New cruncher on the way

[Cosmic_Ocean]

I think your best bet would be to copy the old folder over, clean out all the files but leave all the folders in place.

What about client_state?  I want a new computer ID since it is a new computer.

Is it possible to set NNT on a global scale for BOINC before attaching?

[Claggy]

I think your best bet would be to copy the old folder over, clean out all the files but leave all the folders in place.

What about client_state?  I want a new computer ID since it is a new computer.

Is it possible to set NNT on a global scale for BOINC before attaching?

SETI@home preferences

As i said, deselecting 'Use CPU' and 'Use Nvidia GPU' will stop Boinc even being able to ask for work (from Seti) once it's done it's project initialisation,
But make sure you're set 'Default computer location' to same venue as you have deselected the preferences,

Claggy

[Cosmic_Ocean]

SETI@home preferences

As i said, deselecting 'Use CPU' and 'Use Nvidia GPU' will stop Boinc even being able to ask for work (from Seti) once it's done it's project initialisation,
But make sure you're set 'Default computer location' to same venue as you have deselected the preferences,

Claggy

Buuuut.. those are enforced by 6.10+.  I'm going to run 6.2.19.

[Claggy]

SETI@home preferences

As i said, deselecting 'Use CPU' and 'Use Nvidia GPU' will stop Boinc even being able to ask for work (from Seti) once it's done it's project initialisation,
But make sure you're set 'Default computer location' to same venue as you have deselected the preferences,

Claggy

Buuuut.. those are enforced by 6.10+.  I'm going to run 6.2.19.

How about installing Boinc 6.10.60, having the CPU and GPU options deselected, attach to Seti, install Optimised apps, then if you don't like 6.10.60, uninstall it and install 6.2.19?
(I think if you're going to run 6.2.19 you'll see more Credit anomalies since Boinc 6.12.19 doesn't report runtime like recent clients do)

Claggy

[Josef W. Segur]

A new host will get the default venue, if that were set to only deliver "Astropulse v5" tasks the project couldn't send any.
                                                        Joe

[arkayn]

I think your best bet would be to copy the old folder over, clean out all the files but leave all the folders in place.

What about client_state?  I want a new computer ID since it is a new computer.

Is it possible to set NNT on a global scale for BOINC before attaching?

What I meant was to delete all the client_state, stderr, etc and just leave the 4 folders.

[Cosmic_Ocean]

What I meant was to delete all the client_state, stderr, etc and just leave the 4 folders.

The four folders being:

projects\setiathome.berkeley.edu (app info and executable here)
slots\
and the base folder were cc_config is going to go?

I mean, it's sort of like migrating across installs.  Install boinc, then it will open up and ask you to attach to something, shut it down completely, drop your backup into the right place, start it back up and it's fine.  Except it won't have client_state and all those other xml files.. just cc_config, projects\setiathome.berkeley.edu and an app_info in there.  Seems like it should work like that.

The suggestion about only allowing the obsolete _v5 is a good one, too.

[Cosmic_Ocean]

So the RMA was approved and the replacement has shipped out today (Thursday).  Just in time for UPS to hold it over the weekend and do a Monday delivery... yay!

In the past, I would have had that nagging thought in the back of my mind that they sent me the same board that I sent them, but like all RMAs, you send them to Whittier, California, and the replacement is coming from Memphis, Tennessee.  Still doesn't mean that they couldn't have just overnighted it from CA to TN, but that is unlikely.  Guess I'll see what happens.

One thing that I did not test, which I thought of a day or two after I sent the board off, is that I should have put in a liveboot Linux CD and seen if the sound worked fine.  That would have determined whether hardware or software was to blame.  Like I said before, I heard windows sounds after the install was done and before I installed the drivers, and I don't recall exactly when the sound stopped working, but it was definitely after drivers were installed.  Maybe it just went bad suddenly.  It happens I guess.

And regarding the low voltage readings that I observed..  I just thought to pull up Everest on this old setup and take a gander at the voltages.  They match what the new board saw.  So my PSU is getting weak.  I've got another one that is nearly identical (a 550 rather than a 600) and whilst it has been on and running for about 4 years, it has had much less of a load, so for the time being, I think it is going to be swapped in.  That may account for the capacitor whine/squealing that I was hearing.

Also, I did go in and set my default settings to only the obsolete _v5, and do not accept from other applications, and told the default settings to assign the school venue, which has matching settings.  I'm pretty sure the app_info trick will work before attaching, but just in case, that should be a reliable fail-safe.


edit: So I just swapped power supplies between the main rig case and the single-core machine's case.  This board now reports 11.98, 5.03, and 3.31 for voltages.  And then I had another thought: "I wonder if that will fix my inability to write to the array without the system locking up?"  The answer: yes.  I just wrote 40GB to the array and it is fine.  So replacing the caps and fixing the voltages made the array usable again.

I guess the reason the new board didn't have any issues writing to the array is because the power draw on the new setup is about half of what this one is at idle.  This old setup, according to my UPS, is sitting at 191 watts.  I saw the new setup's load at idle sitting at the desktop was right around 120 watts.  That difference made the array stable, I guess.  You know, that whole voltage drop under load thing.  Voltage was already low, so a load just brings it down farther.

So I do need a new power supply, but at least this swap to a better-condition one buys me some more time before it is necessary.  I might go with a Corsair enthusiast series 750.  I spec'ed out and built a rig for a friend of mine about a year ago and picked up one of those for him.  I really like them.  The cabling is nice, and they are basically silent.  I used to swear by the Rosewill PSUs (what I currently have two of), but it seems the quality-control on them went to total crap after I bought my two.

[Cosmic_Ocean]

Right, so I got my replacement board back.  All is working well.  I did the test of installing BOINC without attaching, and dropping the app_info in place.  Still had to download all those PNGs that are useless, and got "project has no tasks available" for the first scheduler reply.  Message log did not indicate that it detected an app_info, so I closed and re-opened BOINC and then it did.  Waited for the next scheduler contact and got "no tasks available" again, changed the venue to the correct AP-only one, next interval, got one AP.  Downloaded and is running.

Default ETA on it was 212 hours.  Just in case it was either really high or really low, I set my cache preferences to 0.1 days to make sure I didn't get hundreds and have it be six months of work (yes, I know there are "limits" in place, but I have never once gotten a message about being at the limit even though I was over the limit).  The present rate is showing that the ETA is dropping 15 seconds per second.  Just passed 1.00% at 7:54 (m:ss).  If that extrapolates out properly, it looks like it'll be about 13 and some change hours as opposed to my previous system running them in about 22.  300MHz and an architecture change makes a pretty big difference.


edit: Still only have one AP running, but I'm doing some x264 encoding that is using four more cores.  5 cores at full load and I'm running 64C with the stock cooler at stock speed and vcore.  I wanted to use my 92mm Rosewill cooler, but my 8-year-old tube of Artic Silver 5 has seemingly dried up some.  It doesn't spread very well, and the first couple of days I was using that, idle at 1400MHz was running 53C.  However, in the box that the cooler came in years ago is a tube of the lesser-quality ceramic stuff.  Might give that a try.  I know it has to be possible to get under 50C at full load on all cores.  Especially not even OC'ed.

edit2: So the stuff that was in the box for the heatsink seemed a little dry.  When I was spreading it with a razor blade, it was clumping and peeling off in a few places.  I just kept working at it until I  got a smooth and mostly uniform very thin layer of it.  Put the cooler on, booted up.  Idles at 41C and ran HeavyLoad.  Six cores at 100% for 15 minutes and it climbed pretty slowly to 55C and didn't go any higher.  Watched the fan speed increase from 1100 up to 2200 (max) and once it hit 55C, the fan actually slowed down to ~2000 and stayed there and held 55C.  I suppose that will work for the time being.  Will definitely want to go with AS-5 though, when I get a fresh tube of it.

[Cosmic_Ocean]

So after running on all cores overnight, I woke up to notice the durations were a bit longer than expected.  This may be due to the shared FPU configuration after all.  Of course the 20 or so "exited with zero status, if this happens frequently you may need to reset the project" instances may have something to do with it.  For a test, I applied <ncpus>4</ncpus> to cc_config to see what difference that makes.  I may need to kick it down to 3, but some more time will tell.