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Windows 8.1, a caution...

Windows 8.1, a caution...

Questions and Answers : Windows : Windows 8.1, a caution...
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Profile astroWX
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Message 47404 - Posted: 25 Oct 2013, 22:48:26 UTC

A tale of woe (which could, perhaps should, have gone in 'Number Crunching')...

On impulse and against my better judgment Windows8_x64 was chosen over Win7 when a Q6600 was upgraded to i5 4670 (Haswell). After the inevitable learning-curve, the OS was configured "close enough" to Win7 for a box planned to do nothing but run CPDN and whatever else was necessary to full gaps when CPDN had no work immediately available. (My boxes run plenty of tasks with '_1' through '_4' suffixes, though.)

I found it impossible to install boinc in its own partition, as I've done since CPDN merged with boinc. Installation was also impossible as a 'service' unless all three options were accepted, including 'screensaver.'

A day after v.8.1 was released, it was downloaded. (Beware! It begins installation unbidden.) M$ did a good job with the upgrade (installation), saving all personal files and settings. No sweat on that score.

All seemed well. At first. Within three days, throughput deteriorated noticeably, though s/TS remained in the usual 0.68 range. Next morning, the four active tasks were running 'High Priority -- a major surprise, as closest deadline was a few minutes before Midnight, New Year's Eve! CPU percentage was low to mid single digits. After hours of poking-about, in the box and online, and wondering whether it would improve on its own, it was given another day. No joy! By then, the four tasks seldom received 0.01% CPU among the lot. They were effectively inert.

What stole the CPU cores? Wondows8.1, of course, in the form of Service Hosts -- on a steep growth-curve, they gobbled-up all but a few CPU cycles.

I'm surprised by absence of complaints (that I could find) on the Web. Perhaps I'm the only one in the world with the problem, but I doubt that. It should hit long-session gamers at some point. Then, it won't be necessary to have electronics to hear the uproar.

My intention was to retrieve boinc program and data sub-folders from Windows' x86 folders, then reinstall Vista from the box's Q6600 days. Well, Vista wouldn't load in any partition, no matter what I did (short of scrubbing the entire drive --> 'C' was already scrubbed.) Loader complained that all four partitions had MBR structure... (?)

So back to Win8. Original media was content to rejoin the hardware and, after jumping through all required hoops, the OS is reasonably usable: boinc installed (though still not the way I prefer), and CPDN tasks perk along at normal speed.

Meanwhile, as far as I'm concerned, M$ can keep v.8.1 in a rotten-wood barrel until it ages and matures more than a little bit.

"We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo
Greetings from coastal Washington state, the scenic US Pacific Northwest.
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Message 47409 - Posted: 26 Oct 2013, 14:51:41 UTC - in response to Message 47404.  

I found it impossible to install boinc in its own partition, as I've done since CPDN merged with boinc. Installation was also impossible as a 'service' unless all three options were accepted, including 'screensaver.'

Atleast this part of your problems is you're insisting on trying to run an ancient BOINC-client what never has been and never will be supported by Windows 8.x.

Windows 8.0 and MacOS "Mountain Lion" or later OS-Versions demands BOINC v7.0.xx or later BOINC-versions to work correctly.
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Message 47410 - Posted: 26 Oct 2013, 20:11:38 UTC - in response to Message 47409.  

Thanks for that, Ingleside, your comments enhance the cautionary tale.

I suspected as much, and recall reading something about Win8 & boinc a year or so ago but didn't find it (not that I looked all that deeply). However, I don't intend to move away from v.6.n, so I've made my bed... (Meanwhile, 6.2.19 and Win8 seem okay together in the present configuration, as they have since the box was upgraded to Haswell in mid-July -- not counting my short flirtation with Win8.1.)

I'm so enchanted with Win8.1 that a replacement laptop, ordered a couple nights ago, has Win7.

"We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo
Greetings from coastal Washington state, the scenic US Pacific Northwest.
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Message 47546 - Posted: 12 Nov 2013, 4:51:31 UTC
Last modified: 12 Nov 2013, 4:53:08 UTC

If it is just an installer problem, maybe just copy the stuff. CC 6.x might need a registry entry with the data path that you could try to export with regedit and import with doubleclick on the exported .reg file.

My prehistoric 5.10.28 (which I use with BoincView) doesn't even require a registry key so I usually just copy what's needed or unzip it from the install archive.
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Message 47553 - Posted: 12 Nov 2013, 23:59:11 UTC

I'm running 8.1 Jim and I have no problems with it. I'm running 7.2.28 on my Linux box and 7.0.64 on the Windows box. I'll be upgrading the Windows to 7.2.28 non VirtualBox install. You simply lose too much computing power with the extra overhead. Mind you you may have to play around (through system management) with it on Win 8.1 or 8.0 a little to set it's priorities.

Hooray for classic shell.
6,000?? Give it a rest.

G�bekli Tepe is more than 10,000 years old. And quite intricate I might add.

Explain that!
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Message 47555 - Posted: 13 Nov 2013, 5:07:55 UTC

Thanks, Ron.

I'm content, for now, with W8 on that box. It's stable and running CPDN (& WCG/Clean Energy while awaiting more CPDN work) without issue in boinc 6.2.19 -- and, for me, at my age, it beats relearning Linux.

Eventually, W8.1 will have to reenter my picture -- unless a more civilized W9 enters the fray beforehand.
"We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo
Greetings from coastal Washington state, the scenic US Pacific Northwest.
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Message 47562 - Posted: 13 Nov 2013, 16:06:32 UTC - in response to Message 47555.  
Last modified: 13 Nov 2013, 17:00:03 UTC

Wah-da-ya-mean at your age? Why installing Linux these days is so easy a "Caveman could do it". If your unsure then install VirtualBox on a Windows host, then install your favorite Linux distro as the guest operating system. Don't forget to add the extension pack and the Guest Additions. The only OS that I find too slow in a virtual environment is Open Indiana (no flash support). PC-BSD (a little finicky), Solaris (yes flash will work with the latest archive for Solaris available at Adobe), Linux and Windows all run fine in a virtual environment.

I forget right off hand whether I set the program priorities through task manager or one of the other Admin. tools though (on windows box}. Setting the program priorities is a little like using the "nice" command in Linux.

Any word on when more work units are going to be posted?
6,000?? Give it a rest.

G�bekli Tepe is more than 10,000 years old. And quite intricate I might add.

Explain that!
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Message 47563 - Posted: 13 Nov 2013, 18:15:06 UTC
Last modified: 13 Nov 2013, 18:26:02 UTC

Oh yes! I was going to make extra comment on Windows 8.0/8.1 precautions. I would not recommend using third party disk or registry tools. Although some tools work very well on previous versions of Windows including 7, you will likely destroy your Windows 8.0/8.1 installation. You are tempting fate if you do so. My most dreaded thing is the wonderful re-install.

I am no fan of Windows anyway. I prefer Unix based systems.
6,000?? Give it a rest.

G�bekli Tepe is more than 10,000 years old. And quite intricate I might add.

Explain that!
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Questions and Answers : Windows : Windows 8.1, a caution...

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