Most of my projects exit with zero status but no 'finished' file

Message boards : Questions and problems : Most of my projects exit with zero status but no 'finished' file
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Dave

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Joined: 22 Jan 09
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United States
Message 22585 - Posted: 22 Jan 2009, 2:54:49 UTC

I am getting very frustrated that most of the work my computer is doing seems to be for naught. I have a brand new Compaq CQ50 notebook with 2GB RAM, 2GHz Intel Celeron single-core CPU, 160 GB hard disk, and running Windows Vista Home Basic Edition, so I am relatively confident that my system meets the minimum specs for most projects. Yet, almost all of my work units have been exiting with a zero status, but no 'finished' file, according to my message log. This seems like a monumental waste of computing time -- not just for me, but for the projects to which I am attached. Norton Internet Security and Windows Defender were preinstalled on my system, so I am unclear if they might be the culprits here. Can anyone provide some insight into what I may perhaps be doing wrong, or where I might look to get back on track? Thanks...
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Les Bayliss
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Joined: 25 Nov 05
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Australia
Message 22586 - Posted: 22 Jan 2009, 5:09:28 UTC - in response to Message 22585.  

The message is "mostly harmless", as was said in a certain novel.

There is a help file on the climate prediction project about it, (here) which may apply to other projects as well.

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Profile Gundolf Jahn

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Germany
Message 22588 - Posted: 22 Jan 2009, 8:36:50 UTC - in response to Message 22585.  

There are also possible explanations in this FAQ. Oftentimes the last possibility (CPU throttling) applies.

Gruß,
Gundolf
Computer sind nicht alles im Leben. (Kleiner Scherz)
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Richard Haselgrove
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Message 22593 - Posted: 22 Jan 2009, 10:54:13 UTC - in response to Message 22585.  

I am getting very frustrated that most of the work my computer is doing seems to be for naught. I have a brand new Compaq CQ50 notebook with 2GB RAM, 2GHz Intel Celeron single-core CPU, 160 GB hard disk, and running Windows Vista Home Basic Edition, so I am relatively confident that my system meets the minimum specs for most projects. Yet, almost all of my work units have been exiting with a zero status, but no 'finished' file, according to my message log. This seems like a monumental waste of computing time -- not just for me, but for the projects to which I am attached. Norton Internet Security and Windows Defender were preinstalled on my system, so I am unclear if they might be the culprits here. Can anyone provide some insight into what I may perhaps be doing wrong, or where I might look to get back on track? Thanks...

Also, please be aware that in the vast majority of cases, BOINC will automatically re-start any task that exits with zero status but no 'finished' file, and it should re-start from the last stored checkpoint. So normally, all you lose is a few seconds (or minutes, in the case of CPDN) of processing time - nothing like as bad as you seem to be fearing.

The real problem happens if the exits are so frequent that the application never has time to progress to the next checkpoint, or so numerous that they reach BOINC's limit of 100 exits per task - then, the task is permanently abandoned, and the time is indeed wasted. The only time that is likely to happen is if the exits are caused bu CPU throttling, as Gundolf says.
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Fred - efmer.com
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Netherlands
Message 22595 - Posted: 22 Jan 2009, 17:49:19 UTC - in response to Message 22588.  

the last possibility (CPU throttling) applies.
You can try this http://efmer.eu/boinc/index.html the throttle is more direct and it involves less overhead for the program. BOINC throttling involves a lot of stops and starts of the program.
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Dave

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Message 22606 - Posted: 23 Jan 2009, 2:04:55 UTC - in response to Message 22595.  

I tried to download the throttle program several times, but I am getting a message that the setup files are corrupt and to try to obtain a new copy.
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Dave

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Message 22607 - Posted: 23 Jan 2009, 3:35:27 UTC - in response to Message 22593.  

Great information, Richard! :-) Although I am still unclear as to why this problem has only recently begun to happen frequently, at least now I know that I can mostly ignore the problem. If I should ever reach that 100-error limit for any one task, BOINC will automatically abandon that task anyway. Fred was kind enough to post a link to a throttle program that would address potential temperature issues, but my laptop runs tepid -- just above room temperature -- so I don't think that the throttle program will help me in this situation.
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Message boards : Questions and problems : Most of my projects exit with zero status but no 'finished' file

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