Happy Monday, one and all. We only had one issue to note from over the weekend: penguin crashed on Sunday. Not sure why it failed, but Eric drove up to the lab to kick it (i.e. reboot it) and it recovered nicely. We'll be retiring this machine before too long. Other than that, everything else is doing fine. Bob is tracking down occasional slow queries from the backend to help further optimize database performance. Eric, Jeff and I are trying to get to the bottom of some nagging multibeam splitter issues - I'm sure there will be bigger news on this front soon.

Oh yeah - the donations page was broken for a while there - a CVS name collision problem. That's being cleaned up now.

- Matt

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-- BOINC/SETI@home network/web/science/development person
-- "Any idiot can have a good idea. What is hard is to do it." - Jeanne-Claude

Happy Monday, one and all. We only had one issue to note from over the weekend: penguin crashed on Sunday. Not sure why it failed, but Eric drove up to the lab to kick it (i.e. reboot it) and it recovered nicely. We'll be retiring this machine before too long. Other than that, everything else is doing fine. Bob is tracking down occasional slow queries from the backend to help further optimize database performance. Eric, Jeff and I are trying to get to the bottom of some nagging multibeam splitter issues - I'm sure there will be bigger news on this front soon.

Oh yeah - the donations page was broken for a while there - a CVS name collision problem. That's being cleaned up now.

- Matt

Small thing but in case you guys didn't notice, another problem showed up over the weekend, namely that under Stats, Top Computers, only the first page sorts for RAC, all following pages sort by user grand total and not RAC. If one looks at page 2, it is in squeence by total units completed, clicking on sort by RAC returns to page 1.

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When we finally figure it all out, all the rules will change and we can start all over again.

Hey guys, thanks for all the hard work you do.
I have a qualm with "everything is going OK".
Running BOINC client version 5.8.17 for powerpc-apple-darwin, I am getting these messages:
Mon Jun 18 20:59:32 2007|SETI@home|Sending scheduler request: Requested by user
Mon Jun 18 20:59:32 2007|SETI@home|(not requesting new work or reporting completed tasks)
Mon Jun 18 20:59:37 2007|SETI@home|Scheduler RPC succeeded [server version 509]
Mon Jun 18 20:59:37 2007|SETI@home|Deferring communication for 11 sec
Mon Jun 18 20:59:37 2007|SETI@home|Reason: requested by project

I have told the project that I want more work, I am not currently processing a WU, am not transferring a WU, and after the 11 seconds, nothing happens. Because I'm running a relatively slow machine, and I like SETI so much, setiathome has 100% of the resource share. I did not have this problem with previous versions of BOINC Manager. I have not received any WU's since I aborted a WU that was progressing at between 0.1% and 0.5% progress per day. How can I get another WU to process? TIA.

Todd

I have told the project that I want more work, I am not currently processing a WU, am not transferring a WU, and after the 11 seconds, nothing happens. How can I get another WU to process? TIA.

Todd

Could be many reasons. If you have "Do work while computer is in use" set to "No", then new work will not be downloaded while user is active and you cannot force it to download more.

If you belong to multiple projects, you may be running those while building up debt for SETI. In this case, BOINC will not download work for SETI until it's safe to.

If you have accidentally hit "No New Tasks", this will prevent more work from being downloaded.

More info would help diagnose your problem.

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I have told the project that I want more work, I am not currently processing a WU, am not transferring a WU, and after the 11 seconds, nothing happens. How can I get another WU to process? TIA.

Todd

Could be many reasons. If you have "Do work while computer is in use" set to "No", then new work will not be downloaded while user is active and you cannot force it to download more.

Now someone tells me. This must be new to BOINC since it wasn't the case with the last BOINC Manager I used.

If you belong to multiple projects, you may be running those while building up debt for SETI. In this case, BOINC will not download work for SETI until it's safe to.

If you have accidentally hit "No New Tasks", this will prevent more work from being downloaded.

See my updated post

More info would help diagnose your problem.

Thanks for the info. I let the project go to sleep and it began downloading like a charm. Now I know. Thanks again.

Todd

Now someone tells me. This must be new to BOINC since it wasn't the case with the last BOINC Manager I used.

Thanks for the info. I let the project go to sleep and it began downloading like a charm. Now I know. Thanks again.

Todd

I have no idea when this feature was implemented, because I never used to use the "Do work while computer is in use: No" until a few friends kept suspending BOINC to play a game and never unsuspended it, so I automated it for them (by changing the option) and I noticed it would not download while active.

Either way, I'm glad I could help.

---

I advise people to do work while in use, all the time. It runs at such low priority that its impact is really minimal, while all those billions of wasted cycles between keystrokes can be doing something useful while waiting for the next keypress etc.

Maybe years ago it had a point on 400MHz PIIs with Win95/98... but with a much better operating system that truly understands parallel processing and thread priority, boinc projects yield to anything else that needs doing.

Simply having this as an option in boinc preferences makes it appear much much more significant than reality proves, and just 'scares' novices into thinking that there is a consequence to having it 'doing work while computer is in use' - the reality is inconsequential for most normal everyday circumstances.

I vote it be scrapped, or explained properly.

I'm having an issue:

6/18/2007 4:27:21 PM|SETI@home|Starting 22mr05aa.12381.30704.934640.3.222_1
6/18/2007 4:27:21 PM|SETI@home|Starting task 22mr05aa.12381.30704.934640.3.222_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 515
6/18/2007 4:27:23 PM|SETI@home|[file_xfer] Started upload of file 12ap99ab.4134.9777.748562.3.221_2_0
6/18/2007 4:27:26 PM|SETI@home|[file_xfer] Finished upload of file 12ap99ab.4134.9777.748562.3.221_2_0
6/18/2007 4:27:26 PM|SETI@home|[file_xfer] Throughput 23120 bytes/sec
6/18/2007 8:19:03 PM|SETI@home|Computation for task 03ap99ab.13555.23200.715898.3.50_0 finished

I've got plenty of work, and I've now finished plenty of work, but it's not reporting any of the finished work units. They all say ready to report, and regardless of whether I try to manually update or let boinc update on it's own, all I get is "Scheduler Request Pending: Requested by User".

Activity is run always, and network activity always available.

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I advise people to do work while in use, all the time. It runs at such low priority that its impact is really minimal, while all those billions of wasted cycles between keystrokes can be doing something useful while waiting for the next keypress etc.

Those friends that I have use it because, even though SETI runs at such a low priority, it still interferes with some graphics intensive games such as The Sims 2 and WoW, even on such newer machines as a Pentium 4 3GHz.

Since it is their computer and they've graciously agreed to allow me to run SETI on them, then I guess the decision is theirs. If they can actually notice a difference between SETI being suspended while playing a game (and I've witnessed it myself), then the option has great benefits.

If I lose some power while they do mundane tasks such as internet browsing, so be it. I still gain the power of SETI running all night long and while they're at work/school.

Some power is better than nothing.

---

I've got plenty of work, and I've now finished plenty of work, but it's not reporting any of the finished work units. They all say ready to report, and regardless of whether I try to manually update or let boinc update on it's own, all I get is "Scheduler Request Pending: Requested by User".

Why not let BOINC handle this itself? It doesn't need micromanaging. Leave it be and it will report when it's ready. This is what BOINC is designed to do.

---

I've got plenty of work, and I've now finished plenty of work, but it's not reporting any of the finished work units. They all say ready to report, and regardless of whether I try to manually update or let boinc update on it's own, all I get is "Scheduler Request Pending: Requested by User".

Why not let BOINC handle this itself? It doesn't need micromanaging. Leave it be and it will report when it's ready. This is what BOINC is designed to do.

is it common for boinc to not report work for over 5 days?

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I've got plenty of work, and I've now finished plenty of work, but it's not reporting any of the finished work units. They all say ready to report, and regardless of whether I try to manually update or let boinc update on it's own, all I get is "Scheduler Request Pending: Requested by User".

Why not let BOINC handle this itself? It doesn't need micromanaging. Leave it be and it will report when it's ready. This is what BOINC is designed to do.

is it common for boinc to not report work for over 5 days?

When BOINC reports depends on a number of factors, including cache size (your "connect every 'x'" interval.

It isn't a problem as long as work is reported by the deadline.

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6/18/2007 11:31:33 PM|SETI@home|Fetching master file
6/18/2007 11:31:34 PM||Couldn't resolve hostname [setiathome.berkeley.edu.]
6/18/2007 11:31:38 PM|SETI@home|Master file fetch failed
6/18/2007 11:31:38 PM|SETI@home|Too many backoffs - fetching master file


Don't know if I am doing something wrong but the above message is all I get from seti when trying to report results and request more work.... This has been going on for over 2-3 weeks.... would appreciate some assistance...

---

6/18/2007 11:31:33 PM|SETI@home|Fetching master file
6/18/2007 11:31:34 PM||Couldn't resolve hostname [setiathome.berkeley.edu.]
6/18/2007 11:31:38 PM|SETI@home|Master file fetch failed
6/18/2007 11:31:38 PM|SETI@home|Too many backoffs - fetching master file


Don't know if I am doing something wrong but the above message is all I get from seti when trying to report results and request more work.... This has been going on for over 2-3 weeks.... would appreciate some assistance...

This says you're having trouble with DNS -- with finding host names.

If you aren't having any other DNS issues, and you have all the right permissions on firewalls and etc. you might want to ask over in Q&A.

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6/18/2007 11:31:33 PM|SETI@home|Fetching master file
6/18/2007 11:31:34 PM||Couldn't resolve hostname [setiathome.berkeley.edu.]
6/18/2007 11:31:38 PM|SETI@home|Master file fetch failed
6/18/2007 11:31:38 PM|SETI@home|Too many backoffs - fetching master file


Don't know if I am doing something wrong but the above message is all I get from seti when trying to report results and request more work.... This has been going on for over 2-3 weeks.... would appreciate some assistance...

It's trying to resolve [setiathome.berkeley.edu.] Note the extra . after edu

This could be your problem.

It's trying to resolve [setiathome.berkeley.edu.] Note the extra . after edu

This could be your problem.

don't think so;

'ping' and 'host' commands resolve with or without the extra dot.

mic.

---

mic.

Hey guys, thanks for all the hard work you do.
I have a qualm with "everything is going OK".
Running BOINC client version 5.8.17 for powerpc-apple-darwin, I am getting these messages:
Mon Jun 18 20:59:32 2007|SETI@home|Sending scheduler request: Requested by user
Mon Jun 18 20:59:32 2007|SETI@home|(not requesting new work or reporting completed tasks)
Mon Jun 18 20:59:37 2007|SETI@home|Scheduler RPC succeeded [server version 509]
Mon Jun 18 20:59:37 2007|SETI@home|Deferring communication for 11 sec
Mon Jun 18 20:59:37 2007|SETI@home|Reason: requested by project

I have told the project that I want more work, I am not currently processing a WU, am not transferring a WU, and after the 11 seconds, nothing happens. Because I'm running a relatively slow machine, and I like SETI so much, setiathome has 100% of the resource share. I did not have this problem with previous versions of BOINC Manager. I have not received any WU's since I aborted a WU that was progressing at between 0.1% and 0.5% progress per day. How can I get another WU to process? TIA.

Todd

I am having a similar problem since last Friday.

6/19/2007 2:50:10 AM|SETI@home|Sending scheduler request: To report completed tasks
6/19/2007 2:50:10 AM|SETI@home|Reporting 6 tasks
6/19/2007 2:50:15 AM|SETI@home|Scheduler RPC succeeded [server version 509]
6/19/2007 2:50:15 AM|SETI@home|Deferring communication for 11 sec
6/19/2007 2:50:15 AM|SETI@home|Reason: requested by project
I have changed and checked my settings and even done a reset. The reset resulted in a download of about a days worth of work, but then no more since that time.
Prior to the reset, I did a uninstal of Boinc, and then a reinstall.
Still no go.
I don't think the problem is on my side, but especially since I am not the only one with the problem. I think several things got broken last Friday and just havent been discovered or fixed as yet.

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When we finally figure it all out, all the rules will change and we can start all over again.

Try to reset the project and if it doesn't work, then Detach and Reattach to it. I haven't had any problems.

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If you are from Greece, please visit the following:
Sicence Fiction and Fantasy Forum
The World of Science

Try to reset the project and if it doesn't work, then Detach and Reattach to it. I haven't had any problems.

Next step will be to Detach/reattach and if that dosent work I will uninstall, delete the directory, and go on vacation. I do one lap of America a couple of times a year.
I will be back in about 3 or 4 weeks.

---

When we finally figure it all out, all the rules will change and we can start all over again.

Try to reset the project and if it doesn't work, then Detach and Reattach to it. I haven't had any problems.

Next step will be to Detach/reattach and if that dosent work I will uninstall, delete the directory, and go on vacation. I do one lap of America a couple of times a year.
I will be back in about 3 or 4 weeks.

Something is not updating between preferences/profiles etc.
I just changed my avatar, and messages are still using the old one.
Perhaps things will clear when they do the outtage in a few hours.

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When we finally figure it all out, all the rules will change and we can start all over again.