Latest WCG branded/Boinc Software Version Thread

N

nomad8u

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - December 2008
Joined
Feb 12, 2004
Messages
1,083
I thought I'd start a thread to keep all the WCG crunchers up to date on the most current WCG branded client as well as the latest "recommended" Boinc version. For those that want the bleeding edge, I'll keep an ongoing tab on Boinc betas as well.

This post will be updated with the latest recommended versions both WCG branded and Boinc versions. See post# 2 for links to Version 6 install FAQ's GPU crunching on GPUGrid with Boinc and thoughts on upgrading.

Latest WCG Branded version.
Windows: version 6.2.28
Linux: version 6.2.15

To download, go to your "My Grid" homepage and select "Download Software" from the link in the upper right corner of the page.

Latest Boinc recommended version. (Note: see Razor_FX_II's post regarding his testing and thoughts for the 6.4.x - 6.5.0 branch. Sounds like good advice on the Version 6.4.2) recommendation for GPU.)
Windows 32bit: version 6.4.5
Windows 64bit:version 6.4.5

Linux 32bit:version 6.4.5
Linux 64bit:version 6.4.5

OSX (version 10.3.9+) GUI:version 6.2.18
OSX (version 10.3.9+) Unix Command Line:version 6.2.18

Fall back Boinc recommended version in case of issues with the latest recommended.
Windows 32bit: version 6.2.19
Windows 64bit:version 6.2.19

Linux 32bit:version 6.2.15
Linux 64bit:version 6.2.15


 
How to install Boinv (version 6) as a service. This is typically the recommended method.

Client setup for Version 6. This is somewhat dated as it hasn't been updated since version 6.2.10.

A basic overview of the changes in Boinc 6 from the 5.x versions.

Boinc version 6 change log.

The Big Boinc 6 answer thread.

This is a partial list of info for version 6. We'll add to this as we go and as more info is uncovered that may help the team squeeze more from their systems.

If you are going to upgrade, here is a couple of suggestions to hopefully make for a smooth transition and avoid any loss of work. This would be especially true if upgrading from version 5.x to 6.x:

1. Disable getting new work and and complete all existing WU prior to upgrading. In Boinc Manager, select the "Projects" tab and select "No new tasks". This will help to prevent any possibility of lost WU even though it isn't supposed to be necessary. This client is supposed to be an "upgrade in place" system. Better safe than sorry eh?

2. Stop the Boinc service if running. Go to "Start/Run" and enter "services.msc" to bring up the services manager console. Find and stop the Boinc service. Exit Boinc Manager before doing this.

3. Backup all your Boinc data. If you are already running a version 6 client, the actual data folder will be somewhere (depending on how you installed it) under \%SystemDrive\Documents and Settings. All data should be migrated to the new location if necessary, but why chance it unless you have no data to migrate.

These three basic suggestions should help you to have a smooth upgrade.

As to whether or not to upgrade? That is a personal question each will have to answer for themselves. I am currently on version 6.2.18 of the Boinc client myself, and may try 6.2.19 but since I'm not running the WCG branded client (last one was 5.10.45) I have no intention of upgrading to the WCG branded version 6. IMO the Boinc clients are at least as robust if not more so than the WCG client so that is the path I'm on.

For anyone who needs or desires to deinstall Boinc and have a "completely clean" system (such as having a clean setup to install/reinstall v6.x client) follow these couple of steps:
1. With the client not running, deinstall from "add/remove" programs.
2. Follow this document to cleanup/remove any Boinc created Users and Groups, cleanup User Rights assignments and remove Registry entries.
3. Additionally, delete the BOINC directory (default at C:\Program Files\BOINC) and the BOINC Data directory, which depending on your Windows version can be found at these default places:
Windows 98/SE/ME: C:\Windows\All Users\BOINC\ or C:\Windows\Profiles\All Users\BOINC\
Windows 2000/XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\BOINC\
Windows Vista: C:\ProgramData\BOINC\
For Windows Vista the BOINC Data directory can be hidden, so make sure you set Windows Explorer to show hidden files and folders.

That should get you a clean system to start with for a reinstall if you encounter major problems or just want to wipe the client.


For running your GPU with the Boinc client at GPUGrid, see see Razor FX II's post here for all the basic info you need to crunch on your GPU.
Also have a look at Razor_FX_II's testing and recommendation for current Boinc version.


reserved for FAQ's and install thoughts/recommendations: last update 12/28/08 with GPU info.



 
Since WCG recently made the jump to version 6 it seemed like it might be a good idea to get this rolling. ;)

I hope to keep this updated weekly with the "current" Boinc betas as well.


 
Hey :eek:, many thanks for your "update" brother noma8u. You are truly the WCG geek of the [H]orde forum ;)
Please tell me what you think. I have the WCG v5.10.45 program CPU WCGing 24/7 on two quads. It has run completely trouble free (no EUE's, no compatability problems, no nothin'). What I'm afraid of is the old sayin "if it ain't broke, don't fu*ck with it" Do you think it wise to even think about upgrading? I read where the client had been tested 6 mos. yada, yada, but like they even admitted, "the results may not be the same on your boxen" (or something to that effect :rolleyes:)
Thanks for any reply :p

Folding and WCGing for the CURE


 
jws2346 said:
Please tell me what you think. I have the WCG v5.10.45 program CPU WCGing 24/7 on two quads. It has run completely trouble free (no EUE's, no compatability problems, no nothin'). What I'm afraid of is the old sayin "if it ain't broke, don't fu*ck with it" Do you think it wise to even think about upgrading?

Folding and WCGing for the CURE


Click to expand...

If it's working smoothly for you, I see no reason to upgrade at this point JW. It's not a forced upgrade or anything. I just wanted to get a thread up to keep track of current software versions and add a little more info for anyone who wants to upgrade.

If you do decide to upgrade (I'm sure you will eventually at some point), since you're going to go from a 5.x version to 6.x I would certainly complete all outstanding WU first before upgrading. I haven't read any major issues with anyone upgrading. A couple of minor ones but nothing big. It seems even the WCG/Boinc software upgrades are pretty smooth...

If you decide to upgrade and run into any issues, just give a shout out and I'll help what I can.


 
thanks for the info nomad.. btw you should just keep updating the original post and have the beta's included in that post so that it doesnt become a confusing mess to find stuff..

going to try the 6.2.19 version see if it fixes the inconclusive error i keep getting on the fightaids@home projects...
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
thanks for the info nomad.. btw you should just keep updating the original post and have the beta's included in that post so that it doesnt become a confusing mess to find stuff..

going to try the 6.2.19 version see if it fixes the inconclusive error i keep getting on the fightaids@home projects...
Click to expand...

The first post will always contain the latest release versions. The last time I edited it, it didn't bump the thread so I decided to do the betas in separate posts. I did consider doing it that way though.

I run fightaids@home units on 6.2.18 with 3 overclocked quads with no problems at all. I think 6.2.19 will be fine as well.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
just ask them to sticky it..
Click to expand...

I doubt it would get a sticky, but it should be considered for inclusion in the HordeCentral thread. It's not just the WCGer's that are interested in BOINC updates.
 
alan2308 said:
I doubt it would get a sticky, but it should be considered for inclusion in the HordeCentral thread. It's not just the WCGer's that are interested in BOINC updates.
Click to expand...

I agree, no real need to stick it. I've got it bookmarked for updating it but I think it would indeed be a good idea to link it from the main Horde Central thread... Xil ;) ;)
 
From the 6.4.5 Beta ChangeLog:

- client: tweak CPU scheduling policy. When there's a coproc job:
Windows: don't saturate CPUs

Does this mean that GPUGRID won't take up an entire processor core now?
 
alan2308 said:
From the 6.4.5 Beta ChangeLog:

- client: tweak CPU scheduling policy. When there's a coproc job:
Windows: don't saturate CPUs

Does this mean that GPUGRID won't take up an entire processor core now?
Click to expand...

Not 100% sure but looking at a snip from the 6.4.2 change log:
- client: in round-robin simulation, only increment CPU shortfall (per-project or overall) if there are no pending tasks.

This is needed when there are coproc (i.e. CUDA) jobs; CPUs may be idle because pending jobs are waiting for active jobs to release coprocs.
Click to expand...

That sounds to me like what they're trying to accomplish. If you try it out and it works, let us know. ;)
 
alan2308 said:
From the 6.4.5 Beta ChangeLog:

- client: tweak CPU scheduling policy. When there's a coproc job:
Windows: don't saturate CPUs

Does this mean that GPUGRID won't take up an entire processor core now?
Click to expand...
If your referring to that 1 GPUGRID unit running takes up alot of a cpu core time then no, that optimization just was sent to GPUGRID for testing and it's not implemented yet. I'm hoping for GPUGRID to CPU utilization of something under 10% but who knows.

The 6.4.5 beta was an attempt to fix GPUGRID wanting to run a unit on a cpu core all by its self, with no other work unit running on the same cpu core. Alas it did not fix it.
The only way I know how to fix this issue is to exit Boinc then edit the C:\ProgramData\BOINC\client_state.xml file and search for the duration_correction_factor value under the GPUGRID section and change the number to 1 in this value.
They are still working this bug out of Boinc.

If you don't want to deal with this bug run 6.4.2 - If you will be downgrading your version from something higher you will need to detatch GPUGRID (you will loose any time on current GPUGRID WU your on), exit Boinc, uninstall Boinc, install Boinc 6.4.2 and re-attatch GPUGRID to your projects. Any non GPUGRID projects will still be there and unaffected.
 
Well I have moved all of my boxes to WCG. After 3 days of crashes on two of my boxes, I've given up (just temporarily) on F@H. When the SMP2 client comes out and if it as stable as they say it could be, then I'll migrate half back to it.

 
No new Betas but something else new that's interesting so I thought I'd put it up. I was debating whether or not to link this as you'll see why in a moment but decided to get everyone's input.

Boinc just released 6.4.5 as the recommended version for Windows 32 and 64 bit as well as Linux 32 and 64 bit.

Windows 32 bit.

Windows 64 bit.

Linux 32 bit.

Linux 64 bit.


Now before you go clicking on those links, here's the skinny. The major reason for this being released as the new recommended version by Boinc is for GPU support. HOWEVER I have seen reports that this version has introduced scheduler bugs and potentially others as reported here and I've seen at least one report @ XS that someones queue wasn't behaving properly which would certainly indicate a scheduling issue.

At this point I'm inclined to agree with the WCG CA that recommends staying with either WCG branded 6.2.28 or Boinc 6.2.19 for Windows and 6.2.15 for Linux. So I haven't updated the OP with the new "recommended" versions per Boinc.

I wanted to wait and get some feedback from you guys first. So what do you think, include the new versions on the OP as recommended or not? Either way I'll probably put them up alongside the latest "stable" current recommended versions until such time as a truly stable new recommended release is posted.

Give me you feedback.
 
I would not recommend this version as anything other then a still problimatic beta if you are running GPUGRID, but if you are running non GPU based WU's this should be fine for use.
I will be doing further testing with it tomorrow and I will report additional findings then.
 
Great. Thanks for the feedback.

I'm still waiting for some other people to check in on this for a consensus but I've seen a couple of references to the scheduler problem so I've got my doubts for a daily driver.
 
I have been using the 6.4.5 Boinc on 2 non GPUGRID systems for about a week and they have been running flawlessly, but when I run this on my GPUGRID system I can only fold 1 GPUGRID unit at a time without fixing the duration_correction_factor everytime a unit gets done.
So yes works good for everyday folder as long as you are not using GPUGRID.
 
I can report that version 6.5.0 has fixed the issue with the GPUGRID only running 1 work unit even if you had multiple video cards.
They added a Properties button.
I like how they intigrated the advanced views into one view now.
You can now see a colored progress bar and have controll over the update and suspend buttons at the same time.
 
Thanks for the update and feedback Razor.

Based on your observations and testing I'm going to go ahead and update post#1 to incorporate 6.4.5 as the recommended version. I am however going to leave the current recommended versions alonside them with a note to use them as fall backs in case anyone encounters issues with 6.4.5.

.
 
That sounds like a great idea. Thanks for your updates in this thread.
 
Boinc 6.5.0 (Pre-release) problems:
Sometimes keeps the projects running even with the option selected to stop the work on exit. Suspend all work before exiting to fix this.

Sometimes doesn't download GPUGRID work, pauses for 24 hours and gives this error under messages tab:
GPUGRID|Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
GPUGRID|Message from server: No work sent
GPUGRID|Message from server: Full-atom molecular dynamics for Cell processor is not available for your type of computer.

To fix this:
Shut down Boinc

Edit and save these two files with Notepad:
Vista:
C:\ProgramData\BOINC\client_state.xml
C:\ProgramData\BOINC\client_state_prev.xml
XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\BOINC\client_state.xml
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\BOINC\client_state_prev.xml

Under this section:
<project>
<master_url>http://www.gpugrid.net/</master_url>
<project_name>GPUGRID</project_name>

Change these three lines to:
<duration_correction_factor>1.000000</duration_correction_factor>
<nrpc_failures>0</nrpc_failures>
<master_fetch_failures>0</master_fetch_failures>

Start Boinc and select the GPUGRID project and click the Update button.
You should now get new GPUGRID work.

* I recommend 6.4.5 as a preferred client if you are not running GPUGRID.
* I recommend 6.4.2 as a preferred client if you are running GPUGRID.
 
Excellent work on the testing and findings Razor. I added a link in the OP and the 2nd post regarding your findings and a link to find your post easily.

I concur with the 6.4.2 Boinc version for GPU until they get some fixes in place. I'm going to load that one up on a box either today or tomorrow and give it a run.

Thanks!
 
Razor_FX_II said:
Edit and save these two files with Notepad:
C:\ProgramData\BOINC\client_state.xml
C:\ProgramData\BOINC\client_state_prev.xml
Click to expand...

Under Windows XP, these files are found under:

c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\BOINC
 
Much better, 2 SIMAP units running on the CPU cores, 1 GPUGRID unit running on the GPU.

I was worried though, I kept hitting update and it was requesting 0 seconds of work. It finally got some after about an hour of that.
 
No new Beta releases for a while now. Time to bump this back up for any of the potential new Commandos that might be wondering what is the "best" Boinc version to fire up.
 
Nomad8u, question for you. In upgrading (say from 6.2.19) to the current release, what do I need to do? My machines keep a couple of days worth of work in case of internet outages. Do I need to complete all of the work and then upgrade? Guidance would be appreciated.

Also, given that I am on 6.2.19 and the current is maintenance releases above mine, when would it be most prudent to upgrade? If you could indicate on the main page which versions would benefit from that release it would be great. ie., "All versions 6.2.19 and earlier would benefit from release of 6.2.x"

My belief is that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The release I'm on is rock solid stable (I can't actually believe a piece software is actually that), but want to make sure I'm not missing out :)
 
I've always jusr ran the installer. It'll stop everything, upgrade, and restart everything for you.

See post 31 for version recommendations.
 
Thanks Alan!!! Well that answers the first question. :)
 
If you're running 6.2.19 stable (I run this on one Windows machine) and don't need GPU, stick with it. No reason to upgrade right now. If you do decide to try another version I'd recommend going NO higher than 6.4.2 for now. That's only if you need GPU support.

I also recommend completing all work before upgrading but it's not absolutely necessary. I would backup the "X\Program Files\Boinc" folder and "X\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\BOINC" folder as well. Make sure to stop the Boinc Service before upgrading as well.

I haven't had to try it but have heard it is no problem to "downgrade" to a previous version by doing the same thing. Overall a very flexible install/setup routine...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top