I have a quad core CPU. It used to be that all of them would be working on work units at the same time. However, recently, I have noticed that my computer will only work on two work units at a time.

For example, right now two work units are running (currently 40% and 45% progress). Two work units are at 100% progress and are marked as 'Running' in the status column. I have four work units not being run and their status is 'Ready to run'.

Why doesn't boinc start working on two of the 'ready to run' work units?

The host is has these preferences applied to it:

Separate preferences for work
Processor usage
Do work while computer is running on batteries?
(matters only for portable computers) no
Do work while computer is in use? yes
Do work only between the hours of (no restriction)
Leave applications in memory while suspended?
(suspended applications will consume swap space if 'yes') yes
Switch between applications every
(recommended: 60 minutes) 60 minutes
On multiprocessors, use at most 16 processors
Use at most
Enforced by version 5.6 and greater 100 percent of CPU time
Disk and memory usage
Use at most 1 GB disk space
Leave at least
(Values smaller than 0.001 are ignored) 0.001 GB disk space free
Use at most 50% of total disk space
Write to disk at most every 60 seconds
Use at most 75% of page file (swap space)
Use at most
Enforced by version 5.8 and greater 50% of memory when computer is in use
Use at most
Enforced by version 5.8 and greater 90% of memory when computer is idle
Network usage
Connect to network about every
(determines size of work cache; maximum 10 days) 0.1 days
Confirm before connecting to Internet?
(matters only if you have a modem, ISDN or VPN connection) no
Disconnect when done?
(matters only if you have a modem, ISDN or VPN connection) yes
Maximum download rate: no limit
Maximum upload rate: no limit
Use network only between the hours of
Enforced by versions 4.46 and greater (no restriction)
Skip image file verification?
Check this ONLY if your Internet provider modifies image files (UMTS does this, for example).
Skipping verification reduces the security of BOINC. no

and youre shure it uses the preferences for work and not the default?

Very sure. My default preferences are also the same anyway.

you're right that the preferences should allow four copies to run... and you have plenty of RAM. You could try upgrading boinc - 5.4.11 is quite old now - but i don't know if that'll make a difference...

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Oh, also, let me emphasize that this is a new problem. For the first few weeks of running boinc on the quad-core computer, I didn't have the problem.

does setting 'run always' change anything?

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We've been trying to group all of these sorts of Linux task dispatching problems into this thread so we can get our arms around the issues. If you review it before posting, I believe you will see some of the reported symptoms are similar to yours. There are also some ideas on what to do to clear the problem and move things along.

Just by the way, the word "slots" is the name of a subdirectory used by BOINC as it is processing work units. It can create a slots directory for each work unit that has been processed since BOINC started, so it can have many more then 4 slots directories created. I would describe your problem as being that the tasks are still using CPU after showing they have completed.

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Rosetta Moderator: Mod.Sense