Mac OS - "On Idle" mode is inconsistent

[Briansky]

Greetings!

I've searched the forums for this issue and have read MANY posts, but none of them address my specific problem.

Here it is:

In "On Idle" mode, I have discovered that the ONLY way my Mac will start folding is for the screen to turn off. I can control when the screen turns off in the power settings, so I thought I had it all figured out. Then I noticed something odd; after the client has been working for a while (20 min or so) it mysteriously pauses, but the screen stays off. I checked the log file and found THIS:

Code: Select all

09:14:11:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Project: 16437 (Run 0, Clone 2716, Gen 57)
09:14:11:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Unit: 0x0000004080fccb015ea74da03ad31167
09:14:11:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Digital signatures verified
09:14:11:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Calling: mdrun -s frame57.tpr -o frame57.trr -x frame57.xtc -cpi state.cpt -cpt 15 -nt 4
09:14:11:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Steps: first=14250000 total=250000
09:14:11:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Completed 118192 out of 250000 steps (47%)
[removed redundant entries for brevity]
09:44:15:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Completed 160000 out of 250000 steps (64%)
09:47:27:FS00:Shutting core down
09:47:27:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Caught signal SIGINT(2) on PID 1213
09:47:27:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Exiting, please wait. . .
09:47:31:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Folding@home Core Shutdown: INTERRUPTED
09:47:31:WU01:FS00:FahCore returned: INTERRUPTED (102 = 0x66)

Notice the entries at the end, starting at 09:47:27
This is the where the mysterious pause occurs. What is making it stop?

Now the real problem. After folding stops, it WON'T START AGAIN. As long as the screen stays off, folding remains paused... indefinitely. FahClient is waiting for the screen to "turn off" but it can't, because it's already off! Logic. The only way to get the folding to start again is to "wake up" the screen and then let it time out / turn off again. The cycle then repeats: after 20-40 min (sometimes a hour or so) the folding pauses and never restarts as long as the screen stays off. When I check FAH in the morning, I find that very little progress was made overnight, so I've been switching it to "While I'm working" mode at night. Not a great solution.

Any ideas of how I might fix it? Look closely at the last 5 lines of the log file and let me know what you think.

Thanks so much!

-Brian

[PantherX]

Welcome to the F@H Forum Briansky

Can you please post the log file? Ensure you include the first 100 lines which will inform us of what the system configuration is and what the client settings are. If you require guidance, please view this topic: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=26036

Regarding the idle detection, last I read about it, it uses the OS report of what's considered idle and will use that. From what I have read about macOS, it is the lack of keyboard and mouse which triggers the on idle state.

Out of curiosity, if you're folding on the CPU, is there a reason to let it run 24/7 in the background instead of just idle? The priority of folding is set to one of the lowest on in the OS so nearly all processes can get whatever CPU cycles they require. Thus, it generally doesn't have an impact on the performance of most applications.

[Briansky]

Thank you for the quick reply! Here is the log file:

Code: Select all

*********************** Log Started 2020-05-25T05:15:47Z ***********************
05:15:47:Trying to access database...
05:15:51:Successfully acquired database lock
05:16:00:Read GPUs.txt
05:16:00:Enabled folding slot 00: PAUSED cpu:4 (waiting for idle)
05:16:01:****************************** FAHClient ******************************
05:16:01:    Version: 7.6.13
05:16:01:     Author: Joseph Coffland <joseph@cauldrondevelopment.com>
05:16:01:  Copyright: 2020 foldingathome.org
05:16:01:   Homepage: https://foldingathome.org/
05:16:01:       Date: Apr 27 2020
05:16:01:       Time: 21:20:45
05:16:01:   Revision: 5a652817f46116b6e135503af97f18e094414e3b
05:16:01:     Branch: master
05:16:01:   Compiler: GNU 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.33.8)
05:16:01:    Options: -std=c++11 -O3 -funroll-loops -mmacosx-version-min=10.7
05:16:01:             -Wno-unused-local-typedefs -stdlib=libc++
05:16:01:   Platform: darwin 19.2.0
05:16:01:       Bits: 64
05:16:01:       Mode: Release
05:16:01:     Config: /Library/Application Support/FAHClient/config.xml
05:16:01:******************************** CBang ********************************
05:16:01:       Date: Apr 24 2020
05:16:01:       Time: 17:07:50
05:16:01:   Revision: ea081a3b3b0f4a37c4d0440b4f1bc184197c7797
05:16:01:     Branch: master
05:16:01:   Compiler: GNU 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.33.8)
05:16:01:    Options: -std=c++11 -O3 -funroll-loops -mmacosx-version-min=10.7
05:16:01:             -Wno-unused-local-typedefs -stdlib=libc++ -fPIC
05:16:01:   Platform: darwin 19.2.0
05:16:01:       Bits: 64
05:16:01:       Mode: Release
05:16:01:******************************* System ********************************
05:16:01:        CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2400S CPU @ 2.50GHz
05:16:01:     CPU ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7
05:16:01:       CPUs: 4
05:16:01:     Memory: 4.00GiB
05:16:01:Free Memory: 2.57GiB
05:16:01:    Threads: POSIX_THREADS
05:16:01: OS Version: 10.13
05:16:01:Has Battery: false
05:16:01: On Battery: false
05:16:01: UTC Offset: -7
05:16:01:        PID: 74
05:16:01:        CWD: /Library/Application Support/FAHClient
05:16:01:         OS: Darwin 17.7.0 x86_64
05:16:01:    OS Arch: AMD64
05:16:01:       GPUs: 1
05:16:01:      GPU 0: Bus:1 Slot:0 Func:0 AMD:0 Whistler [Radeon HD 6600M Series]
05:16:01:       CUDA: Not detected: Failed to open dynamic library 'libcuda.dylib':
05:16:01:             dlopen(libcuda.dylib, 1): image not found
05:16:01:     OpenCL: Not detected: Failed to open dynamic library 'libOpenCL.dylib':
05:16:01:             dlopen(libOpenCL.dylib, 1): image not found
05:16:01:******************************* libFAH ********************************
05:16:01:       Date: Apr 15 2020
05:16:01:       Time: 14:43:28
05:16:01:   Revision: 216968bc7025029c841ed6e36e81a03a316890d3
05:16:01:     Branch: master
05:16:01:   Compiler: GNU 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.33.8)
05:16:01:    Options: -std=c++11 -O3 -funroll-loops -mmacosx-version-min=10.7
05:16:01:             -Wno-unused-local-typedefs -stdlib=libc++
05:16:01:   Platform: darwin 19.2.0
05:16:01:       Bits: 64
05:16:01:       Mode: Release
05:16:01:***********************************************************************
05:16:01:<config>
05:16:01:  <!-- Folding Core -->
05:16:01:  <core-priority v='low'/>
05:16:01:
05:16:01:  <!-- Folding Slot Configuration -->
05:16:01:  <cause v='COVID_19'/>
05:16:01:
05:16:01:  <!-- Network -->
05:16:01:  <proxy v=':8080'/>
05:16:01:
05:16:01:  <!-- Slot Control -->
05:16:01:  <power v='FULL'/>
05:16:01:
05:16:01:  <!-- User Information -->
05:16:01:  <passkey v='*****'/>
05:16:01:  <team v='224497'/>
05:16:01:  <user v='Tynxi01'/>
05:16:01:
05:16:01:  <!-- Folding Slots -->
05:16:01:  <slot id='0' type='CPU'>
05:16:01:    <idle v='true'/>
05:16:01:  </slot>
05:16:01:</config>
05:19:59:4:127.0.0.1:New Web session
05:31:58:WU01:FS00:Starting
05:31:59:WU01:FS00:Running FahCore: /usr/local/bin/FAHCoreWrapper "/Library/Application Support/FAHClient/cores/cores.foldingathome.org/v7/osx/64bit/avx/Core_a7.fah/FahCore_a7" -dir 01 -suffix 01 -version 706 -lifeline 74 -checkpoint 15 -np 4
05:31:59:WU01:FS00:Started FahCore on PID 786
05:31:59:WU01:FS00:Core PID:787
05:31:59:WU01:FS00:FahCore 0xa7 started
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:*********************** Log Started 2020-05-25T05:32:00Z ***********************
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:************************** Gromacs Folding@home Core ***************************
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       Type: 0xa7
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       Core: Gromacs
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       Args: -dir 01 -suffix 01 -version 706 -lifeline 786 -checkpoint 15 -np 4
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:************************************ CBang *************************************
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       Date: Oct 26 2019
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       Time: 03:00:53
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:   Revision: 3b1c887e9f30a608262e0d62833b273e843f7c1b
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:     Branch: master
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:   Compiler: GNU 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.33.8)
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:    Options: -std=c++11 -O3 -funroll-loops -mmacosx-version-min=10.7
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:             -Wno-unused-local-typedefs -stdlib=libc++ -fPIC
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:   Platform: darwin 19.0.0
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       Bits: 64
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       Mode: Release
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:************************************ System ************************************
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:        CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2400S CPU @ 2.50GHz
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:     CPU ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       CPUs: 4
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:     Memory: 4.00GiB
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Free Memory: 957.90MiB
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:    Threads: POSIX_THREADS
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7: OS Version: 10.13
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Has Battery: false
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7: On Battery: false
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7: UTC Offset: -7
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:        PID: 787
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:        CWD: /Library/Application Support/FAHClient/work
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:******************************** Build - libFAH ********************************
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:    Version: 0.0.18
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:     Author: Joseph Coffland <joseph@cauldrondevelopment.com>
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:  Copyright: 2019 foldingathome.org
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:   Homepage: https://foldingathome.org/
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       Date: Oct 26 2019
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       Time: 03:06:33
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:   Revision: fcc08f30b8997509aaba3a213354c363f474e056
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:     Branch: master
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:   Compiler: GNU 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 11.0.0 (clang-1100.0.33.8)
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:    Options: -std=c++11 -O3 -funroll-loops -mmacosx-version-min=10.7
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:             -Wno-unused-local-typedefs -stdlib=libc++
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:   Platform: darwin 19.0.0
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       Bits: 64
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       Mode: Release
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:************************************ Build *************************************
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:       SIMD: avx_256
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:********************************************************************************
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Project: 16437 (Run 0, Clone 2716, Gen 57)
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Unit: 0x0000004080fccb015ea74da03ad31167
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Digital signatures verified
05:32:00:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Calling: mdrun -s frame57.tpr -o frame57.trr -x frame57.xtc -cpi state.cpt -cpt 15 -nt 4
05:32:01:WU01:FS00:0xa7:Steps: first=14250000 total=250000

Also, on closer inspection of my CPU history, I no longer think that the OS is causing the client to pause. One thing I forgot to mention, is that I'm running F@H on two Macs. Both of them have the same issue, but one is worse that the other (i.e. it often pauses in less than 15 min). For both Macs, I have been unable to get them to start "On Idle" unless I set the display to turn off (if the display is NOT set to turn off, 10 or more min of inactivity does not result in the client starting). It definitely looks like the screen "time out" in power settings determines when the Mac considers itself idle.

Re: Out of curiosity, if you're folding on the CPU, is there a reason to let it run 24/7 in the background instead of just idle?

I tried that, but it causes my OS to hang, sometimes severely. Everything works fine for a few hours, but then it will suddenly freeze (on my iMac). As for my Mac Mini, it just slows down a bit an the loud hiss of the fan is distracting.

Thanks again for your help!

- Brian

[PantherX]

Generally speaking, if CPU folding is causing OS to hang, it's an indication of a bigger issue that folding as simply unearthed. The loud hissing would be due to the rise in fan RPM to cool the CPU down as folding is a CPU intensive process. You can always reduce the CPU folding from 4 CPUs to 2 (or 3) CPUs to lower the heat it is generating which may lower/eliminate the fan noise. You can do that by:
Open up Advanced Control (AKA FAHControl) -> Configure -> Slots tab -> CPU -> Edit -> Change value from -1 to 2 or 3 -> OK -> Save

However, I am not familiar with macOS so will let someone who is more experienced with it to troubleshoot with other issues that you're encountering.

[Briansky]

Thanks for your help.

I edited my original post to clarify the issue. Mainly, I added the last few lines of a recent log file that shows exactly what's happening during a mysterious pause.

Regarding your comments:
CPU folding only causes the OS to hang when I'm using the computer at the time. When I'm away from the computer, CPU folding has never caused any problems. As for the fan, I understand why it's so loud. I just don't want it hissing at me while I'm working. If I reduce the number of CPUs, as you suggested, then my computer will not work at maximum capacity when I'm not using it. I actually WANT the fan to be loud when I'm not sitting right next to it. Anyway, I very much appreciate your effort in helping me with this issue!

Cheers!!