Hi all,

Ever since installing version 7.24.1 BOINC fails to adhere to the suspend settings, consistently pegging the CPU at 100% rendering the system unusable until I either kill the Boinc.exe process or exit the boincmgr.exe client app altogether.

Ordinarily, I would say it is worth reinstalling to fix this kind of thing but the problem is presenting itself on two separate, unrelated PCs.

Clicking options > Computing preferences and changing or selecting/unselecting the "suspend when computer is in use" option seems to have some effect, but not all the time like it used to. :-(

both systems are running Windows 11

I have the following projects:

World community grid
Einstein@home
LHC@home
Rosetta@home
climateprediction.net
GPUGrid (only on the system with an Nvidia GPU)

BOINC is not installed as a service on either system.

One quick check is that under the activity menu option you have "run based on preferences" selected.

And rather than suspending all computation, I much prefer to restrict the number of cores in use to prevent sluggishness. (Mostly I get that with apps that use the GPU. Running 10 cores out of 16 (8 real+8 virtual) CPDN tasks I don't notice any problems. I normally don't go above using just the 8 real cores at least with CPDN it doesn't seem to improve throughput but testing out some theories I have two tasks running in a vm alongside 8 using WINE to run the Windows client.

Run based on preferences is selected, yes. This particular version just seems to ignore that setting.

Which project(s) is this with?
What are your suspend settings? Can you post the contents of your global_prefs.xml and global_prefs_override.xml files?

Offending project(s): Einstein@home & World Community Grid.

Global prefs:

<global_preferences>
    <source_project>http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/</source_project>
    <source_scheduler>https://scheduler.worldcommunitygrid.org/boinc/wcg_cgi/fcgi</source_scheduler>

  <mod_time>1695111397</mod_time>
  <cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>120</cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>
  <disk_interval>60.0</disk_interval>
  <disk_max_used_gb>10.0</disk_max_used_gb>
  <disk_max_used_pct>50.0</disk_max_used_pct>
  <disk_min_free_gb>0.5</disk_min_free_gb>
  <end_hour>0</end_hour>
  <idle_time_to_run>3.0</idle_time_to_run>
  <max_bytes_sec_down>0.0</max_bytes_sec_down>
  <max_bytes_sec_up>0.0</max_bytes_sec_up>
  <max_cpus>16</max_cpus>
  <max_ncpus_pct>100.0</max_ncpus_pct>
  <net_end_hour>0</net_end_hour>
  <net_start_hour>0</net_start_hour>
  <run_if_user_active/>
  <start_hour>0</start_hour>
  <cpu_usage_limit>60.0</cpu_usage_limit>
  <ram_max_used_busy_pct>50.0</ram_max_used_busy_pct>
  <ram_max_used_idle_pct>75.0</ram_max_used_idle_pct>
  <vm_max_used_pct>50.0</vm_max_used_pct>
  <work_buf_min_days>0.2</work_buf_min_days>
  <work_buf_additional_days>0.3</work_buf_additional_days>
  <suspend_if_no_recent_input>0.0</suspend_if_no_recent_input>
  <daily_xfer_period_days>0</daily_xfer_period_days>
  <daily_xfer_limit_mb>0.0</daily_xfer_limit_mb>
  <suspend_cpu_usage>25.0</suspend_cpu_usage>
</global_preferences>

Global prefs override:

<global_preferences>
   <run_on_batteries>0</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>5.000000</idle_time_to_run>
   <suspend_if_no_recent_input>0.000000</suspend_if_no_recent_input>
   <suspend_cpu_usage>25.000000</suspend_cpu_usage>
   <start_hour>0.000000</start_hour>
   <end_hour>0.000000</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>0</confirm_before_connecting>
   <hangup_if_dialed>0</hangup_if_dialed>
   <dont_verify_images>0</dont_verify_images>
   <work_buf_min_days>0.200000</work_buf_min_days>
   <work_buf_additional_days>0.300000</work_buf_additional_days>
   <max_ncpus_pct>80.000000</max_ncpus_pct>
   <niu_max_ncpus_pct>100.000000</niu_max_ncpus_pct>
   <niu_cpu_usage_limit>60.000000</niu_cpu_usage_limit>
   <niu_suspend_cpu_usage>25.000000</niu_suspend_cpu_usage>
   <cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>120.000000</cpu_scheduling_period_minutes>
   <disk_interval>60.000000</disk_interval>
   <disk_max_used_gb>0.000000</disk_max_used_gb>
   <disk_max_used_pct>50.000000</disk_max_used_pct>
   <disk_min_free_gb>0.500000</disk_min_free_gb>
   <vm_max_used_pct>50.000000</vm_max_used_pct>
   <ram_max_used_busy_pct>50.000000</ram_max_used_busy_pct>
   <ram_max_used_idle_pct>75.000000</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>75.000000</cpu_usage_limit>
   <daily_xfer_limit_mb>0.000000</daily_xfer_limit_mb>
   <daily_xfer_period_days>0</daily_xfer_period_days>
</global_preferences>

Can you test something?
Set <suspend_if_no_recent_input>0.000000</suspend_if_no_recent_input> to 1 minute? That's the equivalent for option "'In use' means mouse or keyboard input in last N minutes", in the settings.

Can you test something?
Set <suspend_if_no_recent_input>0.000000</suspend_if_no_recent_input> to 1 minute? That's the equivalent for option "'In use' means mouse or keyboard input in last N minutes", in the settings.

I'll give this a go. One thing I have found when the manager misbehaves is that if I unset and then reset the "Run based on Preferences" setting in the manager, it starts to work.

I ask for the test as there's a change in 7.24.1, that says "the default value for the "suspend_if_no_recent_input" pref is 0, not 60".
Btw, if it works as is when you reset the value to off and back on, when then does it stop working again?