Posts by UBT

21) Message boards : Number crunching : Anyone else experience decrease in team credits? (Message 14104) Posted 4 Jul 2005 by UBT - Timbo Post: Hi Guys, The UK BOINC Team has also lost credits - around 410,000 in the last days, down from 986,000+ to 575,000+. And that was after a long period where no credits were issued. Personally, I'm experienced enough not to worry oo much about this. But for some crunchers, they might get a bit worried seeing the stats go down and without any comment from the CPDN dev's - not even an announcement on the main page. Hopefully it will resolve itself, but I for one has stopped CPDN and am concentrating on other projects until I can see CPDN getting a bit more stability on their project - hell, if they cannot support it properly (instead of trying to run it on a shoestring), then they shouldn't be doing it. Timbo <img src='http://www.boincstats.com/stats/banner.php?cpid=3809ebbf60de22f53f7dabc34e8bdc5a'>
22) Questions and Answers : Windows : RAC not changing. (Message 13963) Posted 27 Jun 2005 by UBT - Timbo Post: > > > > > > N.B. My personal view on credits is that they can drop the whole > > accounting > > > stuff, but I will respect it if your have a different opinion on > that. > > > > > > > > > > > > I think the credits attained are useful, as they: > > > > 1) allow crunchers to see that their particular projects are being > crunched > > successfully and that useful info is being returned (there's nothing > like > > joining a project only to find that the resource you provide is being > totally > > wasted). This also helps the development of the client software, so the > dev's > > know that the software is working correctly. > > > > 2) allow for a degree of "competitiveness" (in the stats tables) which > means > > that team memberships can be built up and hence to attract more members > and so > > help further the cause of each project. > > > > Personally, I think you should only be awarded "credits" once you join a > > team...! > > > > > > Timbo > > <img> > src='http://www.boincstats.com/stats/banner.php?cpid=3809ebbf60de22f53f7dabc34e8bdc5a'> > > > > > Why on earth should credits be only awarded to "Teams"? Computing time > contributed by a single user on a lone machine is ever bit as valuable and > valid as computer time from a team. > > I was under the impression that credits are given as a "reward" for people > letting these BOINC projects use their computers. > > True. But, for some crunchers, it's only about being awarded credits and not much else. So, I would imagine that if a project gave more credits per unit of time crunched, then that project would probably draw more of the "credits" type of cruncher to it, compared say to someone who crunched a particular project because they wanted to help that specific project. And the credits are as good a "reward" as one's ever going to get other than faint personal "smugness" you get from knowing that you've helped. Hence why I thought that if the projects could generate more public interest by ensuring that people are part of a team, then that in itself would perhaps bring a greater collective together to help the projects. That's not to take anything away from the lone crunchers (hell, if they wanted to they could create their own teams..!) <img src='http://www.boincstats.com/stats/banner.php?cpid=3809ebbf60de22f53f7dabc34e8bdc5a'>
23) Questions and Answers : Windows : RAC not changing. (Message 13962) Posted 27 Jun 2005 by UBT - Timbo Post: > Timbo wrote: > > > > Personally, I think you should only be awarded "credits" once you join a > > team...! > > Because... ? > > 2) allow for a degree of "competitiveness" (in the stats tables) which means that team memberships can be built up and hence to attract more members and so help further the cause of each project. as stated before...! Timbo <img src='http://www.boincstats.com/stats/banner.php?cpid=3809ebbf60de22f53f7dabc34e8bdc5a'>
24) Questions and Answers : Windows : RAC not changing. (Message 13865) Posted 26 Jun 2005 by UBT - Timbo Post: > > N.B. My personal view on credits is that they can drop the whole accounting > stuff, but I will respect it if your have a different opinion on that. > > I think the credits attained are useful, as they: 1) allow crunchers to see that their particular projects are being crunched successfully and that useful info is being returned (there's nothing like joining a project only to find that the resource you provide is being totally wasted). This also helps the development of the client software, so the dev's know that the software is working correctly. 2) allow for a degree of "competitiveness" (in the stats tables) which means that team memberships can be built up and hence to attract more members and so help further the cause of each project. Personally, I think you should only be awarded "credits" once you join a team...! Timbo <img src='http://www.boincstats.com/stats/banner.php?cpid=3809ebbf60de22f53f7dabc34e8bdc5a'>
25) Questions and Answers : Windows : Issues with CPDN and BOINC v4.25? (Message 11707) Posted 8 Apr 2005 by UBT - Timbo Post: > Problems such as this are found the hard way: by people trying it. So now you > have mentioned it for others. > Which doesn't help you :( > > However, there are two more options. > 1) run CPDN on it's own, with no other projects, so that BOINC doesn't have to > switch. > I can't prove it, but I have a suspicion that for some > hardware/software/user-pattern situations, BOINC just can't cope. > If it works, CPDN will keep the computer in credits by itself. > > If this still doesn't work, then there is > 2) > But you have to decide why you are here: Is it for the science or the > credits? > If it's for the science, then you could try running the Classic version of CP, > which is BOINC-free. > While there are credits, they are not 'legal tender' in the BOINC world. > But the hadsm versions used apparently work on just about anything. > > Les > Hi Les, Thx for the time you made to put together a nice reply I'm in it for the help I can offer projects - I'm never going to be a great statesman or leader, but if I can contribute something to the well-being of the human-race then why not do something a little bit useful (along with a few million other people). Hence why I crunch....! (The credits are nice, but some of my PC "farm" are too old to provide any serious credits, so as long as they amble along, then it's all part of the cause). I'd like to see how things progress - so for the time being, I'm detaching the 3GHz PC running the HADSM v4.12 (no loss to the project as the failed WU has been sent in and the other WU hasn't started yet) and will monitor what happens when my other PC running CPDN v4.04, (a dual Pentium 3/800MHz running NT4) finishes - it's about 28% done, so it's slowly trickling the results in and in a month or so's time, I can then see what happens when it downloads the next WU, which will probably be v4.12 or whatever replaces it. In the meantime, SETI, Predictor and Einstein will get a little more completed WU's. rgds, Timbo
26) Questions and Answers : Windows : Issues with CPDN and BOINC v4.25? (Message 11698) Posted 7 Apr 2005 by UBT - Timbo Post: > Win98 IS getting a bit old. Even if a new os does cost money, it might be > worth it for 1 computer. > Tolu's time is spread thin these days. > > I have Win XP, on a P4 3.2G, running HT, and Boinc 4.25. > > Two of my 4.03 models crashed: one my fault, another I suspect had a > disagreement with TeaTimer, the resident > part of Spybot. All of my 4.04 models completed OK. > > A few days ago I had a successful completion of a 4.10 model. The 2nd 4.10 > model is 6.3 days off completion, > and the new 4.12 model has been running for nearly 62 hours. > > 4.10 didn't last long. Upgrades are occurring fast these days. > > Les Hi Les, Thx for the reply. While Win98SE is getting on, it still works very well - and I prefer the user interface - Win XP isn't so easy to use - although I'm sure you get used to it. Besides which, why should I pay M$ GBP150+ for WinXP Pro, when I can buy a Dell PC and include Win XP for GBP329+VAT =(GBP386)....! Don't seem right to me...! Think when it's time, I'll just merge my Win executables over to my Win 2k box and then run Linux on the 3GHz box....get the best of both worlds then... Just a shame that no-one mentioned that the new models of CPDN cause issues on Win9x/ME (maybe NT4?) Oh well, Timbo
27) Questions and Answers : Windows : Issues with CPDN and BOINC v4.25? (Message 11692) Posted 7 Apr 2005 by UBT - Timbo Post: > Timbo > > Could you let us know what OS you are using (computers are hidden). > > John the messages > "exited with zero status but no 'finished' file > 4/5/2005 10:35:46 PM\|climateprediction.net\|If this happens repeatedly you may > need to reset the project." > are quite common and generally it seems to be advised to ignor this (ie do NOT > reset) > Hi "crandles" Thx for your reply. I have the follwing PC that has caused this problem: BOINC 4.25 - Win98SE - Pentium 4 3Ghz (HT type, but not in this mode) I also crunch for CPDN on 2 other PC's which do NOT have issues - these are: BOINC 4.19 - NT server (v4.0) - Pentium 4 2.4GHz BOINC 4.19 - Win 2000 server - Dual Xeon 700Mhz (old'un but good'un). I was told some time ago, that CPDN did NOT support Win98SE - then one of the CPDN staff "tweaked" the code and since then (maybe 6+ months ago) the 3GHz PC has been running CPDN very successfuly using BOINC 4.19. But given that SETI@home had "recommended" upgading to BOINC 4.25, I thought I'd give it a try on a PC that crunches on 3 different projects (SETI/Predictor and CPDN) and see how it went before upgrading the other PC's. Seems that changing the BOINC client has caused this problem. rgds, Timbo
28) Questions and Answers : Windows : Issues with CPDN and BOINC v4.25? (Message 11681) Posted 7 Apr 2005 by UBT - Timbo Post: Hi everyone, Anybody getting Fortran erros running CPDN with BOINC v4.25. I've been "allocated" 2 CPDN models to crunch (since I upgraded the BOINC client from 4.19 to 4.25) and since then I've not been able to crunch a CPDN project without errors. The latest one I found this morning: 07/04/05 02:32:07\|climateprediction.net\|Resuming result 1wwe_300110205_0 using hadsm3 version 4.12 07/04/05 03:32:07\|climateprediction.net\|Pausing result 1wwe_300110205_0 (left in memory) 07/04/05 03:32:49\|climateprediction.net\|Result 1wwe_300110205_0 exited with zero status but no 'finished' file 07/04/05 03:32:49\|climateprediction.net\|If this happens repeatedly you may need to reset the project. 07/04/05 04:53:03\|climateprediction.net\|Restarting result 1wwe_300110205_0 using hadsm3 version 4.12 07/04/05 05:53:03\|climateprediction.net\|Pausing result 1wwe_300110205_0 (left in memory) 07/04/05 06:06:07\|climateprediction.net\|Resuming result 1wwe_300110205_0 using hadsm3 version 4.12 07/04/05 07:09:01\|climateprediction.net\|Unrecoverable error for result 1wwe_300110205_0 ( - exit code -5 (0xfffffffb)) 07/04/05 07:09:13\|climateprediction.net\|Computation for result 1wwe_300110205 finished So, 14+ hours of crunching now wasted? Have n ow suspended my crunching for CPDN until I find out if it's my PC or a wider problem. (Other projects crunch without issues on the same PC!!) rgds, Timbo
29) Message boards : climateprediction.net Science : CPDN makes BBC Website top news story. (Message 7663) Posted 26 Jan 2005 by UBT - Timbo Post: Hi, The news that CO2 levels are likely to rise alarmingly high very soon has been published by the <a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4210629.stm'>BBC news</a> website. Seems us CPDN crunchers are famous now. Don't know if it'll mean that the yanks will at last take note and sign up for Kyoto. Timbo
30) Questions and Answers : Windows : Win98 hangs on trickle upload attempt with no network connection (Message 7051) Posted 22 Dec 2004 by UBT - Timbo Post: > > > > > Sorry I cannot help with the hanging. It is normal for there to be filename > such as 2ucaaa.pa11c10 size 3336kb. At the phase end, some spaces are removed > to save space and you get something like 2ucaaa.pa11c10.x1.nc 1969kb. What do > you mean be huge? Well the files were sometimes 5Mb, sometimes nearly 10Mb and a few were over 15Mb each. ANd there were lots of them. > I do not know why that unit has speeded up from over 9sec/Ts to 6sec/ts so > there may be something odd going on. > This was mainly because I increased the percentage of time-sharing from around 10% (way back when this WU started) to around 35% more recently. Following on: For some goddam reason, the WU is now running again. Don't ask me how, but it's no longer "stuck". And it's returning trickles, such that I have now started Phase 3. Likewise, all the huge files have now "gone" and been replaced by much smaller files. Now that Phase 2 has finished and Phase 3 has started, I've somehow regained around 200Mb of HDD space....! I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can actually complete this WU. Timbo
31) Questions and Answers : Windows : Safe to delete old work-unit on hard drive? (Message 7010) Posted 18 Dec 2004 by UBT - Timbo Post: > > When viewing the Result IDs I find myself selecting each one in the list till > I find the numbers similar to what you have quoted. Also, you can look at the > same time to see if the particular model has been sent out again and if > someone else had any luck completing it. > > Hope this helps a bit. > DaveN > Hi DaveN, Thanx for the info - I've actually done a little bit of "digging" and have noticed that many older WU's are likely to be sent out up to 5 times, depending on whether previous hosts have actually replied with any trickles of data. In my case, my previous WU has actually been completed by another member (and with 2 other hosts "in progress"), so I would guess that they are unlikely to need my old data. So, I'm gonna recoup around 160Mb of HDD space. (FYI - I only sent 8 trickles on this old WU, so I doubt any real loss would occur if the data is deleted at my end). rgds, Timbo
32) Questions and Answers : Windows : Safe to delete old work-unit on hard drive? (Message 7005) Posted 17 Dec 2004 by UBT - Timbo Post: Hi "crandles" Thanks for the further help, > If your 164MB is not compressed that sounds like about 10 years into phase 1. > Though I am not sure and it could be early in phase 2. If that is compressed > then it will be phase 2. I've got 42 files from this old WU. > BTW The fifth character of most phase 1 files is > an 'a' whereas for phase 2 it is a 'b' and 'c' for phase3. There are typically > 15 numbered files one for each year for each name. I've actually got 7 blocks of 6 similarly named files, namely: 30uyaa.pa11c10 -> 30uyaa.pa16c10 30uyaa.pc11c10 -> 30uyaa.pc16c10 30uyaa.pd11c10 -> 30uyaa.pd16c10 30uyaa.pe11c10 -> 30uyaa.pe16c10 30uyaa.pf11c10 -> 30uyaa.pf16c10 30uyaa.pg11c10 -> 30uyaa.pg16c10 30uyaa.ph11c10 -> 30uyaa.ph16c10 (totalling 132Mb) So, I guess, I didn't get that far into phase 1 and so I'd hope that this WU would be resent to some-one else (eventually), as the WU never got finished. Timbo
33) Questions and Answers : Windows : Safe to delete old work-unit on hard drive? (Message 7003) Posted 17 Dec 2004 by UBT - Timbo Post: > The CP team are planning to look at the failed runs sometime but it could be a > long wait. In the meantime I don't think they can cope with the data storage > nor with the manual effort of taking attachements off emails and placing them > in a database. I'd be more inclined to keep it, if you were well into phase 2 > or 3. I wouldn't worry too much if it was lost, so no need to keep backing it > up. So if you have lots of free disk space and can place it in a folder where > it doesn't cause your backups to take longer that may be worth doing. > Hi "crandles" Thanks for the reply. Following on: Can CPDN "use" any of the data that BOINC submitted BEFORE the Fortran error (which occurred before the WU actually finished) I cannot remember exactly how far I got through the WU, so it's really a question of how many other failed CPDN WU's are there? (If "many" then they are unlikely to miss one WU I've deleted that was unfinished - if only a "few" then at some point they'll want the unfinished data back somehow? And who can be bothered to email a 164Mb ZIP file?) regards, Timbo
34) Questions and Answers : Windows : Safe to delete old work-unit on hard drive? (Message 7001) Posted 17 Dec 2004 by UBT - Timbo Post: Hi, I have around 164Mb of "old" data relating to a previous CPDN WU that I was working on and which subsequently crashed with a Fortran error. BOINC then downloaded a new CPDN WU for me to crunch. So, can I safely delete these "old" files? Is anyone likely to need them. If so, then I'll WinZIP them up and email them to whoever wants them...! regards, Timbo
35) Questions and Answers : Windows : Win98 hangs on trickle upload attempt with no network connection (Message 7000) Posted 17 Dec 2004 by UBT - Timbo Post: Hi geophi, I have this SAME problem - I'm now 61.50% through a CPDN workunit and since achieving this percentage, my Win98SE/Pentium P4 (3.06MHz, single threaded)/512Mb PC "hangs" when switching to CPDN. I've now had to set my "resource share" (in the preferences) to 0.01% so that I can leave the PC switch on and crunch for my other project (SETI). Now, when BOINC decides that it should switch to CPDN, the PC hangs (and has to be switched off). When I've rebooted, the BOINC "messages" section says that it's deferring work on the CPDN WU and instead it re-starts on the SETI WU. So, there's something definitely amiss. (I've checked my CPDN work unit "data out" directory and since about 27/11/04, all the files created in this directory end in a ".p*" file extension and are all of huge size, whereas before this date, they all end in ".nc" and they are all about the same filesize. Hopefully that's a clue to what's happening - I'd hate to have to reset the project as I'm think I'm on the 3rd phase (according to a "phase3.start" file in my "datain" folder). regards, Timbo Edit: This is the WU causing the trouble: <a href='http://climateapps2.oucs.ox.ac.uk/cpdnboinc/trickle.php?resultid=351666'>Link</a> PS No "strange" error messages are contained in "stdout_um.txt" and the other files "stderr_um.txt", "stderr_se.txt" and "stdout_se.txt" are zero length !!
36) Message boards : Number crunching : error code = -5 0xfffffffb (Message 5516) Posted 20 Oct 2004 by UBT - Timbo Post: > you can't resume that particular WU. It would be re-assigned to another user. > 8 timestepts was at an early stage so you haven't lost too much proc time. > Thanks Tolu, Timbo <img src='http://www.boincstats.com/stats/banner.php?cpid=3809ebbf60de22f53f7dabc34e8bdc5a'>
37) Message boards : Number crunching : error code = -5 0xfffffffb (Message 5508) Posted 20 Oct 2004 by UBT - Timbo Post: I came back to my PC to find that the CPDN model (which had already completed 8 timesteps) had shut down with some sort of "Fortran" error (the message was onscreen for only a short flash and then disappeared). Now in my stats page I show the above error "-5 (0xfffffffb)" and a new CPDN WU has been downloaded to my PC. Question: Is the previous WU "complete" or can it be recovered in order to carry on (assuming the Fortran crash was due to a conflict in my PC and not a WU error). rgds, Timbo <img src='http://www.boincstats.com/stats/banner.php?cpid=3809ebbf60de22f53f7dabc34e8bdc5a'> PS - I posted this message at 10:25 BST, but the message board claims it was posted at 8:52 UTC - thinks someone's clock is wrong and it isn't mine..!
38) Questions and Answers : Windows : New Win98 or Win ME or Win NT4 Users Please Post Here! (Message 4896) Posted 1 Oct 2004 by UBT - Timbo Post: > Have now been running CPDN version 4.04/BOINC v4.09, under Win98SE, for 6 hours of > solid processing time and it's still running with no apparent problems. - Only > another 676 hours to go to completion !! (according to the "BOINC" client). > > so, seems your fix has been VERY GOOD. > > Well done > > rgds, > > Timbo Carl, Further update (FWIW), Have now been crunching CPDN under BOINC v4.09 and Win 98SE and have completed 24 hours worth of CPU work and NO PROBLEMS, errors or any other hassle have occurred. Will leave further feedback in a weeks time, but for now the Win98SE fix is still good. rgds, Timbo
39) Questions and Answers : Windows : New Win98 or Win ME or Win NT4 Users Please Post Here! (Message 4849) Posted 30 Sep 2004 by UBT - Timbo Post: > Hi Carl, > > Just "allowed" my CPDN "BOINC" client to download the new v4.04 files and have > adjusted my preferences to let CPDN take the lions share of the processing > "time-slice" so I can see quite quickly if I still get 2 hours worth of > crunching before the WU gets returned with an error, or whether your kind > "fix" has worked. > > Will reply here in a days or so's time to report back. > Carl, Have now been running CPDN version 4.04/BOINC v4.09, under Win98SE, for 6 hours of solid processing time and it's still running with no apparent problems. - Only another 676 hours to go to completion !! (according to the "BOINC" client). so, seems your fix has been VERY GOOD. Well done rgds, Timbo
40) Questions and Answers : Windows : New Win98 or Win ME or Win NT4 Users Please Post Here! (Message 4822) Posted 29 Sep 2004 by UBT - Timbo Post: Hi Carl, Just "allowed" my CPDN "BOINC" client to download the new v4.04 files and have adjusted my preferences to let CPDN take the lions share of the processing "time-slice" so I can see quite quickly if I still get 2 hours worth of crunching before the WU gets returned with an error, or whether your kind "fix" has worked. Will reply here in a days or so's time to report back. Many thanks for taking the time to create the fix - am sure another 1199 people will also be happier now.! regds, Timbo

Previous 20 · Next 20

Posts by UBT - Timbo