Folding Forum

Hello -
I'm not a newbie, I've been running folding software for years, but in the last month or so, my machine at work simply won't successfully run folding anymore. I've done no big changes to the system, so no obvious issues there. Oh, the machine is a:
WindowsXP, sp3 ( problems were happening while it was still sp2 ), 4GB RAM, 32 bit, single core Pentium D processor, 3GHz.

Here's a cut from my log file:

[13:12:16] + 696320 bytes downloaded
[13:12:16] + 706560 bytes downloaded
[13:12:16] + 716479 bytes downloaded
[13:12:16] Verifying core Core_82.fah...
[13:12:16] Signature is VALID
[13:12:16]
[13:12:16] Trying to unzip core FahCore_82.exe
[13:12:17] Decompressed FahCore_82.exe (1683456 bytes) successfully
[13:12:17] + Core successfully engaged
[13:12:22]
[13:12:22] + Processing work unit
[13:12:22] Core required: FahCore_82.exe
[13:12:22] Core found.
[13:12:22] Working on Unit 01 [May 19 13:12:22]
[13:12:22] + Working ...
[13:12:24] CoreStatus = 63 (99)
[13:12:24] + Error starting Folding@Home core.
[13:12:29]
[13:12:29] + Processing work unit
[13:12:29] Core required: FahCore_82.exe
[13:12:29] Core found.
[13:12:29] Working on Unit 01 [May 19 13:12:29]
[13:12:29] + Working ...
[13:12:32] CoreStatus = 63 (99)
[13:12:32] + Error starting Folding@Home core.
[13:12:37]
[13:12:37] + Processing work unit
[13:12:37] Core required: FahCore_82.exe
[13:12:37] Core found.
[13:12:37] Working on Unit 01 [May 19 13:12:37]
[13:12:37] + Working ...
[13:12:39] CoreStatus = 63 (99)
[13:12:39] + Error starting Folding@Home core.
[13:12:39] - Attempting to download new core...
[13:12:39] + Downloading new core: FahCore_82.exe
[13:12:39] + 10240 bytes downloaded
[13:12:39] + 20480 bytes downloaded
[13:12:39] + 30720 bytes downloaded
[13:12:39] + 40960 bytes downloaded


It does this a few times, thens says it will wait a day before trying again, but day after day, no joy.
What up?

Bill

Have you run diagnostics on the hardware? Any event viewer errors which might be relevant?

No, there were no errors in any of the event logs.

Let me also add that there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with any hardware, as I use this machine all day as a software development machine. If anything was wrong, I'm sure I would've noticed it.

Have you tried downloading the core manually? If not, that might be worth a shot.

http://fahwiki.net/index.php/Downloadin ... s_manually

I think the core has downloaded correctly but something is preventing it from being started. Permissions perhaps?

@joe7pak, Can you move the FAH executable to a different location (e.g., C:\F@H) and try it again? While this will change the directory, it will also create a clean config file/queue.

Thanks for your help SortOfAGeek -

Well, I gave the "manual download of the core file" a shot, but it didn't work. I got the exact same behavior as before ... and I did look at my generated file vs. the one downloaded, and it looked like the were the same ( they were the same size ), so I don't think I did anything stupid during the manual process. Here's a log file clip again:

[14:13:36] + 716479 bytes downloaded
[14:13:36] Verifying core Core_82.fah...
[14:13:36] Signature is VALID
[14:13:36]
[14:13:36] Trying to unzip core FahCore_82.exe
[14:13:36] Decompressed FahCore_82.exe (1683456 bytes) successfully
[14:13:37] + Core successfully engaged
[14:13:42]
[14:13:42] + Processing work unit
[14:13:42] Core required: FahCore_82.exe
[14:13:42] Core found.
[14:13:42] Working on Unit 01 [May 21 14:13:42]
[14:13:42] + Working ...
[14:13:44] CoreStatus = 63 (99)
[14:13:44] + Error starting Folding@Home core.
[14:13:49]
[14:13:49] + Processing work unit
[14:13:49] Core required: FahCore_82.exe
[14:13:49] Core found.
[14:13:49] Working on Unit 01 [May 21 14:13:49]
[14:13:49] + Working ...
[14:13:51] CoreStatus = 63 (99)
[14:13:51] + Error starting Folding@Home core.
[14:13:56]
[14:13:56] + Processing work unit
[14:13:56] Core required: FahCore_82.exe
[14:13:56] Core found.
[14:13:56] Working on Unit 01 [May 21 14:13:56]
[14:13:56] + Working ...
[14:13:59] CoreStatus = 63 (99)
[14:13:59] + Error starting Folding@Home core.
[14:13:59] - Attempting to download new core...
[14:13:59] + Downloading new core: FahCore_82.exe
[14:13:59] + 10240 bytes downloaded
[14:13:59] + 20480 bytes downloaded
[14:13:59] + 30720 bytes downloaded
[14:13:59] + 40960 bytes downloaded
[14:13:59] + 51200 bytes downloaded
[14:13:59] + 61440 bytes downloaded
[14:14:00] + 71680 bytes downloaded
[14:14:00] + 81920 bytes downloaded
[14:14:00] + 92160 bytes downloaded
[14:14:00] + 102400 bytes downloaded

Anandhanju - Thanks for the suggestion.

Things are now working, and here's what I did:
1) Deleted my folding folder.
2) Created a new folder with a different name.
3) Downloaded the console into this new folder, and started it up.
4) It is now chewing up my cpu cycles.

This is good, but I'm unsatisfied:
1) All previous attempts, I completely deleted all files from my folder, but left the folder there.
Why didn't that work?
2) This time, the client started chewing on core 78, while the previous problems were all caused
by core 82. Is it a problem just with core 82?

Anyway, it's finally working after literally hours of time spent on it with no obvious reason for the problem.

Thanks for the help.

Glad to know you got it to work.

One of the suspicions I had is that the original folder somehow lost its permissions under your account. I don't know how, I don't know why. That's why I suggested the new folder approach. Creating the new folder also meant a new queue and I hoped it would flush out a case of a corrupt queue. We may never know what was wrong.

If you notice any similar abnormality with the 82 core again, do post here. It may be something specific to that core, as you've wondered and the researchers might be able to answer to better. Until then, Fold on!

Anand

very nice anand, I had a similar problem and once I opened the program in administrator mode it worked fine.

Core status 63 mean it's a permission issue. You need to run it in admin mode to work. This often mean that either the client, core or folder lost the execute permission.

joe7pak has earlier encountered this problem here (viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2262); while using core 82. Posting reference to older topic if investigation is needed in the future.