I have a 2.6 GHz Pentium 4 running XP-Home Edition with Service Pack 2.

A couple of days ago, the system really slowed down, and is only logging one second of CPU time in about five seconds. The Task Manager shows hadsm3um_4.03 running about 14 to 18 percent, and System Idle Process running 80 to 85 percent.

What happened? Is there some setpoint in BOINC that can limit its use of the CUP time?

Have you tried to reboot your system, to see if that cleared things up?
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Jordâ„¢

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&gt; Have you tried to reboot your system, to see if that cleared things up?
&gt; --------------------------------
&gt; Jordâ„¢
&gt;
Thanks for the suggestion, but I have tried several times. That is always the first thing I try.

Another thing I just noticed. When BOINC switched from SETI to CPDN while I was watching, things went at full speed for about 10 to 15 seconds, then slowed back down to 20%. I had the Performance Monitor program working, and got the %Processor graph to jump to the top for a few seconds. It does the same thing when I exit and then re-start BOINC. I suppose this could just be the start-up of the crunching programs using the CPU instead of the actual processing of the data.

Under Control Panel/System, look under Advanced, on top of that page you can set the settings for Performance, click this. Then under Advanced on this page there are two options, Processor Scheduling and Memory Usage. Check that they are both set for Programs.
I don't know if this is the problem, but it might be.

I'm not sure about PCs, as I have a Mac, but I think I read somewhere that if you don't have enough disk space on your hard drive, it will slow the CPDN down a lot...

C
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It was certainly said under classic that defragging the disk could make a difference, so the same should apply under BOINC.

&gt; Under Control Panel/System, look under Advanced, on top of that page you can
&gt; set the settings for Performance, click this. Then under Advanced on this page
&gt; there are two options, Processor Scheduling and Memory Usage. Check that they
&gt; are both set for Programs.
&gt; I don't know if this is the problem, but it might be.
&gt;
The Processor Scheduling was set for background services, so I changed it. Then I rebooted just in case that was necessary. However, there was no effect. I am still using only around 20% of the processor's time when BOINC is running by itself. If another program is running it can jump up to 100%.

It has been a while since I defragged this machine, so I will do that for the next few hours and see what happens.

Thanx to all.

Well, I'm afraid I can't help you anymore then :-(
Have you tried checking your pc for virus or trojan horses?

Have you checked that the CPU is not over-heating. I believe Pentium 4's "throttle back" if they get too hot. Maybe worth checking that the fan &amp; heatsink are relatively dust-free.
HTH, Alan
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Hm, which BOINC-Version are you running ?

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Supporting <b>BOINC</b>, because it is really a <b>great concept !</b>

&gt; Hm, which BOINC-Version are you running ?
&gt;
&gt; <a> href="http://www.boinc.dk/index.php?page=user_statistics&amp;project=cpdn&amp;userid=34"&gt;<img> border="0" height="080" src="http://34.cpdn.sig.boinc.dk?188"&gt;</a>
&gt;
&gt; Supporting <b>BOINC</b>, because it is really a <b>great concept !</b>
&gt;
&gt;
Running 4.13 with CP, Seti, and LHC when it has work.

Hm, 4.13 should be okay.

In your history, I can see, that you computer has a timelag from latest trickle to the one before with 5 days. Is this the correct machine ?

If yes, you can see, that the average sec/TS didn't change, I think, this is a good sign. I don't know how far XP home really differs to XP Prof, but maybe, there is a problem with the process-priority.

Do you use the setting: Run Boinc only, if computer is idle ?

Did you try what happens, when you set BOINC to "run always" on client ?



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Supporting <b>BOINC</b>, because it is really a <b>great concept !</b>

&gt; In your history, I can see, that you computer has a timelag from latest
&gt; trickle to the one before with 5 days. Is this the correct machine ?

Yes. It was putting out about a trickle a day until it slowed down.


&gt; Do you use the setting: Run Boinc only, if computer is idle ?

I have tried (without success) to use that for the other computer (a laptop which tends to overheat and shut down when I am in the middle of something), but this is a desktop and is set to always run BOINC.

&gt;
&gt; Did you try what happens, when you set BOINC to "run always" on client ?
&gt;
I just changed the setting, but don't see any immediate change.

Hm, I remember, that in the past there was a problem with some keyboards-drivers; when BOINC was installed, it couldn't install it's drivers to detect wheather computer is idle.

Perhaps you could make a copy of the actual BOINC directory and then install 4.13 over the existing version again. Perhaps this helps.