Prime95 takes over machine???!!!

kwstone · 2003-08-09, 12:24

I've persuaded several of my family to install Prime 95 on their PCs and no one has ever had any problems up till recently. However, when my eldest son installed it on his 2.4 GHz P4, he reports that Prime95 took over all the cycles on his CPU and he was left unable to do anything at all, not even open a browser window. All he could do was move the cursor. He switched Prime95 off and all returned to normal.

Anyone seen behaviour like this before? Any ideas what could be causing it? According to him, he accepted all the default settings during installation.

S80780 · 2003-08-09, 14:18

Hi, kwstone!

I don't think it will help much. But it might be worth a try. Check the prime.ini file for an entry "priority=". Change the number following to 1 or enter it, if it's not listed. As I said, I don't think it will help much, especially as your son excepted the default settings and this is the default setting. But it won't make things worse, either.

Good luck,

Benjamin

dsouza123 · 2003-08-09, 18:08

Pehaps it is doing a second stage P - 1 test with a large amount of memory selected, enough that all or most of the RAM is used, making the OS and other programs always use the swap file and so run very slowly.

Reduce the amount of available memory in Options / CPU
- OR -
do trial factoring ( uses very little memory and I have never had a problem with it slowing down the PC ).

2003-08-10, 19:48

You would have to have very little memory, in order for it to affect it.
This has happened to me last year, and I never found out why so I uninstalled it and reinstalled... wha-la :(
I suggest a full torture test upon reinstall, to rule out hardware.

crash893 · 2003-08-10, 22:46

yea i could see that doing p-1 or p-2 factoring

if you set the memory to full it basicly reams the comptuer

i would go in and set them both back down to 8 and see if that helps

2003-08-09, 12:24	#1
kwstone Jun 2003 Shanghai, China 6D₁₆ Posts	Prime95 takes over machine???!!! I've persuaded several of my family to install Prime 95 on their PCs and no one has ever had any problems up till recently. However, when my eldest son installed it on his 2.4 GHz P4, he reports that Prime95 took over all the cycles on his CPU and he was left unable to do anything at all, not even open a browser window. All he could do was move the cursor. He switched Prime95 off and all returned to normal. Anyone seen behaviour like this before? Any ideas what could be causing it? According to him, he accepted all the default settings during installation.

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2003-08-09, 14:18	#2
S80780 Jan 2003 far from M40 125₁₀ Posts	Hi, kwstone! I don't think it will help much. But it might be worth a try. Check the prime.ini file for an entry "priority=". Change the number following to 1 or enter it, if it's not listed. As I said, I don't think it will help much, especially as your son excepted the default settings and this is the default setting. But it won't make things worse, either. Good luck, Benjamin

2003-08-09, 18:08	#3
dsouza123 Sep 2002 2·331 Posts	Pehaps it is doing a second stage P - 1 test with a large amount of memory selected, enough that all or most of the RAM is used, making the OS and other programs always use the swap file and so run very slowly. Reduce the amount of available memory in Options / CPU - OR - do trial factoring ( uses very little memory and I have never had a problem with it slowing down the PC ).

2003-08-10, 19:48	#4
TTn 11530₈ Posts	You would have to have very little memory, in order for it to affect it. This has happened to me last year, and I never found out why so I uninstalled it and reinstalled... wha-la :( I suggest a full torture test upon reinstall, to rule out hardware.

2003-08-10, 22:46	#5
crash893 Sep 2002 100101000₂ Posts	yea i could see that doing p-1 or p-2 factoring if you set the memory to full it basicly reams the comptuer i would go in and set them both back down to 8 and see if that helps