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swooboo

Registered
Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Hello.

I am quite new to folding, I have some questions.

1. I have one Core 2 Duo processor on my PC. What is the best way to
use it for folding? I've heard that running two standard clients on both
cores is possible, can you give some links about that? I've also tried to
install an SMP client. For a couple of days it worked, then it constantly
had a problem during startup, freezing on "Ensuring status. Please wait."
or on some other message or even on a part of a message, or had a
"CoreStatus = 63 (99)" error.

2. I would like to know a way of transferring the work files. Are there other
files than those in the 'work' directory that need to be copied? If I want to
switch to SMP, how do I properly end a WU, so I won't get another one on
the standard client?

3. Any other advice? Should I install a monitoring program?

Thanks. :)
 
Hello.

I am quite new to folding, I have some questions.

1. I have one Core 2 Duo processor on my PC. What is the best way to
use it for folding? I've heard that running two standard clients on both
cores is possible, can you give some links about that? I've also tried to
install an SMP client. For a couple of days it worked, then it constantly
had a problem during startup, freezing on "Ensuring status. Please wait."
or on some other message or even on a part of a message, or had a
"CoreStatus = 63 (99)" error.

2. I would like to know a way of transferring the work files. Are there other
files than those in the 'work' directory that need to be copied? If I want to
switch to SMP, how do I properly end a WU, so I won't get another one on
the standard client?

3. Any other advice? Should I install a monitoring program?

Thanks. :)

First, :welcome: to our team and forum! :)

1) Yes, you want to fold the SMP client, rather than two of the uniprocessor clients (or WU's).

2) Yes, it's called "sneaker networking", and there are specific files that must be transferred from both the parent and the work directory. I'll get that info together and post it up here, in an edit to this post.

3) Yes. The best clients to fold with are the clients which have very limited reporting stats abilities. Particularly important are:

A) Is the client folding RIGHT NOW? (Or at least in the last 5 minutes.)
B) Will it make the deadline, at the current rate of folding?
C) WU data: Project number, points, etc.

The answer is either of these free utility programs:
FahMon: www.fahmon.org (to add a client, after it's installed, right click in the middle of the empty box - very unintuitive and everybody scratches their heads at first on this)

or

FahSpy: Usually at fahspy.com, but now moved temporarily for downloading,
to deposit files at: http://depositfiles.com/en/files/fwgogwfzk/

To stop any of the text console clients, put the focus on that window and press Ctrl + c *ONLY*. Never just click on the big X in the upper right hand corner. You can lose your work on the WU, that way, depending on the timing. When the FAH client is writing out it's data, the whole process is very vulnerable. If you shut off the system, close the client wrong, or just look at it cross-eyed atm, you risk losing your progress on that WU.

And going permanently cross-eyed, of course! :)

Post up specifics of your C2D system (that's what I fold on, mostly). High end graphic cards have a tremendous folding ability, but SMP is also very good. If you have a high end graphics card, let me know. The GPU client is very stable, very productive, and can fold along with the CPU folding clients, beautifully.

You'll have to close it down for the high end type games - Halo, Crysis, etc.
Of course.

Here's my install suggestions:

1) We have a fantastic sticky showing this, in far greater detail than I can explain it in a single post. It's in the Install Sticky at the top of the forum - Number 2, I believe.

2) You want the MPICH client, not the DEINO one.

3) You can't *can not* cut corners on the install. Step by step. You MUST have a user account with full Administrator rights, *with* a password, *and* you must be signed into that account when you fold, and before you start to install the SMP client.

4) You must have microsoft's dotNet frameworks installed - version 2.0.

Everybody has some dotNet frameworks, but this is the one version you MUST have for SMP folding:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5

Post back if you still have questions/problems.

Edit: This is a bit long to post up, but here's the directions for sneakernetting:
http://fahwiki.net/index.php/Sneakernetting

imo it's more trouble than it's worth. You have to be really careful editing registry keys, and always make a backup of your registry, beforehand. If you goof up, in the registry, you're really goofed. :(
 
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Guys, thanks for all the info!
Outback_Jon, will use, thanks.
Is_907, already working :)
Adak , that's a lot of info! I'll try to answer all questions.
1) I would still like to know how to make the dual clients work, at least until I can get my system ready for an SMP client.
2) I would be grateful, thanks.
3) It is a long story.
The client is not working right now, I had no problems meeting the deadlines. The problem was to actually start it, but once it entered M.D., everything worked peachy. Until one day, I couldn't start it at all. So I reinstalled windows, tried to follow all the steps, and still had the same (I guess) problem. If you were talking about the standard client, then it's Project: 2485 (Run 28, Clone 30, Gen 5). ~905 points. I don't have problems with the deadlines.

Now the thing is that I actually tried installing both MPICH and DEINO on my current system, and I need to know what I have to do to clean up everything for a clean start.

I have only one PC, and it is for studying, games, folding and everything. Fullest specs:
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R rev.2.0
Memory OCZ REAPER DDR2 2x1024 800MHz CL3 OCZ2RPR800C32GK
HDD WD 320GB 3200AAKS SATA2
Graphics card Sapphire ATI Radeon x1950pro 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E
Power Unit Thermaltake TR2 500W
Cooling ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED FAN
Thompson TCM425 modem, LevelOne WBR3406TX router
Gigabit Lan Controller
UPS Line-Interactive 1000VA
WinXP SP3 NTFS, FAT32

If I understood correctly, my current graphics card is not supported by any GPU clients. Maybe I shoud've bought one of the HD 3000 Series, but they were not well known back then.

I am already installing the .net framework from the link you gave, maybe that was a problem. I see a 1.1 version apart from the 2.0 version already installed. Uninstall it? I have already removed the 2.0 I had and installed the 2.0 I've just downloaded.

Next steps?

Ok, from now I am going to use the ^C shortcut and try not to look cross-eyed at the client. :)
 
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To use two single core clients you need to set one client to use machine id 1 and the other to machine id 2. I think that will let both cores run without trouble. I don't know if its the only way or not.
 
MARCI, can you give some links about that? I have no idea what 'notfreds' is, briefly googled it and still no idea.. Sounds like it has less issues than SMP though, so I'd be happy to try it.

SniperXX, I'll try that! If that's all I need to do, then it should be a piece of cake.

Thanks guys.

P.S. I might install Ubuntu in near future, can I use the same work files from Windows to fold under the nixes? Is it better to fold under Linux?
 
Ok, here we go:

1) Your graphics card is not supported - I have a 1950 card myself. :p Now you know what to ask for for your B-day. (Nvidia 260 or better) :clap:

2) First, let's get your old stuff, outta there, starting with:
Control Panel >> Add or Remove Programs and look for fah (anything with fah or FAH. and click on remove.

Backup your current registry first:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756

Click on the download button. Follow the directions and it will backup your registry for you.

Now open up Windows Explorer and look at your directories. Two areas especially: Program Files and Document and Settings\YourName\Application Data.

You must have your Windows Explorer options set to show hidden files and folders, to see the Application Data sub folder. :sn: :sn:

If you have a fah folder under Application Data, then look for a file with a red X through the name: Gkui20.exe or similar. That is the uninstaller utility. Run that.

Repeat that procedure in the Program Files\fah\ folder.

Now, look in both folders and delete any remaining files, or sub folders to those fah directories - work folder may still be there. Delete all it's files, and the work directory, as well. Then delete the fah directory, in both places, if it's still there.

Now for the real nuts and bolts:
Click on "Start" >> run >> and type in enter regedit. In the registry editor, you're going to click on the Edit tab at the top, and search for three words:
1) fah 2) FAH 3) Pande and 4) SMP

Look carefully at any key the search can find (F3 key is your bud, here), and make sure it refers to FAH, or fah, somehow. Pande Group may be the parent key, but the sub key may show it to be a fah key, and nothing else.

Delete those keys, and ONLY those keys. Some keys you choose to delete may not be deleted (you'll get a message to that effect). Just move on to the next fah-related key. Be calm and deliberate about this!

When you're done, be sure to close the registry and it will save itself.

Now, let's get you going with a systray version of the FAH client:
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download

You'd like the systray version. (The viewer doesn't work in the systray version yet, so don't trust it).

Yes, this is the SMP version, 6.23. It will also fold the non-smp work units.

Your system is very close to mine, which is a C2D E6700, with very similar spec's, also running WinXP SPC2 NTFS.

So, now you need to be sure you reboot and you must sign in to your administrative account, with your password. That's a must.

Now put the d/l file from Stanford, into it's own directory like FAH_1, and double click on it, and let it do it's thing. Your files should now be separated.

double click on "Install.bat" and let it do it's thing. It will give you a blurb like this, from Harlam's fine sticky on this:

MPICH2 Process Manager, Argonne National Lab installed.
account (domain\user) [(your domain)\(your username)]:

- Be sure to look at what the installer presents as (your domain)\(your username). If they look correct (i.e. 'the name of your machine'\'your current account name'), just Press Enter - you will see the following:

password:

- type your user password (the password you use to login to Windows) -> Press Enter

confirm password:

- do it again... type your user password -> Press Enter

- You should now see the following messages:

Password encrypted into the Registry.
If you see this twice, MPI is working
If you see this twice, MPI is working
Press a key to continue...


but in just black and white, of course. :)

Type your password VERY carefully both times, because the letters you type, will not be put up onto the screen! :sn:

Now, it's time to configure the fah client program. It runs this just once, unless you ask it to do so again. Start the program. and enter your unique folding name, and our team number - 32. Accept the defaults for the other questions. You don't want to add any start up "flags" or entries.

We'll do that via a shortcut which is far easier to change as we like.

After the last question, the client will begin running, and d/l'ing it's first WU.
:clap:

There should be a fah icon on your desktop. Right click on it, and see what it has in the "target" line. If you have the smp flag showing: -smp , then you'll get smp WU's, if available. If no -smp flag is there, then you will fold regular uniprocessor WU's. Please add -verbosity 9 to the very tail end of that shortcut's target line - one space, one hyphen and no space, then the word verbosity with one space after it, and the number 9

Click on Apply and OK to save that.

And that, should get you up and folding. Your verbosity setting will take effect the next time the fah client is starting up (that's the only time it reads the configuration file).

Let me know how it goes. :)
 
Ok, I've messed with the registry a little. There were two empty directories concerning Pande, I've deleted them. About 'Fah' - there seems to be stuff that is about the standard client and fahmon, should I delete them as well? (example - "D:\Exe\Ready\F@H\FahCore_7c.exe" in a folder called MUICache) Oh and I found something called Deino, I guess I should delete that also.. As for %appdata% - there is the fahmon data there, I guess I shouldn't mess with it. Apart from that I think I am ready for that.

By the way - in the meantime I got the dual standard clients working! Now the weird thing is, that the new client was set to receive normal, not big WUs, and now it's PPD is greater than the first one's that's constantly doing 905pts WUs.. Weird stuff.. :)

About notfreds - I couldn't start it, but it has its directory, maybe in the future I'll want to fiddle with it a little..
 
If you can delete DEINO stuff, do so. FahMon stuff can stay put. That's the monitoring program and will cause you no grief.
 
Ok, I am ready to install it. I've downloaded this file:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/release/[email protected]

I've put it into a clean directory, and installed it. No new files in that directory, but an %appdata% folder and a Program Files folder was created. The 'install.bat' file was not found anywhere. Also, a start menu folder was created. When I start the program from the start menu, I get a GUI with the settings. It also starts the systray client.

How do I turn it into an SMP client?
 
OK, that is the "uniprocessor" client. Keep it, it won't interfere with the big boy at:
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther

This is the one you should have. Sorry for the confusion, but it's hard for me to keep up with all the FAH clients, and where they put them on the different d/l pages, etc.

Anytime you're having trouble with the SMP client, like maybe the server goes down at Stanford, or whatever, you can fold on the uniprocessor client. That's your back up.

But today, it's the MPICH SMP client, as pictured here, on the link I posted, above.
 

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It works!

Thank you for the detailed walkthrough!

My PPD raised from about 1200 with two standard clients to 1700! I hope that's normal concidering my system. I am doing the 2653 R18 C32 G142 unit now.

Also, previously I've read about -advmethonds and -forceasm flag. Should I use them with the SMP client? Also, what about the WU size? Should I use these flags with the standard clients?

Thanks for everything! :)
 
You're very welcome, swooboo.

That's better than my E6700 C2D does at stock speeds, with that WU. :)

The -forceasm flag is now obsolete. It stops a stupid message from appearing whenever you re-start the FAH client, "the client was stopped improperly last time, will work with standard loops". Which means nothing because there are no "standard loops", in the new client.

So forceasm flag, you don't need. The advmethods flag, I would avoid. You get all the WU's that don't want to run correctly with that flag. Used to be a good one (and still is once in a blue moon), but it's very rare.

With the standard client, I'd use the advmethods flag. The WU's there, are not so likely to go off the rails. Still no need for the forceasm, flag.

Happy folding, Swooboo! Don't be a stranger. This is your folding forum and folding home, now! :clap:
 
:) Got it. So my standard clients will serve as backup. I will add the -advmethods to the clients.

Thanks! Eventually an SMP client!
 
Thanks, dfonda, pleasure to be here :)

So, I can see that we have a tail on our team - the MPC. I hope we can lose them.. Maybe this little addition to my own PPD will help a bit.. :santa:

And what is March Madness? When I read the word 'madness', it reminds me of a flash animation series.. Are some of you familiar with it?
 
Having fun

Well, after some finished work units using the SMP client, my conclusion is that this one is a much more unexpected one. When using the standard clients, I just turned them on and nothing special popped up, they just did their job quietly. With this one, though, I get all kinds of things, like:

"- Warning: Could not delete all work unit files (2): Core returned invalid code";

[12:19:19] Completed 30000 out of 250000 steps (12 percent)
[12:24:33] Gromacs cannot continue further.
[12:24:33] Going to send back what have done.
[12:24:33] logfile size: 31626
[12:24:33] - Writing 32162 bytes of core data to disk...
[12:24:33] ... Done.
[12:24:34] - Failed to delete work/wudata_05.sas
[12:24:34] - Failed to delete work/wudata_05.goe
[12:24:34] Warning: check for stray files
[12:24:34]
[12:24:34] Folding@home Core Shutdown: EARLY_UNIT_END
[12:24:34]
[12:24:34] Folding@home Core Shutdown: EARLY_UNIT_END
[12:24:36] CoreStatus = 7B (123)
[12:24:36] Sending work to server
[12:24:36] Project: 2665 (Run 3, Clone 926, Gen 66)

[05:06:59] + Attempting to get work packet
[05:06:59] - Will indicate memory of 2046 MB
[05:06:59] - Connecting to assignment server
[05:06:59] Connecting to http://assign.stanford.edu:8080/
[05:07:20] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[05:07:20] + Could not connect to Assignment Server
[05:07:20] Connecting to http://assign2.stanford.edu:80/
[05:07:41] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[05:07:41] + Could not connect to Assignment Server 2
[05:07:41] + Couldn't get work instructions.
[05:07:41] - Attempt #15 to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[05:08:52] - Autosending finished units... [March 29 05:08:52 UTC]
[05:08:52] Trying to send all finished work units
[05:08:52] Project: 2653 (Run 18, Clone 32, Gen 142)


[05:08:52] + Attempting to send results [March 29 05:08:52 UTC]
[05:08:52] - Reading file work/wuresults_01.dat from core
[05:08:52] (Read 5535525 bytes from disk)
[05:08:52] Connecting to http://171.64.65.64:8080/
[05:09:13] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[05:09:13] + Could not connect to Work Server (results)
[05:09:13] (171.64.65.64:8080)
[05:09:13] + Retrying using alternative port
[05:09:13] Connecting to http://171.64.65.64:80/
[05:09:34] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[05:09:34] + Could not connect to Work Server (results)
[05:09:34] (171.64.65.64:80)
[05:09:34] - Error: Could not transmit unit 01 (completed March 29) to work server.
[05:09:34] - 3 failed uploads of this unit.

Once, FahMon stated *Hung* or something like that. I restarted the client (using ^C of course), but later inspection of the logs showed that there was nothing that indicated hanging..

And I think there was something like
The server has no record of this work unit,
But I can't seem to find it in the logs.

I am really happy to get this much interesting feedback from the client, but maybe the problem is at my side? Firewall may be causing this? Antivirus? Or is there always this much fun with the SMP client? :clap:

I attached the log files for the case I gave not enough info..
 

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