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Why is BOINC running two work units concurrently?

Why is BOINC running two work units concurrently? I've asked to cache three days of work. I figured BOINC would wait until one work unit was completed before switching. But it is switching back and forth every few minutes.

1st tab:

2nd tab:

11/4/2007 4:00:47 AM||Starting BOINC client version 5.10.22 for windows_intelx86
11/4/2007 4:00:47 AM||log flags: task, file_xfer, sched_ops, checkpoint_debug
11/4/2007 4:00:47 AM||Libraries: libcurl/7.16.1 OpenSSL/0.9.8e zlib/1.2.3
11/4/2007 4:00:47 AM||Data directory: C:\Program Files\BOINC
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||Processor: 2 GenuineIntel               Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz [x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 7]
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||Processor features: fpu tsc sse sse2 mmx
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||OS: Microsoft Windows XP: Home Edition, Service Pack 2, (05.01.2600.00)
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||Memory: 1022.79 MB physical, 2.41 GB virtual
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||Disk: 223.58 GB total, 95.96 GB free
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||Local time is UTC -6 hours
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM|World Community Grid|URL: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/; Computer ID: 378534; location: (none); project prefs: default
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||General prefs: from World Community Grid (last modified 2007-11-02 23:08:48)
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||Host location: none
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||General prefs: using your defaults
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||Reading preferences override file
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||Preferences limit memory usage when active to 511.39MB
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||Preferences limit memory usage when idle to 920.51MB
11/4/2007 4:00:48 AM||Preferences limit disk usage to 9.31GB
11/4/2007 4:00:49 AM|World Community Grid|Restarting task X0000043830047200501051244_1 using hcc1 version 507
11/4/2007 4:00:49 AM|World Community Grid|Restarting task X0000043830546200501051235_0 using hcc1 version 507
11/4/2007 4:35:30 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830047200501051244_1 checkpointed
11/4/2007 4:41:02 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830546200501051235_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 5:11:21 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830047200501051244_1 checkpointed
11/4/2007 5:18:16 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830546200501051235_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 5:49:22 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830546200501051235_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 5:56:26 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830047200501051244_1 checkpointed
11/4/2007 6:35:20 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830546200501051235_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 6:40:47 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830047200501051244_1 checkpointed
11/4/2007 7:15:01 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830546200501051235_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 7:26:59 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830047200501051244_1 checkpointed
11/4/2007 7:27:48 AM|World Community Grid|Sending scheduler request: To fetch work
11/4/2007 7:27:48 AM|World Community Grid|Requesting 300 seconds of new work, and reporting 2 completed tasks
11/4/2007 7:27:54 AM|World Community Grid|Scheduler RPC succeeded [server version 509]
11/4/2007 7:27:54 AM|World Community Grid|Deferring communication for 2 min 1 sec
11/4/2007 7:27:54 AM|World Community Grid|Reason: requested by project
11/4/2007 7:27:56 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Started download of file X0000045461187200502081410_X0000045461187200502081410.jp2
11/4/2007 7:27:57 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Finished download of file X0000045461187200502081410_X0000045461187200502081410.jp2
11/4/2007 7:27:57 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Throughput 86933 bytes/sec
11/4/2007 8:04:37 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830546200501051235_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 8:04:59 AM|World Community Grid|Sending scheduler request: To fetch work
11/4/2007 8:04:59 AM|World Community Grid|Requesting 162 seconds of new work
11/4/2007 8:05:04 AM|World Community Grid|Scheduler RPC succeeded [server version 509]
11/4/2007 8:05:05 AM|World Community Grid|Deferring communication for 2 min 1 sec
11/4/2007 8:05:05 AM|World Community Grid|Reason: requested by project
11/4/2007 8:05:07 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Started download of file X0000045480452200501191101_X0000045480452200501191101.jp2
11/4/2007 8:05:09 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Finished download of file X0000045480452200501191101_X0000045480452200501191101.jp2
11/4/2007 8:05:09 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Throughput 46116 bytes/sec
11/4/2007 8:17:34 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830047200501051244_1 checkpointed
11/4/2007 8:44:33 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830546200501051235_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 8:57:30 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830047200501051244_1 checkpointed
11/4/2007 8:59:21 AM|World Community Grid|Computation for task X0000043830047200501051244_1 finished
11/4/2007 8:59:21 AM|World Community Grid|Starting X0000044230461200501101642_0
11/4/2007 8:59:21 AM|World Community Grid|Starting task X0000044230461200501101642_0 using hcc1 version 507
11/4/2007 8:59:23 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Started upload of file X0000043830047200501051244_1_0
11/4/2007 8:59:26 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Finished upload of file X0000043830047200501051244_1_0
11/4/2007 8:59:26 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Throughput 48188 bytes/sec
11/4/2007 9:04:49 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 9:08:49 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 9:14:10 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 9:18:15 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000043830546200501051235_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 9:20:27 AM|World Community Grid|Computation for task X0000043830546200501051235_0 finished
11/4/2007 9:20:27 AM|World Community Grid|Starting X0000044231087200501101632_0
11/4/2007 9:20:27 AM|World Community Grid|Starting task X0000044231087200501101632_0 using hcc1 version 507
11/4/2007 9:20:29 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Started upload of file X0000043830546200501051235_0_0
11/4/2007 9:20:32 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Finished upload of file X0000043830546200501051235_0_0
11/4/2007 9:20:32 AM|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Throughput 61853 bytes/sec
11/4/2007 9:24:37 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 9:26:09 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 9:30:35 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 9:34:26 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 9:36:31 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 9:48:01 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 9:48:36 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 9:58:24 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 10:02:38 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 10:13:12 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 10:19:27 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 10:28:01 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 10:43:14 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 10:45:46 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 11:02:51 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 11:10:55 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 11:28:19 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 11:31:05 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 11:52:17 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 11:58:00 AM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 12:23:01 PM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 12:23:08 PM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 12:54:26 PM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044230461200501101642_0 checkpointed
11/4/2007 12:54:49 PM|World Community Grid|[checkpoint_debug] result X0000044231087200501101632_0 checkpointed

Is it related to the fact that I have two identical device names? (I was never given the opportunity to name them myself.)

My Advanced Options:

FYI the only two things running in the background:
My firewall is ZA 6.5.731.000
My antivirus is Norton 2008

My machine spec are in the message file above. If you need more info, let me know. (Ermm, tell me exactly step-by-step where to find this info.)

[Nov 4, 2007 7:34:16 PM]

Sekerob
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Re: Why is BOINC running two work units concurrently?

Debs, do you remember the procon thread of BOINC versus UD? BOINC runs as many jobs simultaneous as there are CPU cores in a computer. The default limit is i think 16 and yes i see that at the top of your screen-shot. It was/is one of the big moans with UD, leaving all that computing resource idle.

cheers

Added... see a P4 in your message log.... wonder if it is a so called hyperthreaded CPU. In that case, recommend to change the preferences to 1 and there is more downside than upside, most in the realm of user impairment and error prone-ness.

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[Edit 1 times, last edit by Sekerob at Nov 4, 2007 7:46:48 PM]

[Nov 4, 2007 7:43:23 PM]

Former Member
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Re: Why is BOINC running two work units concurrently?

It isn't switching between them - they are actually both working at the same time (I know this because they both have green dots on the tabs, and your message log confirms this). The Simple View just switches the graphics now and then to give you something to look at.

So, why is it running two at once? Either you have a dual core computer, or you have hyperthreading. If you have a dual core, then great! You are getting twice as much done. If you have a hyperthreading CPU, then the advantage isn't so great. You may prefer to limit BOINC to one (virtual) CPU, by setting the "on multiprocessors, use at most X processors" line in your preferences to 1.

[Nov 4, 2007 7:46:53 PM]

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Re: Why is BOINC running two work units concurrently?

Didactylos:

If you have a hyperthreading CPU, then the advantage isn't so great. You may prefer to limit BOINC to one (virtual) CPU, by setting the "on multiprocessors, use at most X processors" line in your preferences to 1.

Thank you.

Yes, I have HT.

I've reset my processor usage to one. Stopped and re-started BOINC.

So the next time BOINC uploads/downloads, the changes will take effect, correct?

[Nov 4, 2007 7:54:09 PM]

Former Member
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Re: Why is BOINC running two work units concurrently?

Correct.

[Nov 4, 2007 7:56:30 PM]

Former Member
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Re: Why is BOINC running two work units concurrently?

Again, thank you.

[Nov 4, 2007 8:04:31 PM]

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