No Work Available (Mac OS X 10.6, SMP2 6.29r3)

[Foxbat]

My Mac Pro with OS X 10.6.8 and the SMP Client v6.29r3 is reporting that there is no work. My last WU finished up at 4-Nov-2011:11:48:59 UTC and was successfully transmitted at 11:49:47 UTC. After that, however, the Mac Pro has been idle. I tried a reboot, but no joy:

Code: Select all

-------- FAHlog.txt tail of Unit at ~/Library/FAH-SMP-Term1 --------
--- Opening Log file [November 4 12:29:28 UTC] 


# Mac OS X SMP Console Edition ################################################
###############################################################################

                       Folding@Home Client Version 6.29r3

                          http://folding.stanford.edu

###############################################################################
###############################################################################

Launch directory: /Users/Foxbat/Library/FAH-SMP-Term1
Executable: /Users/Foxbat/Library/FAH-SMP-Term1/fah6
Arguments: -local -advmethods -forceasm -verbosity 9 -smp 

[12:29:28] - Ask before connecting: No
[12:29:28] - User name: Foxbat (Team 55236)
[12:29:28] - User ID: 0123456789ABCDEF
[12:29:28] - Machine ID: 1
[12:29:28] 
[12:29:28] Loaded queue successfully.
[12:29:28] - Preparing to get new work unit...
[12:29:28] - Autosending finished units... [12:29:28]
[12:29:28] Cleaning up work directory
[12:29:28] Trying to send all finished work units
[12:29:28] + No unsent completed units remaining.
[12:29:28] - Autosend completed
[12:29:28] + Attempting to get work packet
[12:29:28] Passkey found
[12:29:28] - Will indicate memory of 8192 MB
[12:29:28] - Detect CPU. Vendor: GenuineIntel, Family: 6, Model: 15, Stepping: 6
[12:29:28] - Connecting to assignment server
[12:29:28] Connecting to http://assign.stanford.edu:8080/
[12:29:29] Posted data.
[12:29:29] Initial: 0000; + No appropriate work server was available; will try again in a bit.
[12:29:29] + Couldn't get work instructions.
[12:29:29] - Attempt #1  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[12:29:49] + Attempting to get work packet
[12:29:49] Passkey found
[12:29:49] - Will indicate memory of 8192 MB
[12:29:49] - Connecting to assignment server
[12:29:49] Connecting to http://assign.stanford.edu:8080/
[12:29:49] Posted data.
[12:29:49] Initial: 0000; + No appropriate work server was available; will try again in a bit.
[12:29:49] + Couldn't get work instructions.
[12:29:49] - Attempt #2  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[12:30:05] + Attempting to get work packet
[12:30:05] Passkey found
[12:30:05] - Will indicate memory of 8192 MB
[12:30:05] - Connecting to assignment server
[12:30:05] Connecting to http://assign.stanford.edu:8080/
[12:30:06] Posted data.
[12:30:06] Initial: 0000; + No appropriate work server was available; will try again in a bit.
[12:30:06] + Couldn't get work instructions.
[12:30:06] - Attempt #3  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[12:30:38] + Attempting to get work packet
[12:30:38] Passkey found
[12:30:38] - Will indicate memory of 8192 MB
[12:30:38] - Connecting to assignment server
[12:30:38] Connecting to http://assign.stanford.edu:8080/
[12:30:38] Posted data.
[12:30:39] Initial: 0000; + No appropriate work server was available; will try again in a bit.
[12:30:39] + Couldn't get work instructions.
[12:30:39] - Attempt #4  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[12:31:25] + Attempting to get work packet
[12:31:25] Passkey found
[12:31:25] - Will indicate memory of 8192 MB
[12:31:25] - Connecting to assignment server
[12:31:25] Connecting to http://assign.stanford.edu:8080/
[12:31:26] Posted data.
[12:31:26] Initial: 0000; + No appropriate work server was available; will try again in a bit.
[12:31:26] + Couldn't get work instructions.
[12:31:26] - Attempt #5  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[12:32:48] + Attempting to get work packet
[12:32:48] Passkey found
[12:32:48] - Will indicate memory of 8192 MB
[12:32:48] - Connecting to assignment server
[12:32:48] Connecting to http://assign.stanford.edu:8080/
[12:32:49] Posted data.
[12:32:49] Initial: 0000; + No appropriate work server was available; will try again in a bit.
[12:32:49] + Couldn't get work instructions.
[12:32:49] - Attempt #6  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.
[12:35:30] + Attempting to get work packet
[12:35:30] Passkey found
[12:35:30] - Will indicate memory of 8192 MB
[12:35:30] - Connecting to assignment server
[12:35:30] Connecting to http://assign.stanford.edu:8080/
[12:35:30] Posted data.
[12:35:30] Initial: 0000; + No appropriate work server was available; will try again in a bit.
[12:35:30] + Couldn't get work instructions.
[12:35:30] - Attempt #7  to get work failed, and no other work to do.
Waiting before retry.

Not really a specific WU problem (Mods, feel free to move this to the appropriate Forum) but it is a WU problem as I am having no luck in getting a new WU.

[Foxbat]

Update: It looks like someone at Stanford was up early this morning and read this Forum! My Mac Pro picked up a WU at 13:13:59 UTC. Thank you!

Mods, you can change to Title to show this was resolved. Thanks!

[gwildperson]

Update: It looks like someone at Stanford was up early this morning and read this Forum! My Mac Pro picked up a WU at 13:13:59 UTC. Thank you!

Mods, you can change to Title to show this was resolved. Thanks!

That's not too likely. 6:14 AM is a bit early for most researchers but somebody might have restarted a server if one was down. My guess is that there aren't quite enough WUs to go around. As computers around the world finish their assignments, new ones are generated and you were lucky enough to get one.

[Leonardo]

There is a shortage of SMP2 -bigadv work units lately. If you experience the problem of not downloading a work unit again, remove the -bigadv parameter (flag) from the client and you'll pick up a 'regular' SMP work unit right away. I've had to do this several times in the last couple weeks. The SMP clients would upload a -bigadv unit and thereafter remain at idle, waiting for a new work unit that would not arrive, until I stopped the client and removed the flat.

[Leonardo]

@Foxbat, I may have wrongly assumed that you have the -bigadv flag entered for your SMP2 client. If you did not, obviously, my proposed solution is not applicable in your case.

[Joe_H]

Switching to non-bigadv WU's may not help with the delay in getting work to do. With the shortage of -bigadv units and folders of those working on regular ones, the availability of regular SMP units for OS X has also been tight. They were also waiting on an update to the OS X A3 core that is needed for some WU's when I posted about a core update issue three weeks ago here - viewtopic.php?f=19&t=19802, the Linux and Windows A3 cores had already been updated. And I don't recall any posting that the A5 core had been made available for OS X, so his Mac Pro probably has not been doing -bigadv anyways.

P.S. I have two Mac's folding SMP WU's and lately it has taken as much as 15-20 minutes to download a new A3 unit to work on.

[pbuick]

Thanks guys.

I've noticed for about a week that mine hasn't received a work unit. I had *NO* flags whatsoever set. When I gratuitously grabbed the flags from the output posted and restarted the client, I *IMMEDIATELY* got a work unit. It feels good to be back on the wagon again.

[codysluder]

I don't know much about OS-X. Can you tell me how to add flags to a client or point me to a place it's explained., other that writing a script.

[toTOW]

If you're still using a 6.29 SMP client, it is strongly recommended to upgrade : http://folding.typepad.com/news/2011/11 ... a-fix.html

[Joe_H]

I don't know much about OS-X. Can you tell me how to add flags to a client or point me to a place it's explained., other that writing a script.

WIth the 6.29 client flags can be added using the "Extra parameters" entry under Advanced in the control panel used to start and stop folding. Or if using the command line version in Terminal, just add the flags such as "./fah6 -smp -verbosity 9". A single line script can also be created just as can be done for Linux.

With the v.7 beta, they are added the same as for the Windows and Linux versions of FAHControl.

If you're still using a 6.29 SMP client, it is strongly recommended to upgrade : http://folding.typepad.com/news/2011/11 ... a-fix.html

Since 6.29 is the last version of v.6 available for OS X, the only option open at this time is going to the beta v.7 client. Some persons will not take that option, preferring not to run beta versions. Hopefully v.7 does get released out of beta next year on the schedule they would like to keep.

P.S. Recently a large number of WU's have been made available on the one server that does supply them to OS X and is compatible with the v.2.22 A3 core that is the latest one available for OS X, even if running v.7. Other servers with A3 WU's require a later version of the core. V.7 does at least give access to core A4 WU's from several other servers.