Seti Screensaver Deactivates after a Few Seconds

Questions and Answers : Macintosh : Seti Screensaver Deactivates after a Few Seconds
Message board moderation

To post messages, you must log in.

Previous · 1 · 2 · 3 · Next

AuthorMessage
Dotsch
Volunteer tester
Avatar

Send message
Joined: 9 Jun 99
Posts: 2422
Credit: 919,393
RAC: 0
Germany
Message 442682 - Posted: 23 Oct 2006, 22:26:00 UTC - in response to Message 441732.  
Last modified: 23 Oct 2006, 22:27:29 UTC

Did have anyone the wacom tablet installed ? - There is a problem with the wacom tablet and the BOINC screensaver on MacOS : http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=1025
ID: 442682 · Report as offensive
Didge

Send message
Joined: 19 May 01
Posts: 9
Credit: 5,167,411
RAC: 31
Australia
Message 442730 - Posted: 23 Oct 2006, 23:41:30 UTC

Yes, I do have a Wacom tablet installed, but the BOINC problem pre-dates installation of the tablet. I also have BOINC runnig on other machines which do NOT have the Wacom drivers installed, and they exhibit the same problem.
FYI - the Wacom UM advises users that leaving the stylus (or cordless mouse) over the tablet may cause screensavers to be disabled.
In any case, this alone cannot be the cause of the problem.
ID: 442730 · Report as offensive
Vanth SpiritWalker

Send message
Joined: 13 Mar 02
Posts: 2
Credit: 4,135
RAC: 0
Italy
Message 442891 - Posted: 24 Oct 2006, 9:06:53 UTC

I have a Wacom tablet, but never leave the stylus on it and I never have any problem with any other screen saver...
Vanth
"...there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in thyne philosophy..."
ID: 442891 · Report as offensive
Dotsch
Volunteer tester
Avatar

Send message
Joined: 9 Jun 99
Posts: 2422
Credit: 919,393
RAC: 0
Germany
Message 442996 - Posted: 24 Oct 2006, 14:33:04 UTC

Could please anyone try to attach to a other BOINC project (einstein@home for example), and test if the screensaver problem happens at the other project, too.

Also, I am not shure, if this problem is related from the BOINC client, the SETI screensaver or MacOS. Could please anyone try to install an older BOINC client (5.2.13 and 4.43) and a BOINC Alpha client (5.6.4) and try what happens.
The BOINC clients are here available : http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download_all.php
Please make a backup from the boinc directory, before you install a new version.

I am sorry, I can not reproduce this failure on my Mac, the screensaver works on my system.
ID: 442996 · Report as offensive
Didge

Send message
Joined: 19 May 01
Posts: 9
Credit: 5,167,411
RAC: 31
Australia
Message 443179 - Posted: 24 Oct 2006, 23:07:50 UTC

One common theme with this problem seems to be Mac OSX 10.4.x.
My system worked fine before I upgraded to Tiger.
Also wondering if the problem might be related to the type of CPU - my machine is a DP G5.

A quick means of eliminating some causes ...
1. Create a clean OS on a different drive
2. Load BOINC / Seti
3.
ID: 443179 · Report as offensive
Didge

Send message
Joined: 19 May 01
Posts: 9
Credit: 5,167,411
RAC: 31
Australia
Message 443180 - Posted: 24 Oct 2006, 23:07:55 UTC

One common theme with this problem seems to be Mac OSX 10.4.x.
My system worked fine before I upgraded to Tiger.
Also wondering if the problem might be related to the type of CPU - my machine is a DP G5.

A quick means of eliminating some causes ...
1. Create a clean OS on a different drive
2. Load BOINC / Seti
3.
ID: 443180 · Report as offensive
Didge

Send message
Joined: 19 May 01
Posts: 9
Credit: 5,167,411
RAC: 31
Australia
Message 443182 - Posted: 24 Oct 2006, 23:09:44 UTC

Oops ...

3. Try to rreproduce the fault.

This will eliminate issues related to other apps / extensions / libraries.
ID: 443182 · Report as offensive
Odysseus
Volunteer tester
Avatar

Send message
Joined: 26 Jul 99
Posts: 1808
Credit: 6,701,347
RAC: 6
Canada
Message 443307 - Posted: 25 Oct 2006, 4:26:30 UTC - in response to Message 443179.  

One common theme with this problem seems to be Mac OSX 10.4.x.
My system worked fine before I upgraded to Tiger.
Also wondering if the problem might be related to the type of CPU - my machine is a DP G5.

I’m running BOINC 5.4.9 under Tiger (v10.4.8) on this dual-core G5, and the screensaver works fine. I should qualify that: I only ran the stock S@hE v5.13 for about a week, to get a performance baseline; now I’m crunching with an optimized version without graphics. (When it’s running the BOINC screensaver is just scrolling text showing the percentage done for the current task.) I believe that Tiger was an update or two earlier at the time. Anyway, IIRC the stock screensaver behaved perfectly then. For the Beta project I’m testing v5.17, and its screensaver (which is identical to the current version here AFAICT) still does as well.
ID: 443307 · Report as offensive
djstars

Send message
Joined: 24 Apr 03
Posts: 1
Credit: 40,845
RAC: 0
United States
Message 443319 - Posted: 25 Oct 2006, 5:26:41 UTC - in response to Message 443307.  

I'm having similar problems on my Mac(s). Decided to return to Seti@home today, installed Boinc etc. Finally got around to the screen saver bit on my macbookpro. But it just loads the screen saver for a moment, displays a message like connecting to seti... the graphic screen pops up for under one second, then the screen saver disables.

I do have the Wacom driver installed, but no tablet connected at the moment?

Any ideas for a fix?

TIA!

More details of system on request.
ID: 443319 · Report as offensive
Dotsch
Volunteer tester
Avatar

Send message
Joined: 9 Jun 99
Posts: 2422
Credit: 919,393
RAC: 0
Germany
Message 444246 - Posted: 26 Oct 2006, 19:58:01 UTC - in response to Message 443180.  

One common theme with this problem seems to be Mac OSX 10.4.x.

For futher containment of the error it would be of interest, if the error happens with the older boinc client (5.2.x) and the alpha boinc client (5.6.x) will happens, too.
Also a test of the einstein screensaver would be helpfull.
ID: 444246 · Report as offensive
Andy

Send message
Joined: 10 Aug 00
Posts: 4
Credit: 139,057
RAC: 0
United Kingdom
Message 445656 - Posted: 29 Oct 2006, 15:04:49 UTC - in response to Message 442996.  
Last modified: 29 Oct 2006, 15:17:57 UTC

Could please anyone try to install an older BOINC client (5.2.13 and 4.43) and a BOINC Alpha client (5.6.4) and try what happens.



I have been using 5.4.2 on OSX 10.4.8 and I have a Wacom tablet.

Just tried to install 4.43 (standard GUI) but could not install. The installer gave me the option to overwrite with an older version, which I did, and then reported that it could not continue as there was nothing to install. I guess if I were to delete the existing BOINC folders, as suggested in another thread regarding uninsatalling BOINC, then it would have installed. I am not up for that.

I then tried installing 5.4.9, which was succesful, and running the tests I had done before.

With BOINC set to run all the time the screensaver cannot be loaded and quits.

With BOINC set to start after a minute of no processor activity the same scenario exists as previously reported but when BOINC does strike up now the the screensaver reports:

"Project does not support screensaver graphics".

Once again this happens very quickly. It may be I didn't notice this on the earlier version, but I don't think so as the percentage completed now reports accurately.

I have had a look at the Wacom thread and there seemed to be a suggestion that there was a problem with projects graphic libraries and it is up to the individual projects to update to the latest libraries.

It seems to me that my problem is related to this and from now on will be following developments on that thread.

Thanks for listening.


10 mins later. For some reason I can't log on to that thread using my account key. The same one I used to gain access to this thread. Nor is my email address recoginised. Will just have to monitor. How frustrating!
ID: 445656 · Report as offensive
dlwasley

Send message
Joined: 9 Nov 99
Posts: 11
Credit: 254,561
RAC: 1
United States
Message 448109 - Posted: 2 Nov 2006, 1:49:53 UTC - in response to Message 442996.  

Could please anyone try to attach to a other BOINC project (einstein@home for example), and test if the screensaver problem happens at the other project, too.

Also, I am not shure, if this problem is related from the BOINC client, the SETI screensaver or MacOS. Could please anyone try to install an older BOINC client (5.2.13 and 4.43) and a BOINC Alpha client (5.6.4) and try what happens.
The BOINC clients are here available : http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download_all.php
Please make a backup from the boinc directory, before you install a new version.

I am sorry, I can not reproduce this failure on my Mac, the screensaver works on my system.


OK - I attached to einstein@home. The screensaver misbehaves exactly the same way.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the failure to launch a browser...

If I have some spare time, I'll try some older versions and/or the alpha.


ID: 448109 · Report as offensive
Dotsch
Volunteer tester
Avatar

Send message
Joined: 9 Jun 99
Posts: 2422
Credit: 919,393
RAC: 0
Germany
Message 448247 - Posted: 2 Nov 2006, 8:35:52 UTC

Thank you very much for testing. I will forward the new state to the devs.
ID: 448247 · Report as offensive
dlwasley

Send message
Joined: 9 Nov 99
Posts: 11
Credit: 254,561
RAC: 1
United States
Message 462592 - Posted: 20 Nov 2006, 20:12:13 UTC - in response to Message 442996.  

Could please anyone try to attach to a other BOINC project (einstein@home for example), and test if the screensaver problem happens at the other project, too.

Also, I am not shure, if this problem is related from the BOINC client, the SETI screensaver or MacOS. Could please anyone try to install an older BOINC client (5.2.13 and 4.43) and a BOINC Alpha client (5.6.4) and try what happens.
The BOINC clients are here available : http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download_all.php
Please make a backup from the boinc directory, before you install a new version.

I am sorry, I can not reproduce this failure on my Mac, the screensaver works on my system.


OK - I finally had time to install and try 5.6.4 for MacOS. FTR, I'm running MacOS 10.4.8 on a 1.5 GHz PowerBook. I have 2 screens but am trying to run the screensaver on the primary screen.

The basic function seems to be working. SETI is accumulating time, although it seems slower than before (vers 5.4.9). The good news is that it now launches my default browser when I click on one of the relevant buttons.

However...

The so called "screen saver" function is even more weird than before. The first time I tried it I got the usual "Connecting to application..." then abort. The second time I tried it I got "Connecting to application ..." then "Project does not support screensaver ..." then a brief graphic and then abort. The third time I tried it I got a properly running screensaver!?!? The next several times I tried it I got the "Connecting" then "Project does not support screensaver" followed by a brief graphic and then abort.

At least it worked once! But ...

ID: 462592 · Report as offensive
donderwolkje

Send message
Joined: 26 Oct 02
Posts: 2
Credit: 3,012
RAC: 0
Belgium
Message 472631 - Posted: 4 Dec 2006, 19:40:01 UTC

i have the last 15" powerbook before the intel ones came.

and have had a wacom connected to my mac a few weeks ago.

and i have the same problem.

osx 10.4.8

does removing the wacom drivers work? and how would i do that?

thanks for any help
ID: 472631 · Report as offensive
donderwolkje

Send message
Joined: 26 Oct 02
Posts: 2
Credit: 3,012
RAC: 0
Belgium
Message 472637 - Posted: 4 Dec 2006, 19:48:25 UTC

i have the last 15" powerbook before the intel ones came.

and have had a wacom connected to my mac a few weeks ago.

and i have the same problem.

osx 10.4.8

does removing the wacom drivers work? and how would i do that?

thanks for any help
ID: 472637 · Report as offensive
Randolphius

Send message
Joined: 28 Oct 01
Posts: 2
Credit: 31,564
RAC: 0
United States
Message 474931 - Posted: 6 Dec 2006, 18:50:51 UTC
Last modified: 6 Dec 2006, 18:55:55 UTC

This issue is definitely a conflict between SETI screensaver and the Wacom driver
on OS 10.4 (Tiger).

Uninstalling the tablet driver (using their uninstall application) will enable the screensaver to successfully launch. Of course, doing so will deactivate the Wacom tablet. Reinstalling Wacom's driver will permit the use of the tablet but make sure to switch off the SETI screensaver first, or it will interfere with the driver installation.

The tablet should perform as expected after the driver installation, sans the SETI screensaver. Apparently this is an "either" "or" situation that will have to be resolved by the programmers at Wacom or Berkeley.
ID: 474931 · Report as offensive
Didge

Send message
Joined: 19 May 01
Posts: 9
Credit: 5,167,411
RAC: 31
Australia
Message 475115 - Posted: 6 Dec 2006, 22:19:22 UTC

Thanks for this info.
You might like to check the early parts of this thread - esp Message 442730 (19 May).

When I started this thread, I didn't have Wacom drivers on my system - or any of my other OSX machines. The problem seems to have started when I upgraded to OSX 10.4.

It's interestng that the Wacom drivers seems to have some bearing on the problem, but I suspect that the effect is indirect. Although there may be a conflict between the SETI screensaver and the Wacom drivers on OS 10.4, it can't be the only cause.

Gary
ID: 475115 · Report as offensive
Randolphius

Send message
Joined: 28 Oct 01
Posts: 2
Credit: 31,564
RAC: 0
United States
Message 475242 - Posted: 7 Dec 2006, 0:20:37 UTC - in response to Message 475115.  

Thanks for this info.
You might like to check the early parts of this thread - esp Message 442730 (19 May).

When I started this thread, I didn't have Wacom drivers on my system - or any of my other OSX machines. The problem seems to have started when I upgraded to OSX 10.4.

It's interestng that the Wacom drivers seems to have some bearing on the problem, but I suspect that the effect is indirect. Although there may be a conflict between the SETI screensaver and the Wacom drivers on OS 10.4, it can't be the only cause.

Gary


Yes, you are correct. My only experience with SETI is on an old Windows PC. The problem surfaced immediately after I installed BOINC for the first time on the OS 10.4 Mac. I've also experienced conflicts with
Wacom's drivers before so it wasn't a surprise. That some users running 10.4 without tablets aren't having problems further clouds the issue. On my particular system, I can run either but not both.
ID: 475242 · Report as offensive
Bart Hibbs

Send message
Joined: 30 Jun 99
Posts: 1
Credit: 186,350
RAC: 0
United States
Message 499691 - Posted: 9 Jan 2007, 0:12:50 UTC - in response to Message 475242.  

I have been having this same issue. After reading all the posts I did a force quit to "tabletdriver" and the problems all went away. So for me it was a conflict between the Wacom tablet driver and Boinc.
ID: 499691 · Report as offensive
Previous · 1 · 2 · 3 · Next

Questions and Answers : Macintosh : Seti Screensaver Deactivates after a Few Seconds


 
©2024 University of California
 
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.