another folding question

[SteenkyBastage]

ok, in the less than 24 hours i've had f@h running, i've had at least 4 instances where the systray icon disappears.

if i ctrl alt del, and go into the processes, i still have core65.exe using up all my free cpu time, and the status monitor still ticks away. but i can then start another copy of f@h.

what i've been doing is endtasking the core65 and starting f@h again. but i noticed this last time i accidentally tried to open f@h when the icon was in the taskbar, and i got the error message, can only run one copy at once, this will shut down.

soooo... when the icon disappears, but core65 is still running (and the status monitor still shows it working), is the program really running?

if i dont have a systray icon, and start another copy running, i have 2 different core65.exe's running in taskmanager process.

fargen program...

any help would be appreciated.

[belorsch]

I have seen and heard of this happening on laptops. It usually happens when you go to open up the graphics then you get a pixel error. Are you running a higher resolution on your screen? It sounds like your client is still working and you will produce results if the core is still running.

[Ploaf]

This could be an openGL problem and your drivers may need to be updated and it may be related to win2000. That helped some people. Not sure if it will work or not but it may be worth a try. There are a lot of 'maybes' in there. I think that the drivers are the real problem with the laptops, but laptop drivers are usually machine specific or so they say. My drivers are specific to my display and don't cause any problems for most of what is on the market but I can't get an update.


If you continue to have problems you can download the Text Only version from stanfords site and simply copy and paste it to the Folding@Home directory. Then just run it since it's -not- an installer. If it is in the same directory as the installed version it will use the current client.cfg and you will not have to configure anything.

[SteenkyBastage]

video/ogl sounds like it might be the culprit...

i frequently swap down from my 1600x1200 desktop to 1024x768 in order to browse the net and be able to read. several programs i usually run (3ds4, photoshop, CS) require or run better at 1600x1200, but it's not fun to read at that resolution, even with my 22" monitor.

but the thing is, the core65 is still running, and using cpu up. but i CAN start another copy of f@h running, w/o error. this made me think that the old one wasn't actually doing anything.

running my vodoo5 5500, i have the latest beta drivers. dont know what else i could try, other than the last official 3dfx drivers, altho they dont perform nearly as well. but it's something i'll look into when i make it back home.

thnx for input

[Ploaf]

Originally posted by SteenkyBastage
video/ogl sounds like it might be the culprit...


running my vodoo5 5500,


The problem just appeared. I forgot about the voodoo cards. Actually the problem with the voodoo cards had more to do with full screen mode. I was always able to view the client but full screen crashed the system. I'm not sure what you can do and I don't know what they are doing in terms of drivers for them either. I'd be willing to bet that they could fix the problems by updating the drivers, but it seems like they would rather sell you another card.

[SteenkyBastage]

hey...

not sure what you mean by full screen mode. all i ever do is start up the proggie, and let it run in systray.

i just got back from watching a movie and my screen was horizontal blue/black stripes (about 8 each color) and the computer was locked (never had this happen before). haven't had any stability problems before i installed f@h, so i'm wondering if this just doesnt like something in my computer. also, i have only run folding at stock speed, no oc or anything. temp is around 31C, so i doubt that's it.

and earlier when i got back from church, the f@h had completed one villin, but didn't begin a new one. i assume it checks in via the internet for each one, as my firewall alert menu popped up first time i started using it. i'm on cable mode, and have permitted the f@h proggie to access the net thru firewall, so i dont think that was the problem...

so far, this program seems to just give me headaches. as much as i'd prefer to help out, i dont really see it worth my 3 villin's a day to deal with all the hassles. maybe seti will work better on my rig...

anyhow, i'll give it a few more days and see if i can iron out the problems, but so far it's looking bleak.

[Ploaf]

There is a full screen mode(when selected it's like the screensaver taking up all of the space on your screen) in addition to the normal display. Choosing that when I had my Voodoo would cause the comp to lock up and it needed a hard reboot. The text only version may work better for you although I haven't tried any of the software to get it to minimize to the tray.

http://folding.stanford.edu/release/FAH2Console.exe

[SteenkyBastage]

well, i am running the 2.15 graphical client, altho i have yet to see the screensaver part it says comes with it. i dont enable screensavers, so maybe that's why. when i start it, there is no window that appears at all, it just hops down to the systray by the clock and starts crunching.

it actually doesn't even show up in the applications tab when i go to the taskmanager. it is running as a process instead (this is win2k, so the 9x versions wont have the different tabs). i'll give the text version a shot if i encounter any more problems, but it was nice (when it worked) to not have a window, but just to run in the background.

thnx for ideas