Hi

I installed BOINC yesterday and Climate seemed to start OK and it progressed through the first month, but I have some problems:

I changed my preferences to use less CPU, but it is still running at 100%. In the Messages at start up it says \"No general preferences found - using BOINC defaults\" I did update on the site and clicked the Update button in BOINC Manager.

When the computer was loaded up today, BONIC hogged the CPU so all the other jobs were very slow.

I tried to suspend processing. I clicked Suspend, but although it showed it suspended, the CPU was still running at 100%. Closing it released the CPU.

The graphics page is showing that the project has started again at 1/12/1920. It has returned to this date after each restart.

I have 1.25 Gb of RAM.

Regards

Andy

First off, the preference you are trying to change is not available in the normal version of the software, yet. It is available in the Beta version, which is downloadable if you click \"All Versions\" on the download page, but warns it may be unstable.

The reason you are restarting at the beginning is you are not getting far enough for a checkpoint to write. I forgot how long a checkpoint is, but it is a while.

I run 2 instances of CPDN and 2 instances of other projects on a Dual P4 Xeon HT, and do not notice any slowdowns. I also run it on 2 other systems, neither one have slow downs. I would do some hardware checking on your computer to make sure you are not overheating the machine, causing it to automatically throttle down the processor speed, or other issues like that. Some good tests are Prime95 (for processor), and Memtest86+ (for memory), and make sure that there is not an instability in your system.

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Thanks for the Info, Pooh Bear. How do I know when it has taken a checkpoint, and can I force one? Does anyone else know how long it takes to checkpoint?

The computer ran for four hours last night. To loose all that work seems a waste, especially as the advice is to just use the computer as you do normally. Does anyone know whether there are any plans to improve this?

Regards

Andy and Cheryl

This is the toughest project, with the longest models, of all the distributed computing projects.

The checkpoints are at intervals that are suitable for the models, not for participants, so this won\'t change. And they are created by the program, with no user input.

To see the time to the next checkpoint, just click the Show graphics button, in the Tasks tab.
Then you may need to press the Z key to remove a text overlay.
Finally, press 8.

Info about the model is at the lower left, with the checkpoint counter at the bottom. It saves at about zero, so when it goes back to 432 again, you can click on Exit in the menu.

And if you\'re running the supplied screensaver, DON\'T. It can take up to 50% of the processors time just to generate the images.

To loose all that work seems a waste, especially as the advice is to just use the computer as you do normally.

There is a lot of advice \"out there\", but it all needs to be taken in context.
e.g. If a computer is only 500MHz, with 128 Megabytes of ram, then no amount of \"normal usage\" will allow this massive program to run. Nor will using a more powerfull computer for only a few minutes a day be of any use.

There are minimum limits to a lot of things for ALL dc projects, and for this one, one of these is the minimum amount of time a given computer needs to be run, in order for the program to reach a checkpoint.

If this project is not what you\'ve been led to believe, then there are several others here, all much shorter, easier, and simpler than this climate project.

The checkpoints are at intervals that are suitable for the models, not for participants, so this won\'t change.

It seems that the first checkpoint takes a long time. I\'m through that now. It took one or two after that in much less time and much more like I was expecting.

And if you\'re running the supplied screensaver, DON\'T. It can take up to 50% of the processors time just to generate the images.

50%? Gosh. I had set a time limit, but... OK its gone!

There are minimum limits to a lot of things for ALL dc projects,...

Sure, I understand that.

If this project is not what you\'ve been led to believe,

I do think that a little more info on the start-up section of the web site would be good but I have caught up now. It helps so much when you know what to expect and where to find the info.

I\'ve had a lot of helpful info on this forum tonight. Thank very much.

Regards

Andy (and Cheryl)

This is where most of the info is posted, where most of us \'hang out\', and where the core team people visit and sometimes post.
Hope to see you there.