Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > Team MacNN > Enhanced Optimized

Enhanced Optimized (Page 11)
Thread Tools
Todd Madson
Mac Elite
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Minneapolis, MN USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 6, 2006, 07:40 PM
 
Whee. Back to #140 on the world list with the G5 but still.

My RAC has slowly risen although I'm not quite sure why.

For me a Mac Pro purchase would likely be years off since
I just got this last summer. Oh well.
     
Karl Schimanek
Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Germany
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 9, 2006, 02:57 PM
 
A couple of interesting results:


Quad G5/alex v6ng nearly as fast as a Pentium D 3.4GHz/Crunch3r client (7200sec vs. 7000sec)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/worku...?wuid=89679794

Quad G5/alex v6ng faster as a Intel(R) Xeon(R) [email protected]* (7300sec vs. 7900sec)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/worku...?wuid=89471950

Quad G5/alex v6ng faster as a Intel(R) Xeon(R) [email protected]* (7300sec vs. 7900sec)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/worku...?wuid=89471945

Quad G5/alex v6ng nearly as fast as a Intel(R) Core(TM)2 [email protected]** (7300sec vs. 6750sec)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/worku...?wuid=89283325

Quad G5/alex v6ng slower as a Intel(R) Core(TM)2 [email protected]*** (7450sec vs. 6150sec)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/worku...?wuid=87844701

*Windows P4 SSE3 32-bit V5.15 'Chicken Good!' (R-1.3|+freq|xP+)
Compiled by Simon Zadra (KWSN - Chicken of Angnor) - Member of the Knights who say Ni! (http://www.kwsn.net)
Download Updates at: http://www.zadra.org/seti_enhanced/

**Windows P-M SSE2 32-bit V5.15 'Chicken Good!' (R-1.2|+fversion|xB)
Compiled by Simon Zadra (KWSN - Chicken of Angnor) - Member of the Knights who say Ni! (http://www.kwsn.net)
Download Updates at: http://www.zadra.org/seti_enhanced/

***Windows SSE 32-bit V5.15 'Chicken Good!' (R-1.3|+freq|xK)
Compiled by Simon Zadra (KWSN - Chicken of Angnor) - Member of the Knights who say Ni! (http://www.kwsn.net)
Download Updates at: http://www.zadra.org/seti_enhanced/
     
halimedia
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Switzerland
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 9, 2006, 03:52 PM
 
Interesting stuff, Karl.

Since SETI will be down for a good while, as it seems, it might be a good time to make our systems available for testing any new worker developments. Alex, anything new from your side? My quad feels lazy...
     
Todd Madson
Mac Elite
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Minneapolis, MN USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 12, 2006, 05:46 PM
 
I had to do some rather extreme work on my old Athlon box to make it SSE comapatible.

I'm running the Chicken of Angnor's optimized SSE Windows client on it now,
my old motherboard had an old BIOS that didn't know about SSE since SSE
did not exist on Athlon chips at the time so I flashed it and updated it and now
run an SSE client on it. Oddness.

Anyway:
Results for computer

Here's my G5 again. Times are ranging from 1000-8000 seconds,
pretty good for a 2.5 dual. I've been briefly inside the top 100 again
which is great - I'm currently 111 but I'm sure this is short lived -
those Mac Pros are looking like monsters.
     
TiloProbst
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 13, 2006, 08:36 PM
 
hey

Karl may already know, but some Mac news pages today healined with the CPU in the current Mac Pros to be replacable with Intels new Quad Core CPU. that means, we could possibly have a 8 Core Mac Pro sooner or later hehe
     
E.T from tellus
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Finland, Tuusula
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 14, 2006, 09:10 AM
 
I am back...
I Just upgrade mac mini (core duo) to core2 duo (T7400) 2,16ghz CPU
http://esa.tienhaara.net/seti/pics/macmini.png
results found here: Computer summary
So far it seems to be stable and cooler than mac book pro. Procedure was quite easy, just change the CPU
PS. Mac Pro:s has also ZIF CPU socets, they are also upgradeable. Here is few pictures:
http://esa.tienhaara.net/seti/pics/05092006096.jpg
http://esa.tienhaara.net/seti/pics/05092006095.jpg

E.T
( Last edited by E.T from tellus; Sep 14, 2006 at 09:20 AM. )
     
halimedia
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Switzerland
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 14, 2006, 09:49 AM
 
Long time no see, E.T! Welcome back! Did you do any benchmarking (ref-WU or so) before and after the Core 2 Duo install?
     
E.T from tellus
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Finland, Tuusula
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 14, 2006, 10:29 AM
 
Originally Posted by halimedia
Long time no see, E.T! Welcome back! Did you do any benchmarking (ref-WU or so) before and after the Core 2 Duo install?
Nope just plug the new CPU and start crunching, maybe later..
E.T
     
alexkan
Forum Regular
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cupertino, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 15, 2006, 03:21 AM
 
Originally Posted by Karl Schimanek
A couple of interesting results:


Quad G5/alex v6ng nearly as fast as a Pentium D 3.4GHz/Crunch3r client (7200sec vs. 7000sec)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/worku...?wuid=89679794

Quad G5/alex v6ng faster as a Intel(R) Xeon(R) [email protected]* (7300sec vs. 7900sec)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/worku...?wuid=89471950

Quad G5/alex v6ng faster as a Intel(R) Xeon(R) [email protected]* (7300sec vs. 7900sec)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/worku...?wuid=89471945

Quad G5/alex v6ng nearly as fast as a Intel(R) Core(TM)2 [email protected]** (7300sec vs. 6750sec)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/worku...?wuid=89283325

Quad G5/alex v6ng slower as a Intel(R) Core(TM)2 [email protected]*** (7450sec vs. 6150sec)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/worku...?wuid=87844701
I know most of these WU links are dead, but it's important to look at the actual clock speed that people are running these chips at, since the chip identifies itself as its stock clock speed, rather than what speed it's currently running at. I looked at those results a while back, and IIRC the ones that were turning in faster times than the G5s were overclocked.

As for what's been happening on my end, here's a prerelease version of v7 for Intel. This was as far as I could get for now, since halimedia temporarily needs his Mac mini back for other things. It's also (finally) compiled with ICC and IPP, which gives a little extra boost. In general, no miracles between v6.1 and v7, but a noticeable speed gain nonetheless.

Try it out and let me know what you think. I wasn't totally finished implementing new tweaks, but hopefully it should be stable and correct enough to be usable. The real version of v7 for PPC will be soon to follow, since none of my PPC dev tools are Intel-specific.

And please, please, if you have a Mac Pro, run v7 and post links to your results! (It doesn't seem like anyone has one yet, though...)
     
Knightrider
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: London
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 15, 2006, 04:12 AM
 
Originally Posted by alexkan

As for what's been happening on my end, here's a prerelease version of v7 for Intel.................

........................... The real version of v7 for PPC will be soon to follow, since none of my PPC dev tools are Intel-specific.........................
Hi Alex,

Looking forward to the ppc version 7. One question - can I use the intel version on my windoze XP Pro - intel P4 machine?

Thanks

K.
     
alexkan
Forum Regular
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cupertino, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 16, 2006, 12:01 PM
 
Originally Posted by Knightrider
Looking forward to the ppc version 7. One question - can I use the intel version on my windoze XP Pro - intel P4 machine?
No, binaries are operating system-specific. As for Windows, there's always Simon Zadra's clients. I don't think I have the additional tools necessary to roll a fast binary on Windows, anyway.
     
Knightrider
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: London
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 16, 2006, 12:48 PM
 
Originally Posted by alexkan
No, binaries are operating system-specific. As for Windows, there's always Simon Zadra's clients. I don't think I have the additional tools necessary to roll a fast binary on Windows, anyway.
Thanks Alex - needed to check there had been no change.

I found Simon Zadra's site Seti@Home optimized science apps and information and started useing that binary on my PC.

Cannot make a comparison as the Mac is crunching seti-enhanced 5.13 and the PC is crunching 5.15

K.
( Last edited by Knightrider; Sep 16, 2006 at 12:55 PM. )
     
alexkan
Forum Regular
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cupertino, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 16, 2006, 01:06 PM
 
Originally Posted by Knightrider
I found Simon Zadra's site Seti@Home optimized science apps and information and started useing that binary on my PC.

Cannot make a comparison as the Mac is crunching seti-enhanced 5.13 and the PC is crunching 5.15
Go ahead and compare--the science is the same.
     
arkayn
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Golden Valley, AZ
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 16, 2006, 10:11 PM
 
I am also running Simon's app on my laptop.
     
beadman
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Virginia
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 17, 2006, 12:38 PM
 
Alex:
Changed to the V.7 yesterday at noon EDT. Average cpusec/credit was 142 using V.6 NG, and it's now 124 cpusec/credit. MBP 2.16 GHZ core duo. http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/resul...hostid=2546291

Now if you could just do something about the high RA WUs...
On V.6, I got this for performance 7396 cpusec 64.35 cred = 115 cpusec/cred
2056 cpusec 12.53 cred = 162 cpusec/cred

on V.7, I'm getting 7152 cpusec 64.25 cred = 111 cpusec/cred
2316 cpusec 12.52 cred = 185 cpusec/cred

From looking at some other results, this relative slowness of the high RA WUs doesn't happen on AMD machines, but does on Intel and PPC

Thanks for the great speedups for our Macs!

beadman
     
TiloProbst
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 17, 2006, 08:21 PM
 
Seems a MacPro made its way into The Top Computers List
Top computers
     
alexkan
Forum Regular
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cupertino, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 17, 2006, 11:39 PM
 
It looks like E.T has updated his C2D Mac mini to run v7. Take a look at the times he's turning in--that's the new Core architecture for you. Keep in mind that that chip is only running at 2.16 GHz on a 667 MHz FSB.

Now imagine a Mac Pro at 2.66 (or even 3.0) GHz on a 1333 MHz FSB.
     
Todd Madson
Mac Elite
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Minneapolis, MN USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 18, 2006, 05:35 PM
 
Alex: can you give us a brief overview of what v7 does over the previous
version? What about PowerMacs?

I've got a really odd idea about running the current version in an unusual
configuration - stay tuned.
     
halimedia
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Switzerland
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 18, 2006, 05:47 PM
 
Originally Posted by alexkan
It looks like E.T has updated his C2D Mac mini to run v7. Take a look at the times he's turning in--that's the new Core architecture for you. Keep in mind that that chip is only running at 2.16 GHz on a 667 MHz FSB.

Now imagine a Mac Pro at 2.66 (or even 3.0) GHz on a 1333 MHz FSB.
That's unbelievable! E.Ts mini is almost twice as fast as mine (w/ original 1.66 GHz CoreDuo). Wicked!!

Computer summary
     
BTBlomberg
Forum Regular
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago Suburbs
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 18, 2006, 06:33 PM
 
So I take it E.T. performed a Processor only upgrade. I had not thought of that since Apple is so good at hard soldering the CPU to it's low end machines. This is too cool. Wide open CoreDuo expansion as long as pins match (Socket M). Want to upgrade, just by the CPU.

A quick search on Google turned up several guides. Wish I had one.

Links:
Mac Mini Intel Core Duo Upgrade Guide

Apple Core Solo to Core Duo upgrade. - XtremeSystems Forums
( Last edited by BTBlomberg; Sep 18, 2006 at 07:14 PM. )
     
zombie67
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Dublin, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 18, 2006, 08:26 PM
 
Originally Posted by BTBlomberg
So I take it E.T. performed a Processor only upgrade. I had not thought of that since Apple is so good at hard soldering the CPU to it's low end machines. This is too cool. Wide open CoreDuo expansion as long as pins match (Socket M). Want to upgrade, just by the CPU.
It makes those used core solo mini boxes veeeery attractive once they come down a pit further in price.
     
BTBlomberg
Forum Regular
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago Suburbs
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 18, 2006, 10:23 PM
 
Yes. Surely not now. Did a search and Intel Core Duo T2600 Yonah 2.167GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket M Processor - Retail will run you $429 at newegg.com. 2/3 the cost of the original computer. Saw no other sellers of this in a quick search. Overseas may be different.

Once the CPU has been on the market for some time and quantity is up the price will drop and the speed will rise. Also the CoreSolo's will drop in value at eBay, etc. with time, if this can be kept under wraps ;-) They look to be running about $450-$500 at the moment.

Of course it would likely be cheaper to get a new Core2Dual one at this point, but it;s nice to know they have life beyond the Factory build. Like I said, so unlike Apple. Cheaper to make that way though. Nice way to upgrade old inventory and sell it as new.
     
zombie67
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Dublin, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 18, 2006, 11:01 PM
 
Originally Posted by BTBlomberg
Yes. Surely not now. Did a search and Intel Core Duo T2600 Yonah 2.167GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket M Processor - Retail will run you $429 at newegg.com. 2/3 the cost of the original computer. Saw no other sellers of this in a quick search. Overseas may be different.
You're looking at the wrong processor. The T2600 is the Core Duo. You need to look at the Core 2 Duo.

http://www.intel.com/products/proces...t/core2duo.htm

Of course, the T versions aren't available retail yet. But they are a direct drop-in replacement.

The Core Solo -> Core 2 Duo upgrade is much more compelling.
     
alexkan
Forum Regular
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cupertino, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 19, 2006, 02:54 AM
 
Originally Posted by Todd Madson
Alex: can you give us a brief overview of what v7 does over the previous
version? What about PowerMacs?
First of all, v7 is compiled with the Intel compiler and uses IPP for FFTs, instead of FFTW. Additionally, some functions have been tuned to run better on the new Core architecture. (Core Duos benefit from some of the tuning as well.) I've also vectorized the spike-finding code and done some cache blocking on one of the memory-intensive loops.

The first two things I listed are, of course, Intel-only. As for instruction-level tuning on PowerPC...most of that already happened a long time ago. However, the other optimizations, as well as some that I have in mind but haven't coded yet, aren't specific to Intel or PowerPC. The prerelease of v7 won't have those optimizations, but once I have an Intel Mac to develop on again, I'll bring the two clients back to feature parity.
     
E.T from tellus
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Finland, Tuusula
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 19, 2006, 08:47 AM
 
Compatible Core2 Duo CPU:s (yes they are in retail channel. Intel doesn't update their information yet) I got my CPU last week I ordered mine from GNT Finland
Compatible series is T7xxx (Mobile)
Core2 Duo T5600 (1.83Ghz) 251€
Core2 Duo T7200 (2.0ghz) 290€
Core2 Duo T7400 (2.16Ghz) 369€ -> i have that one
Core2 Duo T7600 (2.33Ghz) 505€
There is also E6xxx Core2 processors which have faster FSB and different socket (doesen't fit in mini mac)
Finlad is anyway middle of the nowhere, i think it is easier got those CPU:s from USA and central europe. Intel must have some factory Outlet in Santa Clara CA
E.T
( Last edited by E.T from tellus; Sep 19, 2006 at 10:56 AM. )
     
tomsax
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Sammamish, WA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 20, 2006, 02:47 PM
 
I just switched my 2.66 GHz Mac Pro to running AlexKan's v7 client.

My Mac Pro's Computer Summary
     
alexkan
Forum Regular
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cupertino, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 20, 2006, 04:09 PM
 
Tom, are you still running on 2 FB-DIMMs?
     
tomsax
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Sammamish, WA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 21, 2006, 12:21 AM
 
Originally Posted by alexkan
Tom, are you still running on 2 FB-DIMMs?
Yeah. I actually bought a 2x1GB upgrade, but with those installed (either instead of or in addition to the stock 2x512MB) the fans go crazy when S@H is running and pegging all four cores.

I'm going to do an exchange to see if it's a problem with those specific chips or if I'm stuck choosing between running S@H or having more than 1 GB of ram. (Running with the fans on all the time isn't an option.)

Is anyone else running S@H on a Mac Pro with more than 1 GB RAM?
     
alexkan
Forum Regular
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cupertino, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 22, 2006, 02:14 AM
 
Originally Posted by tomsax
Yeah. I actually bought a 2x1GB upgrade, but with those installed (either instead of or in addition to the stock 2x512MB) the fans go crazy when S@H is running and pegging all four cores.

I'm going to do an exchange to see if it's a problem with those specific chips or if I'm stuck choosing between running S@H or having more than 1 GB of ram. (Running with the fans on all the time isn't an option.)

Is anyone else running S@H on a Mac Pro with more than 1 GB RAM?
If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that amount of noise is normal. Based how your performance changed after the second stick of RAM, I'd say the silence from before was basically because your cores were starved for memory bandwidth and weren't running full-bore.

It'd be a shame if you stopped now, though. Looks like your crunching times are/were on par with the #1 guy on the Top Hosts list, though...despite an 800 MHz clock disparity in his favor.
     
tomsax
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Sammamish, WA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 22, 2006, 12:33 PM
 
Originally Posted by alexkan
If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that amount of noise is normal. Based how your performance changed after the second stick of RAM, I'd say the silence from before was basically because your cores were starved for memory bandwidth and weren't running full-bore.
What do you mean about my performance changing? I didn't run S@H for more than a few minutes with the RAM upgrade installed prior to about 4 pm on Sept. 21. I did upgrade to your v7 enhanced client about 24 hours previous, maybe that's causing the performance increase you noticed. (Thanks for the enhanced client, BTW.)

1 GB of RAM is plenty for running S@H plus my normal apps, which have a VM footprint smaller than physical memory, so the processes had all the RAM they needed. If you don't have enough RAM for the apps you're running, you get hard disk thrashing, which was the problem I was having with Adobe Lightroom when working with sets of two hundred or more 13 MB RAW format images.

I got replacement RAM yesterday and that solved the problem. I now have 3 GB of RAM in the Mac Pro and it's very quiet even with S@H keeping all four cores busy and Lightroom using all that new RAM. The first set of boards must have had something like bad heat sinks or a defective temperature sensor.
     
QSilver
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Chicago
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 25, 2006, 09:54 AM
 
tom-

Didn't realize until just now that the reason why I've seen you starting to post here during the last week or so is bacause you've jumped from the PowerPage team to MacNN.

At first, I couldn't figure out why the PowerPage team went from almost 3.1M credits week to 2.4M this week. Really hurts when the top cruncher leaves.

QS
     
chboss
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Switzerland
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 26, 2006, 12:55 PM
 
Hey Alex....

Long time not heard anything.
How is the progress of the PPC version?
Do you still see some way of improving?
Chris Bosshard
www.bosshard-ch.net
     
BTBlomberg
Forum Regular
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago Suburbs
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 27, 2006, 12:00 PM
 
I have noticed something over the last couple months that I wonder about. I have been running G4 v6 with no graphics on my old PowerBook G4 500 MHz and now am running it on a newer PowerBook G4 1.5 GHz I got about a month ago. On both machines at different times the client has frozen or stalled. With work and family it has sometimes taken a couple of days to notice this. It has happened at least once on the G4 1.5 (last weeekend as a matter of fact) and a couple times with the G4 500 (possibly with v5 client also).

Now these are laptops, of course, and the machine I use daily (now the G4 1.5) gets unplugged and move a few times a day, leading me to think this may be an issue with the client or Boinc properly resuming the unit.

I am just wondering if others have seen this and if this would be more of aSETI Client thing or a Boinc thing.

Also, regarding comments on the WUs as of late, if you visit SETI's home page and check onteh Technical info you will see they are likely running WU that are from older DAT tape that were not run before or may have had issues. This may have different properties than the more recent WUs that Alex's clients have been flying through. You can not ever think all WUs are the same in this, so comparing one WU to another sometimes means nothing. Best comparisions come from comparing WUs with same Credits Claimed/Granted, but these can even vary.
     
tomsax
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Sammamish, WA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 28, 2006, 01:29 AM
 
Originally Posted by QSilver
tom-

Didn't realize until just now that the reason why I've seen you starting to post here during the last week or so is bacause you've jumped from the PowerPage team to MacNN.

At first, I couldn't figure out why the PowerPage team went from almost 3.1M credits week to 2.4M this week. Really hurts when the top cruncher leaves.

QS
Yeah, I was sorry to bail from the PowerPage group, but the MacNN folks, especially Halimedia and Alex, have been very helping in maximizing my crunching. Thanks to AlexKan's enhanced client, and Halimedia's help on configuration problem, my Mac Pro is now #12 on the top computers list. That's pretty fun considering it isn't even the 3.0 GHz model.

I didn't realize that when I left the group, I'd take the credits I earned while on the group to the new group. I'm pretty sure it didn't work that way under the classic S@H system. I really expected that I would start at zero on the new group.

I will miss your team charts. Maybe you'd like to come over and crunch for MacNN?
     
tomsax
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Sammamish, WA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 28, 2006, 01:35 AM
 
Originally Posted by BTBlomberg
Now these are laptops, of course, and the machine I use daily (now the G4 1.5) gets unplugged and move a few times a day, leading me to think this may be an issue with the client or Boinc properly resuming the unit.

I am just wondering if others have seen this and if this would be more of aSETI Client thing or a Boinc thing.
I've seen this happen on desktop machines that are on 24/7 and running the stock S@H client. I keep a pretty close eye on my machines for that reason. I occasionally get a machine that just stops running WUs, or I'll get a WU that gets stuck, saying it will take hundreds of hours to finish.

I had a really nice automated monitoring system with the classic S@H which I haven't (yet) redone for BOINC.
     
reader50
Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: California
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 28, 2006, 02:17 AM
 
Originally Posted by tomsax
...
I didn't realize that when I left the group, I'd take the credits I earned while on the group to the new group. I'm pretty sure it didn't work that way under the classic S@H system. I really expected that I would start at zero on the new group.

I will miss your team charts. Maybe you'd like to come over and crunch for MacNN?
Under SETI Classic, when a member switched teams, all stats moved with them. Under SETI BOINC, it is somewhat more complex.

The member moves from one team listing to the other. Their full credit follows their personal account ... but doesn't transfer to the new team. In other words, the teams' official totals do not get adjusted for the switch. At present, the PowerPage team shows a total of 3.2M stats, while adding up the members list gives a total of 2.4M stats.

MacNN currently shows an official total of 28M and a member total of 34M. This indicates we have had a number of people switch over here, but their previous totals did not officially switch. It is unclear what would happen if Berkeley had a DB problem and had to retotal all teams.

Regarding stats charts, I do not know what the PowerPage people offer. However, we do offer stats services too.

Stats root page for MacNN on SETI-BOINC
Competitive members listing
Personal stats page
     
QSilver
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Chicago
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 28, 2006, 01:48 PM
 
Originally Posted by tomsax
--snip--

I didn't realize that when I left the group, I'd take the credits I earned while on the group to the new group. I'm pretty sure it didn't work that way under the classic S@H system. I really expected that I would start at zero on the new group.
reader50 is right about credits. The rules are that your credits are yours no matter what team you're on (or how many times you move). Credits earned by an individual while they are part of a team stay with the team. Officially, the PowerPage team has over 3 million credits. When I do the stats & charts, I pull the numbers by team member. From that perspective, it looks like the PowerPage has significantly lower total credits.

Originally Posted by tomsax
I will miss your team charts. Maybe you'd like to come over and crunch for MacNN?
Thanks for the kind words re: the charts. MacNN's stats & charts are way better and probably completely automated. With only 62 PowerPage members making the transition to BOINC, of which half are active, it takes just a few minutes using my less-than-fully-automated method.

Been thinking about joining Team MacNN. There's some......inertia to that change.

QS
     
beadman
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Virginia
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 28, 2006, 02:02 PM
 
Originally Posted by BTBlomberg
I have noticed something over the last couple months that I wonder about. I have been running G4 v6 with no graphics on my old PowerBook G4 500 MHz and now am running it on a newer PowerBook G4 1.5 GHz I got about a month ago. On both machines at different times the client has frozen or stalled. With work and family it has sometimes taken a couple of days to notice this. It has happened at least once on the G4 1.5 (last weeekend as a matter of fact) and a couple times with the G4 500 (possibly with v5 client also).

Now these are laptops, of course, and the machine I use daily (now the G4 1.5) gets unplugged and move a few times a day, leading me to think this may be an issue with the client or Boinc properly resuming the unit.

I am just wondering if others have seen this and if this would be more of aSETI Client thing or a Boinc thing...
I've noticed in on my ibook G4 1.33GHz, and my PowerBook G4 1.67GHz, both running 10.4.7 and Alex's v6NG. When it happens, BOINC Manager continues to act like it's working, but the Task numbers don't increment, and Activity Monitor shows nothing going on. A Quit and re-open and it begins working again. Haven't been able to read the old messages to see if anything might be shown there, even a time indicator might help figure out what's wrong.

C
     
BTBlomberg
Forum Regular
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago Suburbs
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 28, 2006, 02:11 PM
 
Originally Posted by beadman
I've noticed in on my ibook G4 1.33GHz, and my PowerBook G4 1.67GHz, both running 10.4.7 and Alex's v6NG. When it happens, BOINC Manager continues to act like it's working, but the Task numbers don't increment, and Activity Monitor shows nothing going on. A Quit and re-open and it begins working again. Haven't been able to read the old messages to see if anything might be shown there, even a time indicator might help figure out what's wrong.

C
I have actually shut down Boinc and restarted to not have it start crunching again. A system restart fixes it (and everything else) ;-) Need to give the system a clean head every few days with opening and closing Adobe (and fromer Macromedia) Products.

Good to know it's not just me though. Will have to check logs better next time to see if there is any indication of the source of the issue.
     
tomsax
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Sammamish, WA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 28, 2006, 06:00 PM
 
OK, here's a strange one. I noticed that the Mac Pro was only running three tasks. I didn't see anything funny in the logs, so I just tried a project suspend/resume cycle. That got four tasks running again. A bit later, I noticed it was back down to three.

Looking at the log messages, it all looks fine. Four units got restarted, one completed and a new one started. Analyzing the current batch of work units, I see that one of the four units that got resumed has just stopped. Here's the info on that unit:

45) -----------
name: 27ap03aa.6665.29712.478398.3.19_0
WU name: 27ap03aa.6665.29712.478398.3.19
project URL: SETI@home
report deadline: Sat Oct 7 19:11:18 2006
ready to report: no
got server ack: no
final CPU time: 2873.068210
state: 2
scheduler state: 2
exit_status: 0
signal: 0
suspended via GUI: no
active_task_state: 0
stderr_out:
app version num: 513
checkpoint CPU time: 2873.068210
current CPU time: 2873.068210
fraction done: 1.000000
VM usage: 0.000000
resident set size: 0.000000
estimated CPU time remaining: 0.000000
supports graphics: no

It looks like the unit is done, but not ready to report?!? So one core is offline? Curious.
     
zombie67
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Dublin, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 28, 2006, 10:20 PM
 
Originally Posted by tomsax
It looks like the unit is done, but not ready to report?!? So one core is offline? Curious.
This happens to me about once a week on my G5 quad. I'm running the standard client, on Rosetta. When it happens, it looks like that one job tried to start a new WU, and then just sits there showing 0 CPU time, and the processor is idle according to menumeters. I quit/start BOINC, and it starts right up like nothing was ever wrong. Never any kind of message to indicate anything was wrong. I blame solar radiation messing with my ram.
     
Knightrider
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: London
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 29, 2006, 08:11 AM
 
Originally Posted by BTBlomberg
I have actually shut down Boinc and restarted to not have it start crunching again. A system restart fixes it (and everything else) ;-) Need to give the system a clean head every few days with opening and closing Adobe (and fromer Macromedia) Products.

Good to know it's not just me though. Will have to check logs better next time to see if there is any indication of the source of the issue.
Here are a few things to try for BOINC Problems.

Are you running the latest version of BOINC ? At the moment it is 5.4.9

Check that the you have not accidently set 'Suspend'

Check that the 'Activity' tab settings are as you would like them to be.

Check that your project preferences are all correct for your machine.

Try out the Tiger Cache Cleaner V3.1.7 (Shareware)

Read the Mac OS X: How to troubleshoot a software issue article at Apple Support

G4/G5/Pro check no red lights behind front panel of case.

Check Dust bunnies.

Go to your happy place and administer soothing balms to self.

K.
     
BTBlomberg
Forum Regular
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago Suburbs
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 29, 2006, 10:44 AM
 
Originally Posted by Knightrider
Are you running the latest version of BOINC ? At the moment it is 5.4.9
Yep. I tend to always upgrade.
Originally Posted by Knightrider
Check that the you have not accidently set 'Suspend'
Definately was not the issue. I triple checked.
Originally Posted by Knightrider
Check that the 'Activity' tab settings are as you would like them to be.
Is set to the default: Run based on preferences which could be a problem if a bad message is sent saying computer is on battery when not, but from what I remember of the Message screen it did not record a suspend for anything before the 'freeze'. Last command was about running the WU.
Originally Posted by Knightrider
Check that your project preferences are all correct for your machine.
Yep. Not that.
Originally Posted by Knightrider
Try out the Tiger Cache Cleaner V3.1.7 (Shareware)
Now that is not a bad suggestion. Max OS X often has cache quirks.
Originally Posted by Knightrider
Read the Mac OS X: How to troubleshoot a software issue article at Apple Support
Mostly about updated your software, check preferences and clean your cache, same as it's always been for problems and same stuff as above.
Originally Posted by Knightrider
G4/G5/Pro check no red lights behind front panel of case.
PowerBooks? What Red light? What front panel?
Originally Posted by Knightrider
Check Dust bunnies.
If I have dust bunnies they are midget bunnies.
Originally Posted by Knightrider
Go to your happy place and administer soothing balms to self.
OK. Too much information and if your "happy place" is near your Mac you might inadvertently
splash excess "soothing balm" into the inner working of your Mac intoducing additional issues.
     
Knightrider
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: London
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 29, 2006, 11:17 AM
 
Originally Posted by BTBlomberg
Yep. I tend to always upgrade.
Definately was not the issue. I triple checked.
Is set to the default: Run based on preferences which could be a problem if a bad message is sent saying computer is on battery when not, but from what I remember of the Message screen it did not record a suspend for anything before the 'freeze'. Last command was about running the WU.
Yep. Not that.
Now that is not a bad suggestion. Max OS X often has cache quirks.
Mostly about updated your software, check preferences and clean your cache, same as it's always been for problems and same stuff as above.
PowerBooks? What Red light? What front panel?
If I have dust bunnies they are midget bunnies.
OK. Too much information and if your "happy place" is near your Mac you might inadvertently
splash excess "soothing balm" into the inner working of your Mac intoducing additional issues.
(Sigh) Hey Ho - the wind and the rain.

K.
     
beadman
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Virginia
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 29, 2006, 03:05 PM
 
Originally Posted by BTBlomberg
PowerBooks?...
Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you ran Disk Utility and repaired permissions? That sometimes seems to help me when weird things are happening.

C
     
Todd Madson
Mac Elite
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Minneapolis, MN USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 2, 2006, 02:17 PM
 
Totally odd. I thought of this thread when I opened a box of cereal this morning
and inside the box, on the brown cardboard inside it said "Codename BOOG"
(as in the first poster of the thread!). WEIRD. Cheerios I might add.

Repairing permissions might help, another thing that might is after some time
of running everything you might shut everything down, blow the dust bunnies
out of your gear, verify all of the cable connections are tight and then boot
again. Then you might consider checking your power management is set to
optimal and nap mode off if you have the CHUD tools processor applet in your
system preferences.
     
Rocketman Karl
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Feb 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 2, 2006, 02:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by Todd Madson
Totally odd. I thought of this thread when I opened a box of cereal this morning
and inside the box, on the brown cardboard inside it said "Codename BOOG"
(as in the first poster of the thread!). WEIRD. Cheerios I might add.

Repairing permissions might help, another thing that might is after some time
of running everything you might shut everything down, blow the dust bunnies
out of your gear, verify all of the cable connections are tight and then boot
again. Then you might consider checking your power management is set to
optimal and nap mode off if you have the CHUD tools processor applet in your
system preferences.
My policy is that when my machine fills with dust bunnies to the point it causes system problems, then the machine is clearly obsolete and needs to be replaced! Preferably with the biggest, baddest new Mac, stuffed to the gills with RAM, and with a video card that generates more heat than the processor.

Too bad I can't afford to follow my own policies. Sigh...

     
halimedia
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Switzerland
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 2, 2006, 04:13 PM
 
I think that chasing dust bunnies and permission issues isn't going to help us on this one. The halting WUs is apparently a wide-spread issue, and it's likely due to bugs in either BOINC or SETI code (or both). Interestingly, I have only started seeing this lately (in the last two months or so - se a post of mine earlier in this thread). I wonder if it has to do with the noisiness of WUs, since we've apparently been getting many old WUs of late, most of them were originally considered too noisy to analyze under SETI classic...
     
BTBlomberg
Forum Regular
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago Suburbs
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 2, 2006, 04:25 PM
 
I agree with you Halimedia. It has just been over the last two months or so (I have only seen it 6 times or less) and it may be tied to errors occuring with WU comuptations. May be some bad math happens and it stalls SETI. Boinc could be the culprit too but it is more of a babysitter for the SETI and other clients. Boinc would have to tell SETi to stop working on it. Next time I will check and see if everything is fine in the 'Activity Monitor'. If SETI is missing it could mean it crashed but did not communicate back to Boinc or Boinc did not recognize it. I supose it could crash in a way that it is still in the list but just not doing anything also, so it would be be about CPU usage.

Oddly enough I had thiws happen before they dipped intothe old tapes for WUs, not to say that some of the current WUs were not noisy also. That seams to happen regularly anyway. We have a very noisy planet.
     
Gecko_r7
Forum Regular
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 4, 2006, 01:40 AM
 
A very sad day
The G4 breathed it's last. CPU failure is confirmed.
Since it's a MDD model w/167fsb = no aftermarket cpu support any longer.
Not worth sinking serious $$$ into it for the crazy prices OE dual-boards sell for on E-bay.
The King is dead!
I'll miss ya PPC!

Sooo.......Got a new iMac 2Ghz Core 2 Duo tonight

Looking forward to setting-up tomorrow and running v7.
Better yet, the Mrs. is excited!!! (pics and video edits).

Long live The King!
( Last edited by Gecko_r7; Oct 4, 2006 at 12:21 PM. )
     
 
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:27 AM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,