Everything You Need To Know About World Community Grid/BOINC

**radaja** · 05-01-2010, 10:41 AM

Snow Crash,well thats what i thought happened.after i hit the update,i checked my stats and they werent there
thats why i paniced and asked if i lost them.but its good to know i can safely push the update button.thanks

retro77,yes,i did that before i hit the update button,after reading a thread about how to change settings.thanks

**CeSinge** · 05-01-2010, 12:02 PM

Sierra_bound,

Originally Posted by sierra_bound

I would recommend uninstalling BOINC, but saving the folder containing the BOINC work units. It's probably in a sub-folder called "projects". When you reinstall BOINC, delete the new sub-folder and replace it with the one you saved.

That, apparently, doesn't work. It seems whichever way you try it, your config is partially toast, and at the very least, all work in progress is lost for mankind...

So for now, I reverted to the non-service mode.Depending on the time I have, I'll uninstall Boinc altogether in a week, or then try to figure out a way to do this (there was no way to connect the manager to the service on the localhost).

Not really a good design that the service is not the default install mode, I would say...

**sierra_bound** · 05-01-2010, 12:05 PM

Are you using an older BOINC client? I think the newer ones operate only in service mode.

**rwillis** · 05-01-2010, 01:31 PM

The new ones can be installed in either mode, service or user. I just finished building my 2nd quad, and it has the latest and greatest. I've always installed my in user mode, but that's cause I've never had that option till of late.

I've seen 'older' versions have the issue CeSinge is having,and also the new ones on my old P4. The only real fix I know is to nuke the entire install and folder structure and reload. I've had a copy and rename work I've also had it fail.

Wish I had better advice.

As for the questions about hitting update early - I do it all the time... the only rig I have constant access is this lappy, the others are remote depending on where I am. I 'force' updates with no loss of Wu's or points and have for a few years. The tasks reporting 100% will go in to the pending validation or valid depending on the age of the Wu. So no worries there.

Hope this was of some help,

Rick

**Johnmark** · 05-01-2010, 06:51 PM

Sounds like a silly question but how can I verify that I'm actually running the 64 bit client?
Downloaded what was said to be the 64bit client. However the file downloaded is titled "boinc_6.10.45_windows_x86_64" I've looked at the services running which shows BOINC running in the system32 folder. "About in help" doesn't say anything about a 64 or 32 bit client ?

Also my new i7 860 doesn't appear to work as fast as the 920 ( 200 mhz seed difference) however I'm using the "stable " version of the client instead of the beta. Can I just re-install the beta over the stable client without loosing everything? Running both as a service.

Thanks
John

**Movieman** · 05-01-2010, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by Johnmark

Sounds like a silly question but how can I verify that I'm actually running the 64 bit client?
Downloaded what was said to be the 64bit client. However the file downloaded is titled "boinc_6.10.45_windows_x86_64" I've looked at the services running which shows BOINC running in the system32 folder. "About in help" doesn't say anything about a 64 or 32 bit client ?

Also my new i7 860 doesn't appear to work as fast as the 920 ( 200 mhz seed difference) however I'm using the "stable " version of the client instead of the beta. Can I just re-install the beta over the stable client without loosing everything? Running both as a service.

Thanks
John

John,
Stay as you are, you are fine..
Times vary even among the same project..
Stay away from the betas..

**Johnmark** · 05-01-2010, 07:28 PM

Originally Posted by Movieman

John,
Stay as you are, you are fine..
Times vary even among the same project..
Stay away from the betas..

I'm not fine

I'm just freaking after seeing the new rig down for over 24 hrs !!!
My remote machine is acting weird, just hooked a monitor KB and found it is processing tasks at the bottom of the list and stopped a task running at the top of the list?
I need to contribute all the points I can for the challenge and find myself concerned about my setups lol
I feel like I'm running a marathon or something really competitive, who knew crunching on short notice could be so stressful

John

**Movieman** · 05-01-2010, 07:41 PM

Originally Posted by Johnmark

I'm not fine

I'm just freaking after seeing the new rig down for over 24 hrs !!!
My remote machine is acting weird, just hooked a monitor KB and found it is processing tasks at the bottom of the list and stopped a task running at the top of the list?
I need to contribute all the points I can for the challenge and find myself concerned about my setups lol
I feel like I'm running a marathon or something really competitive, who knew crunching on short notice could be so stressful

John

John, blow that out and install BOINC 6.10.18
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php

**D_A** · 05-01-2010, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by Johnmark

Sounds like a silly question but how can I verify that I'm actually running the 64 bit client?
Downloaded what was said to be the 64bit client. However the file downloaded is titled "boinc_6.10.45_windows_x86_64" I've looked at the services running which shows BOINC running in the system32 folder. "About in help" doesn't say anything about a 64 or 32 bit client ?

<snip>

Thanks
John

The BOINC client is a wrapper that handles the benchmarking, scheduling and a few other things and provides a framework for the science applications. At WCG all the science applications are 32bit. The 64bit BOINC client is worth running if you have the hardware, but if you hunt around in your task manager you will see 32bit stuff happening. That's completely normal.

**CeSinge** · 05-02-2010, 03:39 AM

Originally Posted by sierra_bound

Are you using an older BOINC client? I think the newer ones operate only in service mode.

6.10.43, 32b on XP.

I read that somewhere too, but it's clear that nothing happens until I start the manager (and there is no Boinc service installed anyway). When installing, you have to manually click advanced to activate it. The 'service' setting is dimmed, but disabled by default.

I think I'll leave it as such for this week, because I was overtaken by too many today... and that's more stress than trying to fix the problem...

**Johnmark** · 05-02-2010, 07:18 AM

Originally Posted by CeSinge

Guys, as I'm fairly new to Boinc: I didn't check that protected app execution, when installing Boinc, initially. So boinc doesn't run as a service.
Any way to correct that w/o reinstalling? Or can I just re-install over the existing install without loosing the work and settings?

Tnx

I inadvertently installed as a program as well. Couldn't find a way to re-install and did loose the work in the que.

Just a note to un-install the current vr. then re-install else you won't be asked to install as a service when re-installing.

John

**sierra_bound** · 05-02-2010, 08:00 AM

Originally Posted by CeSinge

6.10.43, 32b on XP.

I read that somewhere too, but it's clear that nothing happens until I start the manager (and there is no Boinc service installed anyway). When installing, you have to manually click advanced to activate it. The 'service' setting is dimmed, but disabled by default.

I think I'll leave it as such for this week, because I was overtaken by too many today... and that's more stress than trying to fix the problem...

Yes, just leave it as is for this week.

Just an FYI, 6.10.43 was taken off the recommended list at the BOINC site because it has a bug in it. The bug mainly affects those who are also using their GPU for other projects. 6.10.18 is now the recommended client for Windows users.

**CeSinge** · 05-02-2010, 09:03 AM

Tnx for the info. I don't use the GPU (I saw the 8800GTX is not supported for this.) Next week I'll try: rename the AD\Boinc dir; uninstall; restore the AD\Boinc dir. What I did was to restore the dir after having reinstalled. Possibly, if I install with that dir still there, it will realize it and use what's in there.

Fortunately (for crunching), the weather is cool this week, so it doesn't overheat my room too much. I'm one of those guys who'd want the CPU % to be inversely linked to my room temp...! Allows for green crunching: the CPU would run 100% until the room is at 73 degrees, then throttle accordingly....

**Kmax** · 05-02-2010, 10:31 AM

Hello everybody, I just joined to help.

Regards from Argentina!!

**sierra_bound** · 05-02-2010, 11:18 AM

Welcome and thanks for helping.

**radaja** · 05-02-2010, 12:59 PM

i just checked my current running WU's and just noticed they say "running,high Priority"
before they just said "running".is there a reason it changed?

**sierra_bound** · 05-02-2010, 01:01 PM

"High priority" means the deadline is approaching. BOINC always crunches first the work units with the nearest deadlines.

**radaja** · 05-02-2010, 01:04 PM

ok thanks.that makes sense.it just alarmed me at first,thought to myself "thats new".

**Johnmark** · 05-02-2010, 04:00 PM

Anyone know of a thread where people list points based on the CPU they are running?

I'm curious to see what others are getting for points on lets say a 3.9Mhz i7-920. My results are all over the map 3000-7400 WCG points a day and I'm not sure why. Obviously some of that is due to using the computer while crunching, but for the most part I've left the machine alone.

Oh, and which point site best represents a persons position in the team, WCG and country? On Boinc stats my Extreme ranking is 593 out of 2235 and on Free-DC listed as 458 with no total.

TIA
John

**Otis11** · 05-02-2010, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by Johnmark

Anyone know of a thread where people list points based on the CPU they are running?

I'm curious to see what others are getting for points on lets say a 3.9Mhz i7-920. My results are all over the map 3000-7400 WCG points a day and I'm not sure why. Obviously some of that is due to using the computer while crunching, but for the most part I've left the machine alone.

Oh, and which point site best represents a persons position in the team, WCG and country? On Boinc stats my Extreme ranking is 593 out of 2235 and on Free-DC listed as 458 with no total.

TIA
John

Some of the stats sites don't update at the same time of day as WCG and it causes them to count more updates in one day than another. If you're getting a every other day pattern, this is most likely the cause.

The only other thing I can think of is a coincidence on when you have quorum 1 tasks that validate instantly and when your wingman validates on other projects...

**sierra_bound** · 05-02-2010, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by Johnmark

Anyone know of a thread where people list points based on the CPU they are running?

I'm curious to see what others are getting for points on lets say a 3.9Mhz i7-920. My results are all over the map 3000-7400 WCG points a day and I'm not sure why. Obviously some of that is due to using the computer while crunching, but for the most part I've left the machine alone.

Oh, and which point site best represents a persons position in the team, WCG and country? On Boinc stats my Extreme ranking is 593 out of 2235 and on Free-DC listed as 458 with no total.

TIA
John

According to BOINCstats, you are ranked 458th on the team and 1,612th in Canada.

http://boincstats.com/stats/user_gra...=wcg&id=681494

I wouldn't worry about the daily point fluctuations. Use RAC (recent average credit) to get a better idea of what your machine is doing. I have one machine that can do 56,000 WCG points one day and 40,000 the next. It's just the validation process which varies from day to day.

**Johnmark** · 05-02-2010, 04:52 PM

Thanks very much for the replies, it helps.
And BTW the dedication you peeps show in helping our community so they can help others is VERY ADMIRABLE !

John