alternative to WinSMP?

[pejsaboy]

I've been trying to get WinSMP going [working on it in the winSMP sticky] with no luck so far. I've been meaning to get back into folding since I've now got a box that I feel comfortable about its stability, but I won't lie- the March Madness Competition is what really kicked my butt into getting FAH back on my machine. I was hoping to have WinSMP going by the time that starts, but if it doesn't pan out I was wondering what I should install to take the most advantage of my dual core. Links would be appreciated, but not necessary. And if you want to try and help me get WinSMP working, take a look at the last few posts in the Beginner's guide to WinSMP sticky.

Thanks!

 

[klear]

SMP is the best ppd for dual cores, the guys here might suggest you use VMware to run SMP on Linux, while you use windows in the foreground. I've never used VMware so I could be wrong on this, but it will run fastest and most stable in a linux environment. WinSMP can be rough and it seems like even if I get a machine to complete work units one after another with the machine completely unused, it will inevitably need to be re-installed after a while.

Thats just my experience...

 

[Griff65]

pejsaboy read my smp problems here http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=551393 Adaks last post got me up and running, if i can manage it anyone can

 

[petteyg359]

I've been running the Win SMP client for a couple weeks now. Haven't managed to successfully get it running as a service, so I've just kept a cmd window open all the time Gone up 200 something ranks since I switched to the SMP client, too

 

[Griff65]

I was astonished at the ppd increase..

 

[pejsaboy]

I actually read through your linked thread earlier this morning Griff. Unfortunately I'm still at the install.bat part, not even got the client running yet

 

[Adak]

Recap of the WinSMP problem:

If you're using Vista, you may need to disable UAC, on your rig. It likes to mess with SMP installs.

Your account must have full administrative privileges or rights, to work. Check that in your Administrative Tools part of Control Panel.

Also, you must be signed into that SAME account, with that SAME password, you used to start the installation, when you finish it, and run it.

Right now, you do not have the proper permissions and your computer OS is saying "No you don't!".

If you get the above set up right, and it still balks with errors, you'll need to delete it entirely, and d/l a fresh copy, and put it INTO A DIFFERENT DIRECTORY.

For some reason, the old directory gets a bad mojo thing going, and nothing is more stubborn than a computer.

(I'm sure it has something to do with a registry key being still present, but I'm unsure of which key it is, exactly. Knock on wood, I haven't had this problem.)

Just for Review:

1) Make sure you have an account with full privileges and a password, set up.
2) Make sure .netframework 2.0 (or greater), is installed. It's already included with Vista, but may not be with XP.
3) Install FAH SMP client
4) Run install.bat file
5) Run fah.exe

I really like right clicking on fah.exe and creating a shortcut for the desktop. Makes adding any flag options for the client, very easy.

Good luck!

Ok, let's see:
1) My account is an administrator account and password protected.
2) I have .net 1.1, 2, and 3 installed.
3) Done
4) error from above post.

Does FAH need to be installed on C:\ drive? I have it installed on E:\ currently [and with a simple directory], so I'll try it on C:\ just for the hell of it.

EDIT:
Installing a fresh copy on c:\ drive didn't help. I still get the connection error.

EDIT 2:
Running Win xp sp2

go to the security centre control panel, and turn off UAC completely...
Re-run Install.bat from your folding directory.
make sure you put in the current users name and password
make sure you unblock SMPD from the firewall (it will ask you).
turn UAC back on (if you have to).

start the fold!!!!

lee

thanks for trying, but I'm not on vista so UAC has nothing to do with it. and I don't even get to the point where I can unblock smpd because install.bat won't connect to my computer when I try to input the username and password info. I only have my own passworded account on the computer, so it is the current account when I'm trying.

Let's keep this in the main thread section, please. A post in the sticky section of our forum can get overlooked easily.

I'll get back to you, Pejsaboy. Don't worry, we'll get it.

 

[Adak]

My suspicion is that your password was mis-typed, which is always just seems like it can't happen, but it can and does. It gives just the error that you're seeing, as well.

It's very easy to do because the password entry screen they show for the install, doesn't even contain the normal '*' for each letter that you type. Instead, it shows nothing, and the cursor doesn't even move once.

That can unnerve anyone who is more or less keyboarding by touch, and looking at the screen - somehow it's like your keyboard became disconnected or something.

We had a LONG problem thread with another teammate just last month, and finally, *finally*, found that a wrong password entry was the problem. In his case, he had changed the password on the OS, and was trying to install SMP with the old password, iirc.


Open up Control Panel >> Administrative Tools >> Computer Management(Local) >> Users. Find your account that you want to run SMP from. Right click on that account, choose "Properties", and then click on "Member of" tab. Verify that the account that you want to run smp with, is listed in the "Administrator" group. Other groups won't have full privileges and will have problems with SMP.

Next, we're checking the registry: (very carefully - mess up here and your OS will be REALLY angry with you)
Start >> Run >> regedit (gotta type this one) >> click on the "edit" tab, and search for "Stanford" (not FAH). You should have one entry (maybe more), under HK_Users.

Check the data that is set there: the install path, everything.

If it's wrong, we'll know where the trouble came from. If everything looks right, then close out the registry editor. Don't leave that program running if you need to be away from the computer and others are around. Too easy for curious fingers to muck things up, badly.

 

[Adak]

This is the latest re-write of both the brief and the detailed instructions for installing the Windows SMP client.

Quick install for Windows XP and 2000

Install the Microsoft .NET framework v2.0 before installing the SMP client. Next, run the self-extracting installer to choose an installation directory and install the files there. Then run install.bat in the installation directory to complete the install process. Running the fah.exe binary starts the client. More detailed instructions are at the bottom of this page. The quick version is:

1. Make sure .netframework 2.0 is installed
2. Make sure you have an account with a password set up (FAH SMP on Windows won't work if your account doesn't have a password associated with it).
3. Install FAH SMP client
4. Run install.bat file
5. Run fah.exe


Detailed Installation Instructions

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/...cb-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.

I love "detailed instructions" that stop numbering after 1.

Let's not work with a service install, because I'm not comfortable giving advice on that. I run just straight console window SMP.

Please read through the above and see if there's anything you missed or don't understand. (I suspect not, but you gotta ask), and let me know how the regedit part looks.

Barring some revelation on that, or on the user groups and accounts, I think we'll just uninstall the current smp client, and put a new one up, in another directory.

 

[pejsaboy]

Glad to have you on the job, Adak! Soon as I get done icing my ankle and forum browsing I'll get onto my box and double check everything again and report back.

 

[pejsaboy]

Yeah... gotta love a good brainfart. I was typing my password correctly, the registry entry was just fine, and my account IS an administrator account.


I was typing the wrong account name... For some odd reason my windows login is not pejsaboy like I use for EVERYTHING else

If I have any problems now that that's resolved, I'll continue to use this thread. Thanks for making me use my brain, Adak!

 

[Adak]

You're welcome, and glad the problem was (ultimately), an easy fix.

 

[dfonda]

Hey Greens and Blues Adak's Avatar would go better with blue stars....Dontcha think??!

 

[pejsaboy]

I'd give my vote, not that it counts for anything official

 

[Griff65]

Ill give that a yes vote, new to the forum but he has bailed me out in the first few days, reading back on old posts he has done the same for others....

 

[harlam357]

+1 for Adak!!! He's a Team 32 assimilation machine.