Projects 8568 and 8577

[billford]

I recently set up an old Core 2 Duo laptop with 32-bit Ubuntu to have a look at the OS and, as a matter of routine, put F@H (7.3.6) on it. It defaulted to 1 core (medium) and ran OK.

But the PPD was abysmal, so I upped the slider to Full. The next WU was for 8577 and promptly failed:

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22:56:40:WU01:FS00:FahCore 0xa3 started
22:56:41:WARNING:WU01:FS00:FahCore returned: FAILED_3 (255 = 0xff)

After a few retries it reported back to Stanford and requested a new WU, this time it got 8568 and failed with exactly the same message.

So I put the slider back to Medium, next time it got project 10450 (same as the first iirc) and is currently plodding along happily. Albeit very slowly

At first I was going to put it down to inadequate hardware and forget about it as there's no guarantee that the machine will stay in use for very long, but I decided to check what the projects were for and found this for both:

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This project is a test of a novel means to significantly accelerate Folding@home molecular dynamics calculations by 100x without any additional increase in hardware. Thus, this method has great promise to push Folding@home way beyond what it can do now, although there is much work to do to test it to make sure that the results are scientifically valid and useful.

That "there is much work to do to test it" sounds a bit like beta code to me? Especially as there are no points allocation or expected times associated with them?

I can provide more information if requested, but don't want to waste anyone's time if there's a known problem with these "test" projects on Core 2 Duo's, that I shouldn't have got it, or whatever reason. On the other hand, I'd like to run with the slider at "Full"

For info, the config part of the log is currently:

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14:40:03:    Website: http://folding.stanford.edu/
14:40:03:  Copyright: (c) 2009-2013 Stanford University
14:40:03:     Author: Joseph Coffland <joseph@cauldrondevelopment.com>
14:40:03:       Args: --child --lifeline 967 /etc/fahclient/config.xml --run-as fahclient
14:40:03:             --pid-file=/var/run/fahclient.pid --daemon
14:40:03:     Config: /etc/fahclient/config.xml
14:40:03:******************************** Build ********************************
14:40:03:    Version: 7.3.6
14:40:03:       Date: Feb 18 2013
14:40:03:       Time: 10:24:08
14:40:03:    SVN Rev: 3923
14:40:03:     Branch: fah/trunk/client
14:40:03:   Compiler: GNU 4.6.3
14:40:03:    Options: -std=gnu++98 -O3 -funroll-loops -mfpmath=sse -ffast-math
14:40:03:             -fno-unsafe-math-optimizations -msse
14:40:03:   Platform: linux2 3.2.0-2-486
14:40:03:       Bits: 32
14:40:03:       Mode: Release
14:40:03:******************************* System ********************************
14:40:03:        CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T5200 @ 1.60GHz
14:40:03:     CPU ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 6
14:40:03:       CPUs: 2
14:40:03:     Memory: 993.17MiB
14:40:03:Free Memory: 841.56MiB
14:40:03:    Threads: POSIX_THREADS
14:40:03:Has Battery: true
14:40:03: On Battery: false
14:40:03: UTC offset: 1
14:40:03:        PID: 1033
14:40:03:        CWD: /var/lib/fahclient
14:40:03:         OS: Linux 3.8.0-31-generic i686
14:40:03:    OS Arch: X86
14:40:03:       GPUs: 0
14:40:03:       CUDA: Not detected
14:40:03:***********************************************************************
14:40:03:<config>
14:40:03:  <!-- Client Control -->
14:40:03:  <fold-anon v='true'/>
14:40:03:
14:40:03:  <!-- Folding Slot Configuration -->
14:40:03:  <power v='medium'/>
14:40:03:
14:40:03:  <!-- HTTP Server -->
14:40:03:  <allow v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.24'/>
14:40:03:
14:40:03:  <!-- Network -->
14:40:03:  <proxy v=':8080'/>
14:40:03:
14:40:03:  <!-- Remote Command Server -->
14:40:03:  <command-allow-no-pass v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.24'/>
14:40:03:
14:40:03:  <!-- User Information -->
14:40:03:  <passkey v='********************************'/>
14:40:03:  <user v='[removed]'/>
14:40:03:
14:40:03:  <!-- Folding Slots -->
14:40:03:  <slot id='0' type='CPU'>
14:40:03:    <cpus v='-1'/>
14:40:03:    <next-unit-percentage v='100'/>
14:40:03:  </slot>
14:40:03:</config>

[7im]

Upgrade to a 64 bit version of the OS.

[billford]

I thought about that, but it's only got 1GB of RAM and the Ubuntu site says

If you have an older PC with less than 2GB of memory, choose the 32-bit download.

(For both 12.04 and 13.10)

I tried the 64-bit version anyway just for the hell of it, but the DVD hadn't burned properly and the machine wouldn't recognise it!

[bruce]

The FAILED problem might have nothing to do with the particular assignment you got or the OS. Your system might be overheating. The CPU cooling subsystem on older PC is often degraded due to dust accumulating in the heat sink, to fan bearings no longer working, or to thermal compound drying out. I'd look very carefully at what happens to CPU temperatures when you use 100% of both CPU cores.

[billford]

It finished the original WU using only one core (presumably it couldn't change in mid-flight) and I wouldn't have expected it to fail within a second of the run starting if it were a temperature problem... but I've been wrong before!

I don't have any temperature monitoring software at the moment, I'll have a look around, but the fans aren't working very hard.

Anyway, if you're not aware of any problem with those two projects running on that OS/hardware then the problem is at my end, and it's up to me to find it!

Thanks.

One point though- why are there no technical details (points, deadlines etc) shown for those two projects? That was a large part of what caused me to post the OP.

[Joe_H]

That "there is much work to do to test it" sounds a bit like beta code to me? Especially as there are no points allocation or expected times associated with them?

I can provide more information if requested, but don't want to waste anyone's time if there's a known problem with these "test" projects on Core 2 Duo's, that I shouldn't have got it, or whatever reason.

The description that sounds "beta" to you is more about the simulation approach that is being investigated, not the actual projects and WU's. This group of projects that includes 8568 and 8577 is testing that approach and seeing if the results are comparable to those found through other methods. That is a level of basic research that does need to be done.

As for the points and deadlines, you can look them up on the Project Summary page linked at the top of the forum. For example, Project 8577 awards base points of 1654 and has a preferred deadline of 8 days. Its final deadline is 13.3 days. The folding client may not report these immediately as the project description is downloaded separately from the WU and is kept in a local cache for the next time a WU from that project is done. In addition, some older servers are running older code that does not provide the project descriptions to the client.

As I recall, the assumption at the time SMP A3 projects started was that Linux systems would be running a 64-bit OS. Hence the recommendation to go to a 64-bit install. In theory 64-bit executables can run on a 32-bit OS if the hardware supports it, but there may be necessary support files missing from the default install. The assignment servers appear to not distinguish between 32 and 64 bit Linux systems.

[billford]

The description that sounds "beta" to you is more about the simulation approach that is being investigated, not the actual projects and WU's. This group of projects that includes 8568 and 8577 is testing that approach and seeing if the results are comparable to those found through other methods. That is a level of basic research that does need to be done.

Right, that makes sense, thanks. It's beta from the simulation viewpoint, but not from the coding one

As for the points and deadlines, you can look them up on the Project Summary page linked at the top of the forum.

I hadn't looked there... I just clicked a project link on FAHControl's Status tab and typed in the project I wanted, presumably that page is primarily intended to describe the scope and aim of the project, technical details on it are a bonus!

The folding client may not report these immediately as the project description is downloaded separately from the WU and is kept in a local cache for the next time a WU from that project is done.

I wondered if it did, thanks for confirming.

As I recall, the assumption at the time SMP A3 projects started was that Linux systems would be running a 64-bit OS. Hence the recommendation to go to a 64-bit install. In theory 64-bit executables can run on a 32-bit OS if the hardware supports it, but there may be necessary support files missing from the default install. The assignment servers appear to not distinguish between 32 and 64 bit Linux systems.

I'll give the 64-bit version a try if I can't find anything else amiss (it'll just have to do its best in the RAM it's got- it's not a machine I intend spending any money on), I think I can persuade it to boot from a USB stick to install it.

But it won't be this week... real life is getting in the way of the interesting stuff

[billford]

I managed to fit in enough time to install 64-bit Ubuntu, it's not overly happy in 1GB but it works. Initially set the client to run on just one core for comparison.

It got the same project (10450) as last time, but with 64-bit the PPD is about 25% higher than 32-bit... interesting.

[7im]

A3 work units don't play well with a CPU setting of 1.

[billford]

Useful to know, thanks.

[billford]

Running 64-bit seems to have fixed it, running happily on both cores now.

Thanks to all.

@ bruce- re overheating: the fans sound OK, but I'll take your tip about clearing dust out etc when I've got time to take an unfamiliar laptop apart...