I have this task:

Received May, 12th 11:40 pm
Deadline May, 16th 11:41 pm

The estimated calculation time is 11min. The task is still not startet today (May 16th) at 10:50 pm. I guess Boinc assumes since the tasks will probably be finished in a couple of minutes there's no hurry.

But I'll shut down the PC now and thus miss the deadline. I think Boinc should never wait until the very last minute to finish a job. This behaviour has often caused me to miss deadlines because sometimes the PC wasn't on for a whole day. And so despite there was plenty of time before since Boinc waited until the last day, the deadline was unneccessarily missed.

If it's difficult to code or might lead to new problems to fix this, maybe you could add a button to force Boinc to start a specific task? Because this situation is rather annoying ... I see the deadline approaching and there's nothing I can do (besides leaving the computer running, which isn't an option ;)).


edit: Now it was finally started and even with high priority... Still, that's not really satisfactory.

You can foresee that your machine will be off for a day. BOINC can't. But it could if you would set the "Computer is connected to the Internet about every .... days" properly.

Unless you do it and you set it to e.g. 1 second, it is then free to start an 11 minutes task even 15 minutes prior to deadline (OK, I admit this is too risky behavior, because the estimates can be off, but you get the principle.)

Peter

I've been running BOINC on several machines for well over a year and the same exact problem is persistent for each machine - BOINC Manager never runs tasks in proper order. Even after leaving a computer (I've tried on all) untouched/running for DAYS, it will still, somewhat arbitrarily, pick it's own order to run tasks. I am constantly forced to abort tasks which have no chance of completing by (or have already passed) deadline. I am aware of BOINC's 'learning curve' and that is not the problem.

BOINC Manager needs to run tasks in a top-to-bottom fashion; start with the task at the top of the list (nearest deadline) and continue in order through to the bottom of the list (furthest deadline) without skipping any tasks. This is the heart of the problem - tasks don't run in order!

Except for 2 short-lived stints on other projects (SETI & Milky Way), I've been running solely Rosetta for well over a year...on 1.3 Pentium laptops to 3.16 Core 2 Duo desktops. I've accepted the fact that Rosetta 'reward points' are FAR more difficult to earn compared to every(?) other project but this Running-Tasks-Out-Of-Order issue needs a remedy. It's incredibly annoying. Thank you for your time and any help you can give. - LC

BOINC Manager needs to run tasks in a top-to-bottom fashion; start with the task at the top of the list (nearest deadline) and continue in order through to the bottom of the list (furthest deadline) without skipping any tasks. This is the heart of the problem - tasks don't run in order!

So what will then happen, in your expert opinion, when you have two projects, one with a deadline for all its tasks of 3 days and one with a deadline of 2 months?

How much time will be spent on the 2 month deadline project and will its tasks be done in time? -->No, as your 3 day deadline project will forever be taking priority over anything else.

I am constantly forced to abort tasks

Forced how? Is anyone standing there with a gun pointed at your family's head?
Why don't you let BOINC do this on its own? You know about its learning curve, yet you interfere with it constantly, telling it what to do, instead of letting it learn for itself. Why do you need to micromanage BOINC?

And besides, whenever you have deadline problems, it's 99% of the time your own fault, for running a cache that is too big for BOINC to run in a normal fashion anyway.

I run a BOINC attached to 27 projects. 7 projects are allowed to fetch work. My BOINC is set to run only during the night time (cheap rate), between 9pm and 7am. It's got a cache setting of connect to 0.01 and additional of 0.50 days. I never run out of work and I never have deadline problems either, despite the projects that I run having various deadlines between 6 months and 3 days. I do not touch BOINC, I hardly ever look at it. I do not force it to do what I think is best for it.

So why can't you?

---

As a moderator, you've given me some helpful ideas. Not only were you able to give me 2 technical explanations/ideas that may help...
"...running a cache that is too big for BOINC to run in a normal fashion"
and
"...connect to 0.01 and additional of 0.50 days"
but you also gave me your personal examples which prove your solution works.

As you are a volunteer moderator, I expect that you field questions from a great number of idiots, know-it-alls and 'haters'. I also imagine that many questions asked of you are quite repetitive and maybe the original question that I commented on was repetitive for you? If so, I apologize. I also thank you for your ideas and for the help you give everyone as a volunteer moderator.

However,
I must admit that I was surprised by the tone of your response. I may have been specific with my details by explaining my problem (several machines, long period of time, etc.) but this was no attempt to show myself up as the 'expert' you call me. Also, you asked if anyone was standing over my family pointing a gun at their head. Was that comment really necessary? From a moderator no less? In addition, you 'call me out' on the last line of your post? The help and instruction that you did include was overshadowed by your antagonistic attitude. I cannot imagine that your response will encourage others to use these forums in the future.

I contemplated sending you this message privately but in an effort to keep this from getting more personal than it already is (what with my family in danger of being shot in the head & all), I thought everyone should know that not all help comes at the price of their dignity.

I accept what is "my fault" and will take your suggestions to improve my BOINCing in the future. As I ended my last post...thank you for your time and help. - LC