Thread 'Shutting Graphics off in 6.2.6 64-bit?'

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Samantha_Carter

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Message 17560 - Posted: 30 May 2008, 15:21:02 UTC

I've been running 6.2.6 for about 36 hours now with few problems. The one problem that does exist, however, is extraordinarily frustrating, and I have not yet found a way to fix it. Some projects that have graphics - not ALL, but some - open a window to display graphics for the workunit whether I want graphics to be displayed or not. Some of these projects are seti@home, Spinhgenge, and Leiden Classical. Closing the graphics stops the WU and either a different WU will start or, most typically, that same WU will start again and open a new graphics window. I've checked the options in the BOINC client itself and haven't found anything that will help, and I've gone into individual project options and haven't seen a way to prevent graphics from running entirely - simply ways to set how much processor they use. I set graphics CPU usage at 0 on seti and it still continues to pop the graphics up for WUs. Is there a fix for this problem? I've been out of the BOINC community since approximately last August and missed most of the development and changes that went on between then and now.

Thanks in advance for any help. I'd rather not waste processor power on graphics and I also hate having my taskbar cluttered with 1-2 extra windows.
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ProfileJord
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Message 17563 - Posted: 30 May 2008, 15:28:50 UTC
Last modified: 30 May 2008, 16:01:03 UTC

I saw your post in the other thread yesterday and reported it to the developer in charge. I will post your post to the alpha email thread though, with a link to this thread.

Can you in the mean time tell which OS you run BOINC on? And what video card you use?

Apropos, you do know that BOINC 6.2.6 is still a development version, not the recommended one?
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Samantha_Carter

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Message 17565 - Posted: 30 May 2008, 16:03:59 UTC - in response to Message 17563.  

I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit (SP1). If you need any other information about my system I'll keep checking this thread periodically.

And yes, I do realize this is a development version and not the recommended version, but when the recommended client is causing me headaches I often will use the development version to see if that corrects the problem. In this case, it corrected the problem I was having with that version, but it appears to have created a new one. I had planned with my new system to use only the recommended clients, but after a few weeks of frustration I finally caved.

On my old system, when I was still running BOINC, I pretty much stuck to the development versions because I kept hoping the scheduler would improve. That's no longer an issue with my faster processor and being able to crunch through WUs significantly faster.
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Rom Walton
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Message 17566 - Posted: 30 May 2008, 16:40:05 UTC
Last modified: 30 May 2008, 16:40:17 UTC

Which projects are opening their graphics Windows?
----- Rom
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Samantha_Carter

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Message 17567 - Posted: 30 May 2008, 16:47:25 UTC - in response to Message 17566.  

Which projects are opening their graphics Windows?


Seti@home, Spinhgenge, and Leiden Classical for sure. Those are the ones I've specifically caught last night or this morning. I believe malariacontrol was also doing it, but I just caught a glance of that as I ran by the computer at one point last night and didn't have a chance to stop and take a closer look. If I catch any others doing it today I'll post it to this thread. Initially, I thought it was all projects that had graphics available, but that turned out not to be the case.
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ProfileJord
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Message 17568 - Posted: 30 May 2008, 16:57:40 UTC - in response to Message 17567.  

May I ask how you installed BOINC? As a protected install, or not as a protected install? If not sure, look at this picture of the options.

Most of the projects you mention don't show graphics on my system as they still use BOINC 5 compliant applications, meaning they will only show the graphics when installed as a not-protected install. (The second option unchecked).
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Samantha_Carter

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Message 17569 - Posted: 30 May 2008, 17:18:55 UTC - in response to Message 17568.  

Protected install. Which is one of the worst messes I have ever experienced since I beta tested Vista back in 2006. Uninstalling or attempting to repair the installation fails, trying to rename folders associated with BOINC (so I can do a reinstall) fails. I cannot get permissions to properly change for the associated folders so I can do what I need to, options are either greyed out or un-do themselves after I change them. This is my own fault, I know, for installing a development version :)

At the same time, I must say, this protected mode install needs to be more fully explained to the user at install so they know exactly what they're getting into. It makes it sound like a good, safe option, but it ends up creating more hassle in the end if something goes wrong. I'm assuming this feature is going to be standard for the 6.* clients?
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Samantha_Carter

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Message 17571 - Posted: 30 May 2008, 20:29:57 UTC - in response to Message 17569.  

Actually, it turns out that it wasn't in protected mode for the install. A clean install refuses to see all my old data or WUs however, so I think I'm going to have to start from scratch. Not the most desirable option, but it's tolerable. I don't think I lost terribly much crunching time out of it. At least the graphics problem is passed on to the correct channels now and will hopefully be fixed down the road.
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Message boards : Questions and problems : Shutting Graphics off in 6.2.6 64-bit?

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