Welcome Neonlazer!

[Adak]

Usually, I recommend a new folder spend a few days with the older folding programs ("clients"), because they're easier to understand and work with.

In your case, I am getting the message that you're computer savvy, and smart, and the best folding client (by far), for a Quad, is simply the SMP FAH client.

First, tell me what your Operating system is: WindowsXP, Vista, Linux?

Each OS has a little different install and FAH client.

I'm standing by.

[neonlazer]

Windows XP 64bit :D

[Adak]

This is the instructions from Stanford for the Windows SMP client:


Windows Installation Instructions (Console)

Installation instructions are also included with the client download in a readme.rtf file.

Note: The account under which the client runs MUST have a password. Blank passwords will cause the FAH cores to fail.

1. Required component for XP & 2000 (not Vista, it is built in): The Windows SMP client requires the Microsoft .NET framework v2.0; please install this prior to installing the client. The version 2.0 framework is required; it can co-exist with other versions, but this version must be installed. It can be obtained from Microsoft at the following URL: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en. Administrator privileges are required for installation.
2. Unpack files. Run the self-extracting installer to unpack the SMP client files.
3. Client installation. Run install.bat from within the SMP install directory to complete the installation. This will install MPI services that the client needs. If you have Windows Firewall enabled, you may get a pop-up window asking if you should give access to the smpd and mpiexec programs. Grant access. If you use an alternate firewall product, you will likely have to make a similar exception for smpd.

NOTE The username and password you provide for mpiexec should be your Windows login that you will run the client under. This is used for authentication on your local machine. It is cached in encrypted form in your Registry and is not transmitted to FAH servers. And if you change your password, you will need to run install.bat again.

At the end of the install process, you should see two lines of output:

If you see this twice, MPI is working
If you see this twice, MPI is working

If you do not see these lines, do not start the client. MPI is not successfully installed, and the client will not run successfully.

1. Run the client:

Run fah.exe to start the SMP client. You will get another pop-up firewall window. Note: We do not officially support running the SMP client as a service, although people have found the following to work

* .NET 2.0 & Windows SMP Client must be installed from the same account with full administrator privileges.
* using the -configonly flag, say "yes" to services question & configure everything else as you normally would. Do not start the client yet.
* Open the services control pannel, go to the new FAH WinSMP service & open the properties and click the Log On tab. Select Log On As: This Account (instead of Local System Account), put the user name for the account under which .NET 2.0 and the SMP client were installed. Enter the password.
* Reboot. The SMP client will automatically start in service mode.

See the forum link for more details.

* Troubleshooting:

If the client reports an error code -1, it is likely due to an MPI problem. Try re-registering mpiexec by running mpiexec �register or install.bat.

If the client fails to start, and the fahlog.ext shows a CoreStatus = 63 (99) error, that is a permissions problem, or a MPI registration problem, or both. To correct this, set the properties of the fah.exe file to "Run as Administrator" and then run the "install.bat" file again to register MPI and the SMPD service.

* Windows Vista and SMP

Windows Vista has additional security features not found in previous versions of Windows. In certain situations, these security features might interfere with the installation and/or operation of the SMP Windows client. Please see the FAH WIKI: Vista and SMP page for installation and troubleshooting assistance.

For More Information, Please See:

* High Performance FAQ
* FAH FAQ
* Folding Support Forum


It's a lot of info for a relatively simple process - but note that you MUST NOT try to cut a corner, or do anything out of order, here.

We've all done that, and failed, believe me! :p

So, first a full administrative account with password, which you need to be signed into when you install it.

Second, check that you have dot net Framework 2.0 or above:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Third, d/l the client and run the install.bat. After the install bat is done, just click on fah.exe, (and if you right click it and choose "create a shortcut", and put in on your desktop, it's just so easy).

Note: To stop the SMP client, click on the Terminal Window for it, and hold down the Ctrl key - now press 'c'. If you close it some other way (like clicking on the upper right hand red X in the window, you can lose work that way.

FAH runs in Windows, but it is NOT a Windows program, in that respect.

Back in a bit.

[Adak]

There are various, almost devious, ways of increasing production on your computer. I don't recommend any of them, just now.

But keep it in mind, and when you're comfortable, and would like to try some STUFF, you just let us know. 'Cause oh have we got it, for Quads! :) :) :burn: :burn:

[neonlazer]

Ok, seems to be working good..got my quad maxed out..but 500,000 steps...ouch..wonder how long this will take :) There's a secret to making quads do this quicker? :bday:

[Adak]

There is a file, called "fahlog.txt" in your FAH directory. It has the same data as is showing on your terminal window, but may have scrolled off it, already.

Can you copy and paste the very first 30 lines or so of text into a post, for me?

And if it's not too much trouble, could you also copy and paste your client.cfg file, as well?

Small, but important info is included in both.

[neonlazer]

--- Opening Log file [February 28 04:11:19]


# SMP Client ################################################## ################
################################################## #############################

Folding@Home Client Version 5.91beta6

http://folding.stanford.edu

################################################## #############################
################################################## #############################

Launch directory: E:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@Home Windows SMP Client V1.01
Executable: E:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@Home Windows SMP Client V1.01\fah.exe


[04:11:19] Configuring Folding@Home...


The program will continue in non-service mode now, working in E:\Program Files (x86)\Folding@Home Windows SMP Client V1.01.
The next time the computer is starts up, you should see work automatically
continue there. Note that when this service is running, you should not try
to manually run F@H from that directory at the same time.


[04:11:35] - Ask before connecting: No
[04:11:35] - Use IE connection settings: Yes
[04:11:35] - User name: NeOn (Team 32)
[04:11:35] - User ID: 7BDC2B9501CCA44C
[04:11:35] - Machine ID: 1
[04:11:35]
[04:11:35] Work directory not found. Creating...
[04:11:35] Could not open work queue, generating new queue...
[04:11:35] - Preparing to get new work unit...
[04:11:35] + Attempting to get work packet
[04:11:35] - Connecting to assignment server
[04:11:36] - Successful: assigned to (171.64.65.64).
[04:11:36] + News From Folding@Home: Welcome to Folding@Home
[04:11:36] Loaded queue successfully.
[04:11:50] + Closed connections
[04:11:50]
[04:11:50] + Processing work unit
[04:11:50] Core required: FahCore_a1.exe
[04:11:50] Core not found.
[04:11:50] - Core is not present or corrupted.
[04:11:50] - Attempting to download new core...
[04:11:50] + Downloading new core: FahCore_a1.exe
[04:11:52] + 10240 bytes downloaded


[settings]
username=NeOn
team=32
asknet=no
bigpackets=yes
machineid=1

[http]
active=no
host=localhost
port=8080
usereg=yes

[Adak]

Looks like you're off to a good start, bro!

One small bit of trouble needs a fix:

[04:11:35] - Use IE connection settings: Yes


This is a delicate thing, because the client.cfg file, is a Unix file, and not a Windows text file.

Right after the "Yes"<here>, in the client.cfg file, there is a "newline" character, which you can't type (but can copy from elsewhere in the same file if you do accidentally delete said character).

The newline character may or may not be visible as a funny looking black box with a white center, depending on the font you're now using.

OK, so (for Notepad), *carefully* delete the Yes, and *leave* the newline where it is. Type in No, to replace the Yes, and save the file.

This using IE settings worked fine until IE 7 came out. Now it doesn't work with FAH, at all. You will be unable to return the WU with IE 7 settings = Yes.
(Wininet error, will be seen in the file).

Let me know if you have any problems with the above. Get comfy with the client, and we'll show you the STUFF, to speed things up, (at a cost of greater complexity for you).

For now, please be patient, and let's see how that quad folds.

[Ben333]

Actually the best way is to run two installs of 64 bit linux inside VM ware in windows XP, each VM box getting two cores. This gets more PPD because the SMP work units for dual cores have more points than the quad core units. So by having two virtual boxes with two cores each, its like having two dual core computers. By using this method of folding, a quad at 3.6 GHz can produce about 4,000 PPD. Welcome to team 32!

[Adak]

Ben has "spilled the beans" on getting your quad folding faster, Neonlazer.

Let me throw this out to the team:

Any problems running two instances of VMWare on a WindowsXP 64-bit OS?

I have not folded with the 64 bit version of Windows, so I was going to do a tad of research on Stanford's FAH forum, but Ben couldn't wait. :D Such is the folding life - anything that involves patience is doomed from the get-go! :p

So, Anybody have any experience with VMWare X 2 on WindowsXP 64?

[Ben333]

Hehe, I helped him on MSN and I think he got it working :)
Well he got VM installed, got unbuntu installed, did the 32 bit libs and download f@h but then he went to bed lol

[ChasR]

I notice it's installed as a service, unsupported by the way, and Neo will have to configure the service to interact with the desktop. If this isn't done, folding will cease on the first reboot.
But, if he's already headed the vm route, uninstalling the service through config will be the next order of business. XP x64 is a dog folding wise, so he's headed in the right direction.

[neonlazer]

Looks like ima have to have a class with thideras...on how to use linux...hehe :D

[neonlazer]

Ok, finally got both running with some help from thideras...ok..well after trying for a while i let thideras control computer and he did it the first one then with my super memory i installed the second one...im learning stuff!

[thideras]

Ok, finally got both running with some help from thideras...ok..well after trying for a while i let thideras control computer and he did it the first one then with my super memory i installe the second one...im learning stuff!Yup yup, you got the second one installed though, very nice! :D

[harlam357]

:welcome: to Team 32 neonlazer! New guy stocks the fridge. :beer:

[neonlazer]

93% and 89% another hour or two and i should be getting some points :D

[thideras]

93% and 89% another hour or two and i should be getting some points :DVery nice ;)