Optimal folding advice?

[sbohdan]

Originally Posted by PTRMAN

Tried to install the SMP client last night, but kept getting "could not write to local files" errors.

The GPU client came with warning to back up hard drive. Didn't think much of it but it crashed sometime yesterday (I was at work) and I had to reboot several times before it would start correctly. Checking stats online today it appears that it might have crashed again, as my numbers haven't budged from late last night (I usually leave it on 24/7).

Has this happened to anyone else?

did you install everything as needed?
1. microsoft framework (if wasn't on the computer yet)
2. install.bat
3.fah.exe

I never had this kind of a problem but now for a while my work units kept having an error at different stages and finally I uninstalled the SMP client. I think there is something wrong with my windows (it hasn't been reinstalled for more than 2 years now) and I will do a clean install of windows and reinstall SMP and be back folding but I have so much stuff to back up before I do that ...

[linuxcrazy]

I use the one with the MPich2 process manager...I could never convince the DeinoMPI one to properly work.

[Boy'nBlack]

Agree, and installing as a service requires an account with a password verified during the install.bat period ("see this twice, it's installed" or something like that), along with adding the PW to the service (log on as...).

V6 didn't mind SMP on any of the duals or quads here.

[polobunny]

Yeah v6.22 of SMP MPICH is the one that kept erroring out on my comp. At the end of each unit it was whining about being unable to write files.
Somehow now it's working. Go figure.

I run it as a service with the -smp flag logging in on an admin account btw.

[PTRMAN]

Yes I did the install, added the -smp flag, got the "if you see this twice" message twice, etc. Version was 6.22beta for MPICH.

I'll try setting FAH.exe to Run as Administrator and then run install.bat again - not sure if I did that. Also I specified the number of cores as "2" rather than "4" - perhaps another mistake (I only wanted it to use 2 cores, leaving me 2 for my own stuff). I have UAC disabled, so that isn't the problem.

I may also try the -local flag, as I'm already running the GPU version.

[sbohdan]

Originally Posted by PTRMAN

Yes I did the install, added the -smp flag, got the "if you see this twice" message twice, etc. Version was 6.22beta for MPICH.

I'll try setting FAH.exe to Run as Administrator and then run install.bat again - not sure if I did that. Also I specified the number of cores as "2" rather than "4" - perhaps another mistake (I only wanted it to use 2 cores, leaving me 2 for my own stuff). I have UAC disabled, so that isn't the problem.

I may also try the -local flag, as I'm already running the GPU version.

don't worry about giving it 4 cores. anything you do has priority over folding. folding only uses the UNUSED CPU cycles...

[PTRMAN]

Well something I did last night worked. Appears SMP is working (albeit VERY slowly). Checked it this morning before I left for work and it is making progress. Only issue I have now is that in FAHMON my SMP shows up as User Anonymous. I know I put in my name, team # and passkey when I set it up, though. I'd like to have the points allocated to HWL team - any thoughts?

[sbohdan]

thats weird
on the other hand you seem to have lots of points coming in. check this out:
HardwareLogic Individual Users List - EXTREME Overclocking Folding @ Home Stats

you are making more points than when I had both my rig (both cores) and the laptop working...

[PTRMAN]

Yeah, I've noticed too. I'll see what is up when I get home tonight - appears to be working despite the "Anonymous" user ID in FAHMon.

KakaoStats http://kakaostats.com/usum.php?u=1349725 puts me at 6240 points today, although it isn't clear how exactly that happened. SMP was running when I went to bed around 11pm, and the Kakao site shows 3360 points between 10pm last night and 1am today, but since then only 480 points per three hour chunk (except for a double - 960 points - between 1pm and 4pm). Since it is only 2:15pm EDT as I write this I'm not sure what timezone the Kakao site is based on.

Anyhow, I'll check tonight.

One question - the GPU work units are worth 480 points each, but last night I noticed the SMP work unit said it was worth 1960 points. What's up with that? Do they give higher points for using betas?

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by PTRMAN

Yeah, I've noticed too. I'll see what is up when I get home tonight - appears to be working despite the "Anonymous" user ID in FAHMon.

KakaoStats http://kakaostats.com/usum.php?u=1349725 puts me at 6240 points today, although it isn't clear how exactly that happened. SMP was running when I went to bed around 11pm, and the Kakao site shows 3360 points between 10pm last night and 1am today, but since then only 480 points per three hour chunk (except for a double - 960 points - between 1pm and 4pm). Since it is only 2:15pm EDT as I write this I'm not sure what timezone the Kakao site is based on.

Anyhow, I'll check tonight.

One question - the GPU work units are worth 480 points each, but last night I noticed the SMP work unit said it was worth 1960 points. What's up with that? Do they give higher points for using betas?

Current GPU units are only worth 480 points (there's been 98 points units in the past) but they are completed so fast on most cards that you get 5 times the PPD over a SMP client. Just on this rig I'm currently doing over 10,000 PPD with 2 GPU clients (9800 GX2)

Edit: As for your problem, it might have been standford servers. Somehow 2 days ago I only did 10,000 points and yesterday I did 27,000. I believe some of my work was not sent to the servers or the stats were not updated properly.