Hello developers,

I have upgrade from BOINC 6.6.38 to 6.10.3(beta), because I have the idea that Einstein@home WU’s take longer to complete with 6.6.36 in comparison with 6.4.7.

However with 6.6.38 and now also with 6.10.3 after the completion of E@H WU’s I don’t get new once because I have to delete the apx file. According to E@H this is not necessary. However it goes to a 4 hours communication differs. I have to update “manually “to get more jobs but that is not handy when sleeping or being at work and is it also not necessary to have the pc’s running 24/7. As I do now for the benefit of BOINC.

Will you please investigate and or advise me what to do?

Thanks.

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Greetings from,
TJ

I have upgrade from BOINC 6.6.38 to 6.10.3(beta), because I have the idea that Einstein@home WU’s take longer to complete with 6.6.36 in comparison with 6.4.7.

Sorry,

6.10.3 must be 6.10.13.
BOINC 6.10.3 have I running on a another pc since yesterday and is still running "normally".

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Greetings from,
TJ

...I have to delete the apx file.

Sorry, what file?

Do you mean the anonymous platform (app_info.xml) file?
Can you post the messages you get about this from Einstein, please?

According to E@H this is not necessary.

Says who, where? Care to give a link? Or quote whomever says this?

P.S: You can edit your posts within 60 minutes of first posting, when you made typos or gave some (bad) wrong information. Just use the Edit button at th top of the post, no need to quote where you went wrong and post it in a new post.

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I'm pretty sure this is just an Einstein server quirk.

Einstein went through a fairly intensive phase of software testing (many months ago), and lots of people were using Beta applications with app_info.xml files.

Then, they got settled on a stable set of production applications, and wanted to wean people off the Betas. So they set that 4-hour comms backoff, requested by the server, for everyone using anonymous platform.

Now they are testing a new set of Beta apps, but haven't taken off the 4-hour backoff.

It really doesn't matter, because

1) Einstein tasks take more than 4 hours on all but the most exotic hardware.
2) You can cache more than one task anyway.
3) It's a bad idea to be using anonymous platform just at the moment, because they're in the transition to S5R6 and you won't get any.
4) If all else fails, a manual update still works before the end of the 4 hours.

Hi Jord, thanks for the advise with posting.

The E@H error messages:
10/17/2009 4:56:06 PM Einstein@Home Message from server: To get more Einstein@Home work, finish current work, stop BOINC, remove app_info.xml file, and restart.10/17/2009 4:56:06 PM Einstein@Home Message from server: No work sent

And a part of the E@H thread: ABP1 3.11 App for Windows available for Beta Test

I did everything exactly as described on the Beta Test Page to run the new ABP1 Beta app. However I got these errors:

This is a message from the server and not necessarily an error. I get similar messages from time to time. The server is quite fond of sending me some work and then informing me that to get more I will need to delete app_info.xml. I just wait a minute, update the project and if I'm due more work, the server will send some and usually with the same warning repeated. The server appears to be somewhat misconfigured but it's a relatively harmless thing.

When running the Beta app for 3.09 and 3.10 I did exactly the same and went without problems. What is wrong?

Probably nothing much. What happens if you try updating the project? If you wish to stay with the 6.6.x series of BOINC, you would be quite wise to upgrade to the recommended version as there are problems with particular versions that may be worth avoiding.

Can I delete the app_info.xml file without problems?

Probably not. If you do, you will most likely trash your current cache of work unless you take some (undocumented and a bit tedious) precautions. If you don't have tasks on board, then delete app_info.xml and reset the project to clean up your state file and force the download of the stock app. However, there should be no reason why the AP mechanism shouldn't be working OK for you so it's worth persevering and giving us a bit more info with which to diagnose the situation.


____________
Cheers,
Gary.

At the moment only 1 WU is running, and no new ones have been sent automatially. Whit BOINC 6.4.7 I did not have these “problems”.

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Greetings from,
TJ

Hi Richard,

1 and 2 I know, but can you help with number 3. Is there a threat where to find how to make arrangement for not being a anonymous platform?

You are right with number 4 as well, that is what I do with my pc’s that have this issue. But I sleep for around 9 hours and when working I am 11-13 hours on the way.

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Greetings from,
TJ

Given that they've just made the ABP1 v3.11 application the mainstream release that will be downloaded by everyone, there's no need to run an app_info.xml file at all (why did you go down that route in the first place?). Assuming you don't want to continue with it, the advice is as you quoted from Gary:

Run down your cache (set 'No New Tasks' to be on the safe side).
Delete app_info.xml
Reset the Einstein project
Restart BOINC
Allow new tasks
Relax

Run down your cache (set 'No New Tasks' to be on the safe side).
Delete app_info.xml
Reset the Einstein project
Restart BOINC
Allow new tasks
Relax

Thanks Richard,

I will try this. I am relaxing now :).

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Greetings from,
TJ

Hello,

After going to sleep and doing nothing. The pc did not get new work for 6 hours and was thus powered up for nothing.

For my understanding: the app_info.xml file can be deleted to get stock apps. But if I want to run beta apps I need this file?

Thanks for your help.

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Greetings from,
TJ

If you want to run Beta tasks, you will have to update to the latest available beta application. BOINC will not do that for you. The anonymous platform files (app_info.xml and whatever executable it is pointing at) will have to be updated by you.

By using the anonymous platform files you are telling BOINC to ignore the normal applications it may have downloaded and instead use those you tell it about in the app_info.xml file. You are now responsible of keeping these files up-to-date in case they change.

Einstein tells you that the files have changed, both by the message from the scheduler and in a new thread.
Mind, as soon as the project thinks they have enough information and a stable application, they can stop using the Beta apps at their own will. You then have no other choice than to run the normal applications, as would seem to be the case here.

From the thread I pointed to:
Bernd Machenschalk, Einstein Project developer wrote:

Although the speedup is not as impressive as we've seen on one of our test machines, this App isn't slower than 3.10 and apparently not causing trouble, so I made this the new "official" Windows App. Thanks for testing!

BM

Which means end of Beta for now.
So exit your BOINC, remove your Einstein app_info.xml file, restart BOINC, reset the Einstein project. And make sure you set your EInstein project preferences to do both ABP and GW.

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Thanks Jord for this answer.

I am getting to know more about BOINC each day. I have read the thread from Bernd Machenschalk about the ABP 3.11 app. Although I thought that there was still a beta app running for improvement of S5R5, but they are done.

What I was mistaken, was that the app_info.xml file was something of “my own” and that I could safely remove it out without interrupting the project (after completing of WU’s). The post from Gary was a bit mistaken to me, but was my fault not of Gary, he was helping me. Luckily these forums are here.

Sorry for me nagging a bit the last days but I was a bit lost, as some machines where running flawlessly and other stopped. I caused it myself but I have learned by the way. I will keep learning.

Thank you all for the useful advice and help.

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Greetings from,
TJ