Boinc always suspends tasks as "computer is in use", when computer is not in use.
Unfortunately I have no idea how to debug this problem.

OS: Kubuntu 20.04
Boinc Manager 7.16.6

Thanks for any help.

See config below:
/etc/boinc-client/global_prefs_override.xml

<global_preferences>
<run_on_batteries>1</run_on_batteries>
<run_if_user_active>0</run_if_user_active>
<run_gpu_if_user_active>0</run_gpu_if_user_active>
<idle_time_to_run>0.100000</idle_time_to_run>
<suspend_cpu_usage>25.000000</suspend_cpu_usage>
<start_hour>0.000000</start_hour>
<end_hour>23.983333</end_hour>
<net_start_hour>0.000000</net_start_hour>
<net_end_hour>0.000000</net_end_hour>
<leave_apps_in_memory>0</leave_apps_in_memory>
<confirm_before_connecting>1</confirm_before_connecting>
<hangup_if_dialed>0</hangup_if_dialed>
<dont_verify_images>0</dont_verify_images>
<work_buf_min_days>0.100000</work_buf_min_days>
<work_buf_additional_days>0.500000</work_buf_additional_days>
<max_ncpus_pct>100.000000</max_ncpus_pct>
<cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>60.000000</cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>
<disk_interval>60.000000</disk_interval>
<disk_max_used_gb>0.000000</disk_max_used_gb>
<disk_max_used_pct>90.000000</disk_max_used_pct>
<disk_min_free_gb>0.100000</disk_min_free_gb>
<vm_max_used_pct>1.000000</vm_max_used_pct>
<ram_max_used_busy_pct>50.000000</ram_max_used_busy_pct>
<ram_max_used_idle_pct>90.000000</ram_max_used_idle_pct>
<max_bytes_sec_up>0.000000</max_bytes_sec_up>
<max_bytes_sec_down>0.000000</max_bytes_sec_down>
<cpu_usage_limit>100.000000</cpu_usage_limit>
<daily_xfer_limit_mb>0.000000</daily_xfer_limit_mb>
<daily_xfer_period_days>0</daily_xfer_period_days>
</global_preferences>

BOINC's definition of 'computer in use' is that BOINC has detected input from a HID - a 'Human Interface Device'. The traditional HIDs are keyboard and mouse, and they usually don't cause problems. But we have had people report problems when they introduce a super-sensitive joystick or game controller - some of them have picked up slight traces of environmental vibration and treated it as input.

So, do you have any unusual hardware like that? If so, could you try disconnecting it for a test, to see if the problem goes away?

Or a mouse with a HERO or laser sensor. Those are more sensitive than an infrared sensor.

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I started having this same issue after upgrading my laptop from Ubuntu 19.10 to 20.04 LTS. This upgraded BOINC from 7.16.3 to 7.16.6. It was working properly in the previous version, and I did not change any physical hardware.

This is on an HP Pavilion gaming laptop, CX0058WM to be specific. The only external hardware connected to the laptop is the charger and a USB-powered cooling pad, which only pulls power and is not detected by the laptop at all. XDG_SESSION_TYPE is still x11, so it doesn't seem to be a Wayland issue.

Is there something I can enable in the event log or possibly a system log I should be looking through to see why BOINC thinks the computer is in use?

It also occurs, when no usb device is connected and after updating my notebook to 20.04 also, the error also appeared there.

What values do you have set for the various When to suspend options in Computing preferences ?

What values do you have set for the various When to suspend options in Computing preferences ?

Suspend when computer is on battery is checked.
Suspend when computer is in use is checked.
Suspend GPU computing when computer is in use is checked, but grayed out because of the above setting.
'In use' means mouse/keyboard input in last 2 minutes
Suspend when non-BOINC CPU usage is above 25% is checked.

When I unplug the laptop, the event log doesn't display any new message, but the status for tasks changes from "Suspended - computer is in use" to "Suspended - on batteries".


This problem still occurs when I turn off the touchpad, and when I connect a USB keyboard.

I was replying to dskd, but I guess it applies to both of you.

The only thing not default there, is:
In use' means mouse/keyboard input in last 2 minutes

Normally it's 3 minutes.
You could try that, but otherwise, I can't think of anything.

As soon as I check "Suspend when computer in use", regardless of the time input, it never starts working stating "Suspended - computer is in use". It says "computer is in use", so other settings _should_ not matter.

I never had that problem with ubuntu 19.04 and now it occurs on two machines with 20.04.

I have a third machine still with 19.04 - I will update boinc on that one using the PPA and will see, whether the problem also occurs then - so I can see whether it's due to something that happened in the update or the newer boinc version.

After manually downgrading both the boinc-client and libboinc7 package to 7.16.3, BOINC was able to properly detect when the computer was and was not in use on Ubuntu 20.04. Due to dependency issues, you will also need to downgrade the boinc-manager package and the boinc metapackage, if installed, otherwise apt will complain. Here's what I did on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS:

1. Download the 7.16.3 versions of the boinc, boinc-client, boinc-manager, and libboinc7 packages from the 19.10 sources. I chose the amd64 architecture since I am on an x86_64 system.


boinc: https://packages.ubuntu.com/eoan/all/boinc/download
boinc-client: https://packages.ubuntu.com/eoan/boinc-client
boinc-manager: https://packages.ubuntu.com/eoan/boinc-manager
libboinc7: https://packages.ubuntu.com/eoan/libboinc7




2. Manually install the packages with dpkg. For me, this command looked like this:


sudo dpkg -i boinc_7.16.3+dfsg-1_all.deb boinc-client_7.16.3+dfsg-1_amd64.deb boinc-manager_7.16.3+dfsg-1_amd64.deb libboinc7_7.16.3+dfsg-1_amd64.deb 



3. After the packages have been downgraded, you need to hold them so they do not automatically update. This can be done with:


sudo apt-mark hold boinc boinc-client boinc-manager libboinc7

I don't know if this will work on Ubuntu derivatives such as Kubuntu or Lubuntu. If this problem is fixed in a future version of BOINC, you can unhold the packages with

sudo apt-mark unhold boinc boinc-client boinc-manager libboinc7

and the updates will install as normal.

Reported upstream as #3715 - I'll keep an eye on it, and pass back any comments, suggestions - or solutions!

...

There have been a couple reports on the F@H forums about a similar problem with that client not detecting when the system is idle. Multiple distros are affected so I suspect there's been a change in newer kernels that causes this in some cases. I have no idea where to look or how to fix it though.

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