Hi there Crunch-Buddies all

Well Niv, I find that idownloading happens automatically, whenever I upload. The very process of bringing up the BOINC screen, then clicking "Transfers" tab, followed by re-setting the "Activity" to "Always Available" (but only whilst up/downloading) is all that I really need to do. Actually, you have got ME intrigued now, because you must be getting new WUs in order to keep crunching (as I see that you are returning some very respectable results :) ) so are you finding that you are running out of work or anything?

You are not normally given more WUs than your PC can handle - so when I was using a laptop to crunch, only a few WUs tended to be in the queue, whereas with the dual-core, there might be about 10. (Some of the really high-powered Crunchies in PC Review might have a lot more than that, as I have seen on their screen-shots.)

Out of interest, do you ever look at the "Messages" tab in BOINC? If so, you will usually see exactly what activities have been taking place from the moment you switch on your PC and BOINC starts. If, however, you have your "Activity" tab set to "Network Activity Always Available" permanently, then you might find (as I once did) that you have a whole lot of messages about BOINC trying to connect to the internet when it cannot. For me, this resulted in nothing very much being crunched over a period of 8 hours, because the programme was too busy trying to connect every few minutes. Hopefully, this should not be a problem with broadband/adsl.

Not really sure if any of this helps you Niv?

Take care everyone

Oh I'm sure you won't have a problem Niv, if I can do it, I'm sure you will manage just fine. ;) I thought exactly the same thing when I first joined PC Review - last year - I wanted to join-in and crunch, but thought that I needed broadband, and a more powerful PC. BOINC seems to cater for most needs though, which is good.

I wouldn't worry too much about your "steam powered" PC - the laptop I began to crunch with, only had 512 Mb RAM and 80 GB HDD, so not exactly bristling with power either, lol. It did okay though, particularly as I didn't have the settings going at full-pelt (being a laptop it could get a tad warm.) Just keep them to whatever your PC can comfortably manage. I tended to keep mine to about 70% or so, but sometimes increased it to 80 or 90% if I wasn't using it for much else at the time. But ultimately, whether we manage to return one WU per day or one-hundred, it's all good :)

Yes, I too am looking forward to broadband. Hopefully it will happen next Tuesday (providing I don't make any glaring boo-boos when connecting everything up etc.) Not long for you to wait now either, by the sound of it, November is nearly with us.

Good luck Niv, but I'm sure you won't need it

Hi there Crunch Buddies

Ok Niv - maybe you'd like to compare settings with me? Click on View and go to "Simple View" so that from this little screen, you can take a look at your "Preferences" tab. Just check to see whether the Preferences box is ticked, because if it is, then you will be running on the Customized Preferences which appear just below it (and they might possibly differ from what you have set here in the WCG website.) When you have done that, just click the "Advanced View" tab to return to that view.

Now take a look at your "Activity" tab. I have mine set to: "Run Always" and beneath that, I have set the Network Activity to "Network Activity Suspended" (because I cannot be connected all the time yet.)

Ok, so now please go to "My Grid" (easiest way, if you've not got it bookmarked, is to click on the "Tasks" tab, then click on a WU to highlight it so that on the left you will get a list of tabs running down the side. "My Grid" is there.)

When you get to your Stats page, look on the left and click to "Device Manager" From there, click on the "Device name" of your PC.

Under Device Configuration, I have both of my PCs set to "Default."

That is just a reference of course - my lowest spec PC is XP-Pro, 2 Gb RAM, 3 GB HDD and when I check the Task Manager, the CPU usage "cycles" through 46% 55% 100% when BOINC is working.
When I used the laptop - 512 Mb RAM and 80 GB HDD - I always used to set the Customized Preferences (referred to in my first paragraph" so that BOINC would use no more that about 70% or so of the processor and that would seemingly keep it happy.

I'm not sure if this will help - but if you are still in trouble, then don't hesitate to ask the guys in PCR, they helped me a lot when I began to crunch, and if you are still having problems, you could try the Support section of this Forum too. HERE
which might help you further

Good luck

Hello Crunch-Buddies, is everyone well?

You're welcome Niv :) When you say that one PC disconnects when the other connects... wouldn't that be due to being on a dial-up - oh, or perhaps you have them sharing your dial-up connection? I ask, only because I have to manually disconnect one, when I need the other to up/download, because my ISP doesn't allow connection sharing (that's because I'm on a 5-1 contention ratio.)

To be honest, I find that the downloads can sometimes take a while and despite what is said, they can slow-down other things that I'm doing on the internet, probably because there isn't much bandwidth to "share" on a dial-up, so I suppose it's possible that one of yours is losing it's connection due to that..? However, I am only guessing because as you know, I'm not in the tekkie league, merely an amateur who likes to have a go at things sometimes.

I am supposed to be switching to broadband tomorrow ..... but still feeling a bit apprehensive about setting it all up, if I'm honest. Hopefully, at this time tomorrow, I shall be saying "Tsk! Whatever was I worrying about" or maybe........."wwaaaAAHH, I can't get online!!!" So if you don't see me around, you will know what has happened

Take care

Hi TC, My progress continues on my daughter's BB and I have decided to give up on the dial up on my PC - it's just causing too much hassle. Even the guys on PCR have not been able to come up with any magic answers. My new PC is sitting in the dining room (much to the annoyance of my missus) all ready to go but I can't get BB till 20-11-07 and that's the week I'm away on holiday. Typical.

Still, I'll be there eventually. I notice that you are turning out some good results now you're on BB and it must be much easier for you. Keep up the good work.

All the best, Niv