Welcome to MilkyWay@home

Posts by mikey

1) Message boards : Number crunching : Constant Validation Inconclusive Results (Message 76966)
Posted 19 days ago by Profile mikey
Post:
Please SEND task 936827717 so task 935840769 can finally receive credit for the more than 10 (TEN) hours of CPU time run.
thanks.

936827717 task Name de_nbody_11_02_2023_v183_pal5__data__2_1705435140_605857_1 Created 12 Feb 2024, 7:03:08 UTC


They go at the end of the queue so if you look at the number of tasks to send out you can guess how long it will take, it's ALOT less than it was a month ago though!!
2) Message boards : Number crunching : Why is this project using all 8 cores when another project is trying to run (Message 76964)
Posted 19 days ago by Profile mikey
Post:
This project is using all eight available cores while another project is trying to run. Why is that?


Because it's an MT app, meaning 'multi-threaded', it has an upper limit of 16 cpu cores but with an app_config.xml file you can change how many cpu cores each tasks uses. Of course the trade-off is each task will take longer to run but if you are okay with that then follow the link below or above depending on how you have this thread sorted.
3) Message boards : Number crunching : HIgh thread count applications (Message 76961)
Posted 21 days ago by Profile mikey
Post:
hello


Welcome!! Nice bunch of computers you have there and they seem to be doing great!!
4) Questions and Answers : Windows : No new tasks (Message 76958)
Posted 22 days ago by Profile mikey
Post:
I am no longer getting tasks from milkyway, I also run asteroid and those are working fine.

3/5/2024 12:02:15 PM | Milkyway@home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
3/5/2024 12:02:15 PM | Milkyway@home | Requesting new tasks for CPU
3/5/2024 12:02:18 PM | Milkyway@home | Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
3/5/2024 12:02:18 PM | Milkyway@home | No tasks sent
3/5/2024 12:02:18 PM | Milkyway@home | Project requested delay of 91 seconds

Any idea? Its only been a day or 2 so maybe just wait?


Increase your cache size, your other project probably has your cache already filled up so Boinc won't get more work as it doesn't think it will stay within your cache limits.
5) Message boards : Number crunching : Windows Downloading issues (Message 76953)
Posted 23 days ago by Profile mikey
Post:
I am having a problem on one system with failed downloads.

Here is a portion of my event Log. I have reset the Project which had no effect. If someone could give me a pointer for possible solutions it would be wonderful.

3/4/2024 9:02:46 PM | Milkyway@home | Fetching scheduler list
3/4/2024 9:02:47 PM | Milkyway@home | Master file download succeeded
3/4/2024 9:02:52 PM | Milkyway@home | Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.
3/4/2024 9:02:52 PM | Milkyway@home | Reporting 67 completed tasks
3/4/2024 9:02:52 PM | Milkyway@home | Requesting new tasks for CPU
3/4/2024 9:02:53 PM | Milkyway@home | Scheduler request completed: got 33 new tasks
3/4/2024 9:02:53 PM | Milkyway@home | Project requested delay of 91 seconds
3/4/2024 9:02:55 PM | Milkyway@home | Started download of milkyway_nbody_orbit_fitting_1.86_windows_x86_64__mt.exe
3/4/2024 9:02:57 PM | Milkyway@home | Finished download of milkyway_nbody_orbit_fitting_1.86_windows_x86_64__mt.exe (6388224 bytes)
3/4/2024 9:02:57 PM | Milkyway@home | md5_file failed for projects/milkyway.cs.rpi.edu_milkyway/milkyway_nbody_orbit_fitting_1.86_windows_x86_64__mt.exe: fopen() failed
3/4/2024 9:02:57 PM | Milkyway@home | [error] Checksum or signature error for milkyway_nbody_orbit_fitting_1.86_windows_x86_64__mt.exe


2 thoughts..1st can you copy it over from another pc? and 2nd try turning off your a/v and try the transfers again, after it's done turn the a/v back on again
6) Message boards : News : Admin Updates Discussion (Message 76949)
Posted 27 days ago by Profile mikey
Post:
I got the first of the de_nbody orbit_fitting tasks today. It seems like they will not follow the app_conf.xml. I have configured one of my "48 CPU" computers to run 4 tasks at a time using 12 CPUs each. All of the "old" nbody tasks obey this config file. But the 10 orbit_fitting tasks I got today are all listed as "Ready to start (16 CPUs) (none have run yet). Background, I have two identical computers. One has no app_config.xml file ( runs three tasks at a time using 16 CPUs ). The other has an app_config.xml file to run 4 tasks at a time using 12 CPUs. This has always worked. Even the plain ole nbody tasks I got AFTER the orbit_fitting tasks show "Ready to start (12 CPUs). Is this by design?[/img]


Mine looks like this now and works for me:

<app_config>


<app_version>
<app_name>milkyway_nbody</app_name>
<plan_class>mt</plan_class>
<avg_ncpus>2</avg_ncpus>
<cmdline>--nthreads 2</cmdline>
</app_version>

<app_version>
<app_name>milkyway_nbody_orbit_fitting</app_name>
<plan_class>mt</plan_class>
<avg_ncpus>2</avg_ncpus>
<cmdline>--nthreads 2</cmdline>
</app_version>

<project_max_concurrent>1</project_max_concurrent>

</app_config>

You can see from mine that you have to add a new section with the new app name in it.

I run mine with 2 cpu cores each and they just take longer to run but they run just fie so far, I'm waiting for my wingmen to know for sure of course. I am also only running 1 task at a time on my laptop, my desktops will have different settings based on the capability of each one.
7) Questions and Answers : Windows : BOINC NOT DOWNLOADING WU'S even over night for months now ??? (Message 76932)
Posted 18 Feb 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
BOINC NOT DOWNLOADING WU'S even over night for months now ??? ive tried reinstalling same .....and yes have latest install


What kind of tasks are you trying to get cpu or gpu tasks? Because the gpu tasks were removed from MiklyWay and we can only get cpu tasks now. Are you using an Account Manager like Bam, Science United etc?
8) Message boards : News : Admin Updates Discussion (Message 76921)
Posted 13 Feb 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
One valid here and I got now one _1 on my computer. The ready to send buffer also dropped by about 3k. That means we made it through that huge pile of _0s and now we need to make it through the same huge pile of _1s. :D


I have some _2 and _3 tasks on my pc, so we ARE getting closer to normal day to day stuff again.
9) Message boards : Number crunching : HIgh thread count applications (Message 76912)
Posted 11 Feb 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
In another forum I read an article about applications with high thread counts are not as efficient. For example 16 thread count application will not finish twice as fast as an 8 thread count application. This got me thinking about how I might improving my throughput by running multiple applications at a lower thread count AND can I increase CPU utilization on some systems. One of my computers is a XEON E5 2678 with 24 "CPUs". Milkyway uses 16 by default but with a config file I can run two applications at a time with 12 CPUs apiece. Seems like a "no brainer". But how much did I gain? To "prove" that I would need 2 test files that had equal run times. First run sequentially, then run concurrently. Anyone here ever see any data like this? Pointers to other articles?


Why not run some regular tasks one way and then some the other way, say for about 24 hours each, and then take the average times of each and see which is better. The problem with choosing just one task is that one task could be just that a one off and not representative of real life tasks except that one. IF you do want to run just one task you can run it outside of Boinc but I don't know how to do that.
10) Message boards : News : Admin Updates Discussion (Message 76904)
Posted 10 Feb 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
Because no one is leading the project. There is no IT department that deals with the project's server. It is not clear which hardware is used in the project's server. The computers you currently support for the project have much more advanced and high-tech hardware than the servers of this project. And now this project has started to lose its seriousness. Look, they haven't been able to solve a database problem for 2 weeks. Personally, if this problem is not solved within 1 week, I will withdraw my support from the project and turn to the universe@home project.


Universe's main Scientist died recently and while they have a new one they are taking a break from sending out tasks for up to 3 months while they do things the way the new guy wants them done. But there's always Cosmology, as long as you are already have an account there, and Asteroids.
11) Message boards : News : Admin Updates Discussion (Message 76900)
Posted 9 Feb 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
Are completed N-Body tasks ever going to be validated? I now have over 100 completed tasks in my que, validation inconclusive. Should I quit crunching for this project?


Yes they will be validated and no you shouldn't quit because that means they will take even longer to validate. The problem is the Server made a whole bunch of extra main tasks and when it makes a wingman task it goes at the end of the queue, so we are plowing thru all the main tasks before we start on all the wingman tasks.

BTW I have 702 tasks waiting for a wingman.
12) Questions and Answers : Web site : Server Status Page (Message 76888)
Posted 7 Feb 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
The Server Status page does not reflect correct numbers in the Work Status portion at the upper right when compared to the Tasks by Application at the lower left. Tasks Unsent vs Tasks Ready to Send

Bill F

The standard Server Status page caches the information used to display the Tasks by Application section to reduce the amount of database activity needed -- it won't refresh for aboujt an hour, after which it refreshes the next time someone accesses the page!

I think it used to refresh the Work Status part of the page separately, but the PHP I found on GitHub seems to cache that as well, so I'm [now] at a loss to explain the discrepancy...

The Work Status part of the page only does simple counts against the results table with the various result status codes, which is a lot easier so not cached!

Cheers - Al.

[Edited after a re-check on the recent PHP sources...]


One kink in that is you have to look at the Server version MW is using, I think they are an older version due to all the tweaks they have to make everytime a new version comes out.
13) Message boards : Number crunching : Project communication failed: attempting access to reference site (Message 76886)
Posted 7 Feb 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
Since 1/28/2024 I keep getting the above message and "Scheduler request to url failed: Couldn't resolve host name". My average work units keep falling.


I used to get that at alot of projects but if I kept trying it would finally say 'ah I know who you are' and let things happen.

What do you mean by your 'average workunits keep failing'? Are they going as 'inconclusive', are they going as 'invalid' or what?
14) Message boards : News : Admin Updates Discussion (Message 76879)
Posted 6 Feb 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
On February 5, Kevin Roux wrote (message 76876 in thread "Admin Updates"):
Working on
- giving tasks needed for validation priority so credit can be given out faster
Just a word of caution [although I do not have detailed knowledge of BOINC server features and how you plan to use them]:
In a few(?) projects, the BOINC server is configured such that "resends" (additional replica after aborts, invalids etc.) are assigned to hosts which recently returned valid results within a certain turnaround time. I have once witnessed this feature creating a deadlock of work distribution at QuChemPedIA: First there was a wave of troublesome workunits which gave a lot of invalid results. (Their input parameters didn't lead to physically sensible model configs.) That way, eventually all of the active hosts dropped out of the aforementioned category of prioritized hosts. The server got to a point at which it didn't assign any new work any more at all. This deadlock was resolved when the admin figured out the cause and where in the server configuration to remove or relax the host discrimination for replica task assignments.

In other words, now that there are practically no hosts with recent valid results any more, watch out that the server nevertheless will assign _1 tasks to such seemingly untrustworthy hosts. (Though I guess we are still perhaps two weeks or so away from the point when we are through with the current stash of _0 tasks.)


That was initially designed at Seti so units that were waiting for a 3rd of 4th valid result would get it back more quickly than waiting thru the queue, IOW it got the tasks off the Server and into storage quicker because they would no longer be waiting for a valid result match. In the end they too turned it off because the ;faster; hosts, they initially tried to pick hosts that were returning tasks within 24 hours, were just pc's and like all pc's they too had the occasional problem and tasks weren't really coming back any sooner.
15) Message boards : News : Admin Updates Discussion (Message 76871)
Posted 4 Feb 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
My account is not being updayed. help!!!


What is not being updated?
16) Message boards : Number crunching : Milkyway CPU usage reduced to zero, other processes after high cpu/ram usage (Message 76852)
Posted 30 Jan 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
Hy
My PC's:
home desktop pc
home nas
work pc
old nas (inactive)
All aktĂ­ve pc cpu 4 core. On all pc, all settings equal.
Thanks for the info... sorry, but the operation of your PC is not very relevant here, because your weakest machine has as much ram as my three machines combined. :)
I can't find the app_config.xml file in boinc, where find? In BOINC client >> "Maximum ___ % CPU core usage..." setting good?
(i found global_prefs.xml file, it possible contains relevant settings?)
"Mouse or keyboard input has been suspended for the past ___ minutes". > I checked and I'm typing big number. (1440, I also tried to exclude this from the error causes) This a problem interesting because with these settings, Milkyway worked well for a long time on my old, very weak on nas (boinc 7.14.2 / win xp / 512mb ram). Now it stops even on much more powerful machines running Win 10. (I can't test with win xp) I think there is a problem with Milkyway, because the Einstein project runs flawlessly on the same machines and with the same settings.
--------
I now have "Mouse or keyboard input suspended for ___ minutes" unchecked. CPU core usage new setting 50%. However milkyway client not application the new settings, cpu core usage: 100%
Continuation of mw test... thanks for your reply.

How many cpu's does your pc have in it? It shows MW using 4 cpu's are you using an app_config.xml file to limit it? Also what do you have for the setting in the Boinc Manager under Options, computing preferences for 'when computer is in use' and 'when computer is not in use'. i use an app_config.xml file to limit each task to 2 cpu's and they just run non stop with no problems. I also have Boinc set to NOT suspend when pc is in use and to NOT stop when 'Boinc cpu usage is above'. i also unchecked the box to 'suspend when mouse or keyboard input in last ___ minutes'. In short on my pc's Boinc and MilkyWay runs 24/7/365, yes I also run other Projects at the same time, I limit the total number of tasks MW can run at one time in the same app_config.xml file.


This is the app_config.xml file I use:
<app_config>


<app_version>
<app_name>milkyway_nbody</app_name>
<plan_class>mt</plan_class>
<avg_ncpus>2</avg_ncpus>
<cmdline>--nthreads 2</cmdline>
</app_version>

<project_max_concurrent>2</project_max_concurrent>

</app_config>

What the file says is the nthreads 2 line means to only use 2 cpu cores per task and the max_concurrent line means only run 2 MilkyWay tasks at a time on the pc. I change the max_concurrent number based on the pc that I'm running MilkyWay on, ie my 32 core pc could say 15 to run 15 tasks using 2 cpu cores per task.

You need to create it in Notepad, you can copy and paste it, for Windows and save it as a text type file in the folder c:\program data\boinc\projects\milkyway.cs.rpi.edu_milkyway

Be sure the file is called app_config.xml and NOT app_config.xml.txt because then it won't work. After you have copied it to the right folder then go into the boinc manager and click the Options tab then read config files and it should start working. It won't control any existing tasks just tasks you get from that moment on.
17) Message boards : Number crunching : Milkyway CPU usage reduced to zero, other processes after high cpu/ram usage (Message 76833)
Posted 29 Jan 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
The Milkyway project's CPU usage sometimes drops to zero and stays that way. Especially if there is little (free) memory in the machine. Or if a background application with a high CPU/RAM requirement starts. After that, Milkyway won't restart hours later, and BOINC client task switching doesn't work either. (I spent many, many hours looking at Resource Monitor and the Boinc client)
I reproduced the error six times out of seven attempts on three computers using the following steps:
- the system/boinc client starts (Milkyway is running).
- I filled the RAM with data (free memory is about zero)
- I started Win-Defender from a .bat file with command line delay
- Windows-Defender completely loads the cpu/ram
- Milkyway detects high CPU usage and shuts down
- Windows-Defender ends (a lot of memory is freed up!)
- Milkyway did not start again, or stopped after 1...2 minutes, but the status changed to "Running".
- Milkyway project (not a task) manual suspension > another project (Einstein for me) starts immediately and works normally.
- The operation of the Milkyway project is restored only after the Boinc client is restarted (until the next shutdown)
***
Notes:
- then the Milkyway project does not freeze, it simply does not work
- this stop also stops the Boinc client in the sense that task switching does not work. Because of this, other projects do not start either.
- the result of the "load test" was the same for other cpu-loading programs (browser, etc.), so the problem is not caused by the operation of the antivirus
- With little free memory, Milkyway sometimes crashes even without heavy CPU load
- The other project that works for me is Einstein. This does not cause an error. It did not stop even with multiple and persistent cpu/ram overloads. It can be seen from the cpu usage that Einstein is also struggling, but he is pulling himself together. Its resource management is programmed to be very robust.
- when I realized this (three days ago) I stopped the Milkyway project. Only Einstein starts and has collected more credits in three days than previously in a week and a half.
***
Milkyway state is "Running", but no cpu usage:


.
Einstein project memorymanagement:
.
****
Boinc: 7.24.1 (x64); Win 10 Pro (x64)


How many cpu's does your pc have in it? It shows MW using 4 cpu's are you using an app_config.xml file to limit it? Also what do you have for the setting in the Boinc Manager under Options, computing preferences for 'when computer is in use' and 'when computer is not in use'. i use an app_config.xml file to limit each task to 2 cpu's and they just run non stop with no problems. I also have Boinc set to NOT suspend when pc is in use and to NOT stop when 'Boinc cpu usage is above'. i also unchecked the box to 'suspend when mouse or keyboard input in last ___ minutes'. In short on my pc's Boinc and MilkyWay runs 24/7/365, yes I also run other Projects at the same time, I limit the total number of tasks MW can run at one time in the same app_config.xml file.
18) Questions and Answers : Windows : keep geting kicked off and not getting credits (Message 76829)
Posted 28 Jan 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
I just restarted doing this project after taking a break from it. I got credit for about a week then kept getting zero credits a day. When I check Boinc the project keeps getting delisted from the projects I have going. I re-add it and it starts to run and the next day I have no credit and the project is off my project list again. Looking at my stats here it shows 225 work units "completed validation inclusive" These are all on n-body simulation units. How do I fix this?


I'll start with your last question first...validation inconclusive is MilkyWay's way of saying you are waiting on your wingman to finish their task before you get your credits. They generated ALOT of tasks by accident a week ago and all wingman tasks go to the end of the list so give it another week or so and most/all of your tasks should start getting the credits they are owed.

As for why it keeps getting delisted...are you adding the project manually or selecting it from the list in the Boinc Manager under Tools, add project? Because they went thru a couple of name changes and if you use the one on the list it's the new Official name.
19) Message boards : News : Admin Updates Discussion (Message 76828)
Posted 28 Jan 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
All my Separation tasks are gone. *thumbsup*


mine too WOO HOO!!!
20) Message boards : Number crunching : Option in project preferences to set max CPUs (Message 76826)
Posted 27 Jan 2024 by Profile mikey
Post:
Thanks, I've set mine to also run multiple lower CPU count WUs. Is there any performance increase you see for doing this?


No I do it because MilkyWay isn't my prime focus right now and I can adjust the tasks up and down easily and quickly depending on when my other projects have the tasks I want.


Next 20

©2024 Astroinformatics Group