FB Sprint 2026 Notifications

[KetamiNO [YouTube]]

Honestly, I don't understand this indifference toward project selection. Every single time with Asteroids there are problems.

All year long I try to squeeze as many points as possible out of every project, and then Asteroids comes along, where it's impossible to even get tasks. Not on any of my 25 computers, not on Linux, not on Windows. It's always the same magic dance: project updates every five minutes, project resets, cache adjustments, and so on. And still no result.

This time I'll end up with zero points as well — not because I can't contribute, but because I wasn't given any work to do. That's not a fair competition.

[UBT - Timbo]

Honestly, I don't understand this indifference toward project selection. Every single time with Asteroids there are problems.

All year long I try to squeeze as many points as possible out of every project, and then Asteroids comes along, where it's impossible to even get tasks. Not on any of my 25 computers, not on Linux, not on Windows. It's always the same magic dance: project updates every five minutes, project resets, cache adjustments, and so on. And still no result.

This time I'll end up with zero points as well — not because I can't contribute, but because I wasn't given any work to do. That's not a fair competition.

Hi

I entirely sympathise with your situation.

But there are a number of issues that you might be facing:

1) There are some anti-"DDOS" mechanisms in place on the Asteroids server - this is to prevent bots from affecting the server operations - so your hosts might be "caught up" in this, as the security processes might be confusing your multiple hosts from connecting - as they might think you are a "bot" with bad intentions.

So, please contact the Asteroids admin - I will send you his email address by PM - to ensure your IP address(es) is/are not regarded as bots

2) Your BOINC Manager configuration might also be an issue - so, maybe you can check this on at least one host machine and see if you can change anything, such as increasing buffer size and it might fix things.

3) It might also be related to the computer(s) you are using, although if you have multiple Windows and Linux based hosts it seems strange to me that they are *all* affected...but you never know. But for sure, it might be an idea to put one host aside and do a clean OS installation and then a clean BOINC Manager install and just add Asteroids as the single project, with all default values for the configuration - and also check your Preferences on the Asteroids project.

Hope the above helps?

regards
Tim

[ahorek]

The BOINC server has a small work buffer. When a challenge starts, many users simultaneously request tasks, and even if there are tasks available to send, the server may temporarily stop distributing them to prevent overload. So that's the explanation why you always see issues during challenges.

Note that those restrictions are necessary to keep the site running and prevent malicious users or bots from making it completely inaccessible. There are downsides, such as not being able to immediately download work when the server is under load. I agree that this could make those challenges unfair.

Anyway, the buffer seems too small for the current server load, so the administrator made some adjustments today that should hopefully help.

[UBT - Timbo]

<snip>

Anyway, the buffer seems too small for the current server load, so the administrator made some adjustments today that should hopefully help.

Hi all

I was away for most of yesterday (6th June) and so I did not see the posting on the Asteroids forum posted on 5th June at 21:44:34 UTC as follows:

The work distribution issue has been resolved.

Due to the unusually high load during the BOINC Formula event, the server-side work feeder cache was being exhausted too quickly. This caused some clients to receive “no tasks available” messages even though work was available in the database.

The feeder and scheduler configuration has been adjusted, and the server is now sending work normally again.

Thank you for your patience and happy crunching!

Radim Vanco (FoxKyong)

https://asteroidsathome.net/boinc/forum ... =1207#9551

This follows an email I sent directly to the Asteroids admins on 5th June at 11:48am BST where I highlighted that some FB members might not be receiving tasks

Maybe there are some constraints being imposed by the server configuration, to limit task downloads?

So, it might have taken a few hours for this to be rectified, but at least some admin action did take place and hopefully over the following 40+ hours or so, normal service was resumed.

regards
Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all

The selected project admin has just confirmed that they are ready and able to support the next Sprint that runs from:

26-06-11 @ 1600 UTC to 26-06-14 @ 1600 UTC

So, hopefully this will run trouble-free and FB members can download tasks OK...but be aware that sometimes even the best run, best administered project server(s) can be overloaded by the demands from their usual contributors and that the extra load put on them, by FB members, can cause issues.

regards
Tim