Say. Ozzfan ... just out of curiosity ... your profile show that you are running only PC's ... so how do you get to be a Mac expert. Just curious.

Thanks ...

Never claimed to me a Mac expert. But I know how the SETI software works on both systems. I've seen the code and I know it only makes standard OS procedure calls. I also am generally a hardware expert... I know how software interacts with hardware. I know what is possible and what isn't possible. I know that only low-level disk programs can cause corruption that interact with hardware directly. High level programs that use the OS cannot cause disk corruption.

Just because you don't like our suggestions, doesn't mean you have to start attacking the credibility of those helping you. If you try looking further into the details, you might find the problem. Nothing is as clean cut as you put it. Your amateur investigative work, such as 'run SETI, have problem' and 'don't run SETI, no problem' while no other system out there exhibits the same issue begs the question "what's different?" But you have stopped asking questions. You have stated answers. You have stated definitively you know the problem, and it exists in the SETI software. You already have yourself convinced, and there is apparently nothing I or anyone else can say to make you look further.

It's when people stop asking questions that they can't find the answers.

Now why don't you humor me and run SETI then run Verify Disk and see what you get.

Still done after your first posting, and all is OK. Also, I check the filesystem from time to time and had never any issues. And as I have written, such a error never reported at the SETI or other BOINC projects help desk forums...
Now, its your turn to awnser our questions.

Since Dotsch's system does not exhibit the same issue, what is your suggestion as to what the problem is?

I'm going to close this topic ... all I'm getting is barbs about how stupid I must be because 'IT HAS TO BE A HARDWARE' problem ... so you can all go on blissfully refusing to admit that it is or could be a SETI software problem.

PS: I just ran verify disk again and it is still OK. Why can't you all understand that?

Mike,

Please understand that no one is calling you 'stupid'. We are simply saying that if such a problem were true with the SETI software, don't you think that the other Mac users out there would have noticed a problem too? And if so, don't you think they would have reported it too? Why is that so hard to understand?

If the SETI software does not cause corruption on any other system other than yours, what would you think is the logical conclusion? You want us to help you, but please understand where we're coming from too.

It might help you to know that BOINC/SETI does not work closely with the file system, but it uses standard Operating System calls for all file accesses. If there is indeed a problem running BOINC, then it would have to be through the OS.

I understand that by simply not running SETI you are not experiencing issues, and so it would seem logical to conclude that SETI is indeed the problem, but all we're trying to tell you is that there must be more than meets the eye here. If SETI corrupts file systems, then it would do so on all computers, correct?

Is there no way we can convince you to check your configuration? Or are you simply so stubborn that you insist the developers look for a bug that is most likely not there?


Please.... I mean no disrespect. And from the tone in your post, you're obviously becoming very frustrated because you think we are not listening. Is there any way you can bear with us, and perhaps even humor us with our requests? You never know, perhaps we were right to begin with.... or perhaps we might discover together a new bug in SETI software....

Then how come my system is perfectly stable when I DO NOT run SETI ... I have no problems ... and the Disk/file structure does not need repair.

I have been checking it several times a day ... NO PROBLEMS. I still think it's a SETI software problem ... I'd like to see others check their file structure with (Disk Utility, DiskWarrior, TechTool Pro or whatever) and see if there is a problem after they have run SETI.

As I have written in the previos posting, there was no post in my 8 years of SETI, where such a failure was happens or reported.
But, your repeating responses, that SETI is the cause and not awnser to any questions and advices we gave you, did not help to solve your problem.

The seti 5.21 was the one that didn't work for any one. they came out with 5.22 a few days later. It works sorta of, but it is full of bug. Look at the post on this BB about it. I don't know anything about the 3rd party software mentioned above, but its got to be better then what we currently have.

Eric has written in the MacOS help desk, that he plan to release 5.23 on MacOS PPC at Monday, which fixes the 5.22 issues and problems.

Has it been confirmed that one of the issues with v5.21 and earlier trashed the Mac's file system? If so, I have not read it anywhere.

There are no reports on any filesystem crashes causes by SETI I know in my eight years of SETI crunching and over two years as help desk volunter.
Also, I think, that there is a hardware issue or a problem at the filesystem/filesystem driver,... at Michaels system. And from my point of view it is not SETI what's corrupting the filesystem, there must be a cause of this and I thing it is urgent to search the root cause of the filesystem crashes.

I think, it could be a solution to move the whole SETI folder to a other (new) filesystem and test if the corruption also happens there, too. I think, OzzFan's advice to test a other project and look if the filesystem crash occurs too, could help to solve the problem.

I only wan't to respond to pixy's posting, that there would be a new version is on the way.
Pixy, as I have written in the 5.22 thread, there are some issues that on some systems the application crases, some users reports that the application is slower (correct tests and reports are still outstanding from the users) and sometimes the screensaver not will be shown, or some things would be not shown correctly. This happens only on a few systems. Also a not working or not correct screensaver is only a minor bug. The therm "full of bugs" is not right in my opinion. Please stop to fire the panic here.

Have you tried running another BOINC client, such as Einstein@Home to see if your Mac has the same problems with it?

I see you are running the 5.21 SETI client. Go to this thread http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=31810&nowrap=true#444480 and download Alex's optimized SETI client and install it in place of the 5.22 client. My older G5 dual processor takes around 12,000 CPUSec to process a work unit worth 62 credits, and I see your newer machine is now taking over 65,000 CPUSec for the same credit.

C

Where do you see, that you have got to repair your hard disk ?

I run verify disk periodically just to make sure all is ok ... that's where I find out or I get strange behavior in the finder like disk images not showing up or failing to delete. They are usually minor repairs but enough to mess up my system.
-----------------------------------
With which tools have you checked your harddisk ?

Disk Utility, Diskwarrior, and Tech Tool Pro.
--------------------------------------------
Have you booted from the install CD and made a full filesystem check and repair ? - I recommend you this, too.

I have done this. I am positiive it's not the Hard Drive about to fail.
-------------------------------------------------

Do you have any strange error messages in /var/log ?

Nothing strange.

---------------------
Are you running your disk checks while BOINC is running? This may be the cause of your errors. Many disk utility programs require exclusive access to your hard drive without any other program writing to disk.

No everything is off . WIth Diskwarrior and Tech Tool Pro you have to boot from their disk to check and repair files and volume structures.

BOINC, by default, writes to disk every 60 seconds so that in the event of a crash, you can pick up very close to where you left off. This disk write can cause disk utility programs to think there's an error on the disk because it didn't think anything was supposed to change.

When I run Disk Utility, I run from the OS DVD ... it indicates that there are errors and repairs them.

----------------------------------
Also, doesn't it make you the least bit concerned that people with similar configurations do not exhibit the same problems that your system does? If it were me, I'd be very concerned about what's wrong with my system and do what I can to find out what's wrong (and not simply write it off as a single program failure, at least, not if that program isn't causing anyone else the same problem I'm having).

There is a message on the SETI site to restart the project ... I have tried everything to reset/restart and nothing works - I still get the restarting problem ... does anyone have the proper instructions to reset/restar to get the new SETI program?
I have reinstalled SETI 5.10.7 also.

Quad G5 OS 10.4.10 ...