyone else having this or think they can pinpoint the problem?

Is it Over Clocked at all & how much if it is, can you tell how hot the CPU is running. Download CoreTemp to check the CPU Temp if you don't have another Program to do that.

Also how many Wu's are in your cache, having to many can make the BOINC Manager act funny at times ...

I haven't overclocked it and it's running at about 45-48 degrees normally. I've got 21 WU's atm, usually about that many.

v6.2.19 is out, possibly try that or go back to v5.10.45 which is still the most stable version and the 1 I use across my Pharm still. If they show the same symptoms then theres something wrong with your computer hardware or the OS installed on it. If they don't then use that version instead ov 6.3.18 ... What Project is it acting up with ... ???

All of them, It was running Malaria control when it froze just now, I only added that today. One thing I did notice is that the temperature actually drops by about 10-15°C when it happens.
If I get another version how will it affect my running projects?

That more than likely means BOINC has stopped Processing for the Temp to drop that much, you can confirm that by watching the Task Manager & see if the System goes back to a 99% Idle State ...



Shouldn't affect it at all, but to be safe just make a complete copy of the BOINC Directory on your Desktop & rename it to something like Saved BOINC Files. Then do the Up-grade or Down-grade ... You can use the Saved BOINC Files to get your pre installation files back if something goes wrong.

Just delete the new files and copy the saved files in their place and you should be right back where you started from ...

Nope, lost them all. I copied everything from the projects folder in program files/boinc and documents and settings/all users/boinc. Had to reconnect to boinc and reattatch. It's downloading new WU's now.

That shouldn't happen but it did, it's happened to me too a few times too & all you can do is move on. Are you using a different verion of the client now or ???

6.2.19. All I can do now is wait to see if it happens again. I'll report back. I suspect the hardware's just gone nuts after being SOAK tested for so long. It's running BOINC and Folding@Home CPU and GPU all day every day.

That could explain it, running a GPU Project, I've noticed similar mouse behavior on a Box I have running the GPU @ the PS3Grid Project. The Video Card could be heating up to much, also theres some new Drivers out the last week for Nvidia Cards running the GPU Projects ... You can get them at the PS3Grid Project or the Nvidia Site ...

Thing is, I'm not running that any more. I'm only running BOINC because I'm afraid my computer'll blow up but it's still doing it. I can't afford to buy a new GPU and then find out it's something else.

I would suggest setting your "Use up to x% CPU" setting to something like 80 %. This will give your CPU a chance to slow down some, and take a breather.

You might try setting all your projects to No New Work, let them all run down, and then shutdown your computer and open the case. Check to see how much dust is near the CPU, and GPU. Clean or blow out any dust you find.

Does your graphics card have a fan? If so, make sure it's still running, and again, clean out the dust.

After you do some computer-cleaning, then try running at 80% for awhile and see how it goes.

I don't think BOINC 6.2.x is the problem, since I'm running it on 3-5 different machines running all kinds of projects without any problems.

Wasn't there an issue that was caused by Malaria that caused BOINC to hang up? I don't run that project, but check the forums to see.

ok I've set it to 80% cpu time. My computer's dust free and the GPU fan's spinning away. I don't think it's a temperature issue as my temperature doesn't change all that much. I can run games at 50°C for hours on end and not have this issue.
Also, I don't know about the Malaria issue but like I said, I only attached to that today.

You don't think but are you absolutly sure, I ask that because it's the second time you said you didn't think it was a Temp or heat Problem. Are you actually monitoring the CPU Temprature while running BOINC or just guessing at the Temps while running it. Running BOINC can be 1 of the most stressful things you can do to your CPU & some Projects can raise the Temprature of the CPU by 10c to 15c higher.

I'm running Core temp from startup. Still doesn't go over 48°.

Okay, at least that's confirmed then as I was wondering about it still ... Do you have some spare Memory to try in place of whats in the PC now or if not can you possibly run Memtest, you can download it from HERE ...

The symptoms you describe sound a lot like some I had on a box a few weeks ago, turned out 1 Stick of Memory was bad, I found that out after running Memtest, a blaze of errors was all it showed shortly after starting the Test ...

There's an issue with cpu throttling (use at most X percent of CPU time) on multi cpu/core systems, at least with SETI and Einstein. If your tasks begin restarting frequently, you should return to 100% cpu usage and instead reduce the number of used cpus/cores. Be aware of the difference between BOINC 5.x (use at most N processors) and 6.x (use at most N% of the processors)!

Gruß,
Gundolf

Yeah I can run memtest. While I'm waiting for it to download I'll let you know, I swapped the ram to see if one of the sticks had gone bad and the computer slooowwed waaayyyy down.
OK the memtest readme seems to have been written for someone with drug induced dyslexia so I have no idea how to run this. I ran the windows one with extended tests 3 times and it came back fine.