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A little while ago (read: in the last week or two), I converted over all computers running BOINC to run as a Service instead of the application, and everything seemed to be working fine.

Until today, when I noticed my credited WUs hasn't gone up. I can only assume it's still uploading WUs (as it has been all along), so I wouldn't expect that it's just that some aren't verified yet.

As the same time, it seems I (still) cannot tell from the BOINC web page how many WUs I have pending (last I checked this functionality was disabled, which it still seems to be).

So I've got two questions: Do we know when (if) the "pending" statistics will be turned back on?

And secondly: how can I tell whether BOINC as a service is running properly (i.e. crunching downloaded WUs, uploading WUs when they're done, and downloading new WUs)?

Thanks!

Alphi wrote:
how can I tell whether BOINC as a service is running properly (i.e. crunching downloaded WUs, uploading WUs when they're done, and downloading new WUs)?

There are 2 files in the BOINC folder that retain information on errors from the Message Tab.

stderr.txt and stderr.old

You can open them in Notepad or any text editor to see what went wrong, if anything.

There are also stdout.txt and stdout.old which append normal messages.

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 7:10 pm Post subject:

You can setup BOINCview to monitor the progress of the machines as well.

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:03 pm Post subject:

another option which i have found useful is to vnc to potential problem computer and check the task manager for activity. I know simple, but i found one machine that was having issues and reinstalled the service and now it's golden. In additon, sometimes starting and stopping the service does the trick.

I would like to track down an easy way to stop the service lan wide though...

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:18 am Post subject:

make sure you have your account setup so that it connects to BOINC every day or so and not every week or so. It will only connect as often as you ask it to connect.

THey made the BOINC setup interesting because the preferences are all stored at BOINC.

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:46 am Post subject:

!sLaPnUtZ! wrote:

I would like to track down an easy way to stop the service lan wide though...

Check out PSTools from sysinternals.
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/pstools.shtml

They have an app calls psservice that allows you to remotely control services.

Place these files in your system32 folder and you can use the following:
psservice \\computername stop BOINC
Note: BOINC would actually reflect the service name that it is on your machines.

[edit]I put that command in a batch file with all of the computer names I have. For about 30 machine it runs for about 1 minute[/edit]

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 7:30 am Post subject:

skildude wrote:
make sure you have your account setup so that it connects to BOINC every day or so and not every week or so. It will only connect as often as you ask it to connect.

THey made the BOINC setup interesting because the preferences are all stored at BOINC.

Probably a silly question, but I notice the setting for how often to connect to the network, is the same setting for how many WUs to cache.

So how do I set it to upload finished WUs often (such as once a day), but to maintain a cache of more than a day's worth of WU (such as a week or two's worth of WUs)?

Butt Sniffer Joined: 06 May 2002 Posts: 1579

Alphi wrote:
So how do I set it to upload finished WUs often (such as once a day), but to maintain a cache of more than a day's worth of WU (such as a week or two's worth of WUs)?

i would also like to know this. it would be helpful to have a couple's day cache of units to work on in case of a network outage, but i'd like the results to be submitted frequently.

Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2005 7:56 pm Post subject:

when boinc connects to the network it uploads all WU's that are complete and D/Ls more Wu's if you minimal cache size is met. by default its around 1 day. in an earlier version they gave us a range of days worth of WU's to cache now it just has us connect and D/l at designated times.

I have my pc setup to connect every 2 days and it keeps a 2 day supply of WU's on hand. I get more WU's almost every day because BOINC attempts to keep at least 1 days supply on hand at all times

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 10:58 pm Post subject:

I've noticed that results are uploaded as soon as the computation is finished....
but the credit against the pending results isn't applied until an update is done.
as in, the result has been up/l'd but the wu is still in the list showing 'ready to report'

Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 5:17 pm Post subject:

the latest 4.25 Boinc for windows will now attach to other computers on a LAN from the one desktop.
I haven't quite figured it out, but it saves some vnc'ing.
but it still doesn't have a list of running computers so you know which to check.

also, the uploads and wu d/l seem to be done when ready, not every 3 days as in my prefs.

Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 8:06 pm Post subject:

ok one more time. BOINC does NOT give immediate credit for work complete. Your work is compared with at least 2 and sometimes 3 people to make sure the work being done is accurate. that being said OCing tends to throw work off. I OCed a CPU and was asking for 60pts credit when the average value was 30-40. this was a minor OC.

secondly, When you are logged on you personal webpage check the results "view page. THis shows all your recent up and downloaded WU's it also shows the pending work that hasn't been verified. click on each to examine how you match up to others. usually if your credits are similar to others then your pc is working fine. If the results are very high or very low then you may have a problem.

Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2005 11:07 am Post subject:

yes, it takes time.
but, it takes longer when it is uploaded immediately, to some database.
and then it sits "ready to Report"
and until it is reported ALSO, it won't get to the looking for credit section.
which is why noticed the slight change in timings with the latest 4.25
instead of having heaps to upload waiting three days as in my prefs, they are uploading immed.

Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2005 8:55 pm Post subject:

I dont know how yopur systems are setup but my BOINC doesnt report in everytime it completes a WU. It ususally reports in every 1-2 days. since we are all in this for the long run its best to be patient. I've turned in WU's where one of the other folks running it are on a 333 celeron this takes time.

and no results are not uploaded to some database other than seti. they all go directly to seti. they(seti) are keeping tight control over the processes and working the WU's in a scientific manner. all data is monitored and data is stored on who ran what when. unlike old seti that just had WU's flying all over the place

unlike old seti new seti will eventually remove the WU's that are completed and compiled into the database. WU's are not reused once they are verified.

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2005 12:38 am Post subject:

skildude wrote:
when boinc connects to the network it uploads all WU's that are complete and D/Ls more Wu's

it uploads the result of the computation to wherever that goes.
after it has uplaoded the result, the wu is then in your Boinc gui as "Ready to report"
it is not reported automatically (v 4.19)
until the boinc account gui thingy is updated as well, the request for RAC is not updated to the wu history information stored for your account against your computers downloaded history.

have a look before you update.
=
now, if you are on 4.25 it all looks different.