Sun Dies (Feb 22 2012)

So... another week another minor server crisis. This one was brewing for a while - we've been getting memory errors/upsets on our main internal file server (which hosts, among other things, all the files that make up the SETI@home web site). We got replacement memory, and were hoping for a quiescent moment to swap it out, but after two crashes in one day (on Tuesday) I just went ahead and did the swap.

So far so good (i.e. no further crashes), except we're still getting memory upsets in the server log. I only replaced 2 of the faulty DIMMs (which were noted as faulty by the motherboard), but maybe others need replacing as well.

In the meantime I found that project recovery today was significantly slowed by the result web pages on our site, so those are turned off at the moment (as I'm writing this).

Meanwhile other tasks this week included cleaning up the lab (the fire marshall is visiting today) and resurrecting SERENDIP code I haven't touched in over a decade. I got it to compile, now I'm just removing the non-fatal compiler warnings one by one. We'll use this code to help process Kepler data (which happens to be in a similar format to our old SERENDIP data). Maybe I'll even get back to analyzing the SERENDIP IV data set (also over a decade old and it may be worth taking another look at it with this code).

- 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

Thanks for the update Matt.


I have a "cure" for fire marshals - pm me for info ;-)
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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Thank you Matt for the update. extremly appreciated.
personnally i like to know whats happening, it helps to calm down some frustrations :)
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Thanks for the update Matt,

Claggy

@ Matt - I've been getting random memory errors on my home server for the last month, and bluescreen lockups, even with ECC memory.

Turned out to be a voltage regulator failure on the motherboard (affecting the memory termination voltage only) - the same memory is working fine in a replacement motherboard.

Might be worth checking voltages, if that motherboard has the right degree of instrumentation.

Mr. Wizard: why, oh why does the server status say all is well in Oz, but in reality no project server can be found, either via proxy or direct?

"results ready to send" = 1, and the creation rate is below 1 per second, NTM that only four "tapes" are "hung"...
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You getting a visit from this fire marshal?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlLPogmB8M8
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Donate with your searches and online buys:
http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/university-of-california-setihome

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=67069
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That is exactly my point!! I went from 75K+RAC/day to ZERO. "Project has no tasks available." This does not keep my 5 systems happy at all. Now it is Friday; all personel have left for the weekend; and SETI is sitting idle (it seems).

Your main problem could be the BOINC version that you're using, check out the Top Hosts table and see what most of the main setups are using (work is flowing here at a good rate). ;)

Cheers.

That is exactly my point!! I went from 75K+RAC/day to ZERO. "Project has no tasks available." This does not keep my 5 systems happy at all. Now it is Friday; all personel have left for the weekend; and SETI is sitting idle (it seems).

Your main problem could be the BOINC version that you're using, check out the Top Hosts table and see what most of the main setups are using (work is flowing here at a good rate). ;)

Cheers.

He's running 6.12.34, the most recent recommended version of the BOINC client... and well represented in the "top hosts" table

Funny that, I see more of the later 6.10.xx versions myself there.

Cheers.