NBR Folding@home Team

[DR650SE]

Welcome to the NBR Folding@home thread! Team #213698

TEAM STATS: Stanford (official) | EXTREME Overclocking | Kakao Stats Thank you to all of you who voted and for leading the NBR F@h team to success! Special thanks to Cleonard, justinkw1, Ryan, and BatBoy NBR Moderators Choice NBR Voters Choice - 2nd Place

How did the NBR F@h team start?

So I've looked into folding for a while. Always been interested. The latest client seems to be a bit more user-friendly then others. It also seems pretty easy to use because you can set it up and it will run both the CPU and GPU. So right now, I have it running on my CPU and both GPUs (Alienware M17x R2). I have not yet learned how to optimize it, and haven't had much time to research. I posted a few questions on the Folding@home Support Forums, specifically the "Help, I have no clue what I'm doing" subforum , but it doesn't seem to have much traffic.

The team I created is the NotebookReview Forums Folding Team. If anyone is interested in joining, the team Number is 213698. F@h can be run on all PCs, tons of GPUs, and even on the PlayStation 3. The PS3 is actually one of the best folding systems due to it's powerful processor.

One of the reasons I decided to try this out and create a team is because it is for a worthy cause. The information on protein folding is sent back to the Stanford School Of Medicine, where it is analyzed. There has been some success with the F@h project, and you can visit the F@h page for some info about it.

Downloads

Version: 7.1.52 - Recommended
https://fah-web.stanford.edu/file-re...7.1.52_x86.exe

Version: 6.41 (GPU3), 6.23 (GPU2)
Folding@home - DownloadWinOther

Version: 6.23 (CPU)
Folding@home - Download the Folding@home software application

What is Folding@home?

Visit the F@h home page for complete information.

Below is a description from Wikipedia, but basically it takes CPUs and runs them to do simulations that would otherwise cost huge sums of money and time. It uses all types of CPUs. It can utilize computer processors, PS3 processors, and graphics cards as well. (Source)

Spoiler :

Folding@home is a distributed computing project designed to use spare processing power on personal computers to perform simulations of disease-relevant protein folding and other molecular dynamics, and to improve on the methods of doing so. Also referred to as FAH or F@h, much of its work attempts to determine how proteins reach their final structure, which is of significant academic interest and has implications to both disease research and nanotechnology. To a lesser degree Folding@home also tries to predict that final structure from only the initial amino acid sequence, which has applications in drug design. Folding@home is developed and operated by the Pande Laboratory at Stanford University, under the direction of Vijay Pande.[8] The goal of the project is to "understand protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases".

Spoiler :

Folding@home's simulations of protein folding and misfolding enable the scientific community to better understand the development of many diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cancer, Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, Huntington's disease, cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anaemia, HIV, Chagas disease, influenza, osteogenesis imperfecta, autism,[10] and alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, among others. More fundamentally, understanding the process of protein folding — how proteins assemble themselves into a functional state — is one of the outstanding problems of molecular biology. The Pande lab has produced ninety-five scientific research papers as a direct result of the project, and Folding@home has caused paradigm shifts in protein folding theory.

In January 2010 the Folding@home project successfully simulated protein folding in the 1.5 millisecond range — a simulation thousands of times longer than ever previously achieved. Folding@home has pioneered the uses of GPUs, multi-core processors, and PlayStation 3s for distributed computing. It remains one of the world's fastest computing systems, and is more powerful than all distributed computing projects under BOINC combined. Folding@home's distributed simulations remain accurate compared to results from laboratory research, a "grand challenge" in computational biology. The Pande lab's goal is to refine Folding@home's methods to the level where it will become an essential tool for molecular medical research, and they collaborate with various scientific institutions and laboratories across the world.

Why do Folding@home?

It's strictly voluntary, but for me it's the satisfaction of contributing in a small way, to this research. You can also join teams and rack up points. Each work unit that is completed gives you points to contribute to the team.

NBR Team - 213698

Click this link for a Wikipedia points explanation.

Spoiler :

Distributed computing projects such as Folding@home are often driven by a sense of collegiate competition to compute the most for the project. Folding@home quantitatively assesses this through a point system. Donors are granted point credit as a measure of their contribution, and these points can foster friendly competition between donors. Points are determined by the performance of each contributor's folding hardware relative to a reference machine, and one or more Work Units from a project are benchmarked on that machine before the project is released. As some simulations are exceptionally demanding on a system, or are of great scientific priority, donors who opt-in and reliably complete these Work Units are non-linearly rewarded additional bonus points. This generates a fair system of equal pay for equal work, and attempts to align credit with the value of the scientific results. Donors can also use a passkey to securely protect their contributions, as they not only allow for the receipt of bonus points, but they also separate a donor from any policy issues arising from another using that username.

Users can register their contributions under a team, which register the combined score of all their members. A user can start their own team, or they can join an existing team. They can be used for troubleshooting or recruitment purposes, but can also keep donors motivated. In some cases, a team may have their own community-driven sources of help such as a forum. In addition, rivalries between teams create friendly competition that benefits the folding community, and members can also have intra-team competitions for top spots. However, regardless of username or team affiliation, all contributions go to the same place and have the same scientific value. Rankings and other statistics for both individuals and teams are posted to the Folding@home website, with third party statistics sites also available.

Do I have to be an overclocker?

NO!

Source - Napoleon-Folding Forum

FAH really needs to have the WUs (Work Units) returned as fast as possible. This is reflected in the nonlinear SMP bonus points system. The faster the return, the bigger the increase in bonus points

Overclocking can help complete Work Units faster for more points, but stability is the key here. F@H Stress' a system differently than wPrime or Prime95 or other GPU benchmarks due to its FPU (Floating Point Unit) intensity. So while a system may be wPrime stable, it's not necessarily F@h stable.

Here is a screenshot of my system running F@h. I let it run overnight and my CPU is maxed out at 84°C
F@h Screenshot - Alienware M17x R2 i7 940XM (ES) / AMD 6990 Crossfire.

Can I run Folding@home?

While most systems can run F@h, we have found that the Sager NP8130 and NP8150 with the 560M and 580M GPUs have trouble with Client version v7.1.38. It is recommended that you use client version 6.41 or the latest v7 client.

Additionally, problems with Sager NP8130s have been reported. Issues causing corruption have occurred on at least one member's system. If you fold on this system, please do so at your own risk and take precautions such as doing a backup before installing F@h.

Team News

No recent news to report.

Optimizations and Guides

V7 Beta Client Guide for Windows 7
Written by: zodac - Source

Warning: This is a beta client, and as such it has many bugs still being worked on.
The client is relatively stable with a single CPU/GPU set up, but can run into issues with multiple GPUs. The old clients are still supported.

Table of Contents
Spoiler 1 - Introduction and basic setup (one CPU/GPU).
Spoiler 2 - Enabling -bigadv WUs on suitable CPUs.
Spoiler 3 - Advanced setup (multiple CPUs/GPUs on one machine).
Spoiler 4 - Enabling Core16 WUs for AMD GPUs.
Spoiler 5 - Setting up HFM to monitor your client. (Not working yet; awaiting update.)
Spoiler 6 - Connecting multiple rigs to one client.
Spoiler 7 - Understanding Client v7 (for experienced users only).
Spoiler 8 - Configuring separate passkeys for individual slots.

This guide will outline the steps required to setup the Unified Client for Folding@home, to configure it to Fold for Team OCN using all CPU cores, and up to 7 GPUs on the same machine, and to track it all using the monitoring program HFM. This client is required for the new WUs for AMD 5/6 series GPUs. 3/4 series GPUs cannot use this client.

For new, multicore CPU Folders, be aware that SMP WUs have bonus points, with more bonus points the faster you finish the WU. However, the bonuses only come into effect after you have completed 10 SMP WUs. It is also advised not to switch to -bigadv Folding until you have qualified for these bonuses.

Again, you will need to submit 10 SMP WUs before you begin getting bonus points.

Introduction and basic setup

Spoiler :

What you'll need to begin:

1) The Windows Folding Client v7 (The x32 version is fine for Windows x64).
(Direct Link)

2) HFM.NET. Under "Featured Downloads". (Not working at the moment.)
(Direct Link)

3) An AMD 5 series GPU or newer, with Catalyst 11.1+. Or a CUDA supported nVidia GPU (listed here), with 266.xx drivers or newer.

4) A Folding passkey from Stanford. You can request one from here. This is not needed if you are only Folding on GPUs. However, it is essential for the SMP/Unicore clients.



Basic setup (only one CPU or GPU):

1) Run the install file for the Folding client. When prompted, choose "Custom install".



Now, install the client to the default location, but save the Data Folder to C> Program Files (x86)> FAHData.



Click "OK" when the pop-up appears.



For the next screen, leave all settings on the "Recommended" options.



2) Next, you reach the initial configuration screen. Enter the following:

• Donor: [Your Folding Name] (Check here to see if your preferred name is in use.)
• Team: 213698

• Passkey: [The passkey you requested earlier]
• Preferred Mode: SMP or GPU (If you have more than one GPU installed, a client will be made for each when choosing the GPU option.)



Complete the installation, and the client will start. You will get a Windows Firewall notification; allow access and move on.

3) You should see something similar to this:



While the client shows parts of a percent (0.00%), it currently only goes up in whole percentages initially. Depending on your CPU, it could take between 3 minutes and 50 minutes for 1%. However, when restarting the client and coming back to a WU in progress, you will see partial percentages too.

NOTE: If you wish to view the log of this client, you must first switch from "Novice" to "Expert" mode, by clicking the drop down menu.

Enabling -bigadv WUs

Spoiler :

The client will not enable the -bigadv flag by default, so it will need to be done manually. Now, at the moment, you cannot use less than 16 threads (equivalent to using -smp 7/-smp 6) and still get a -bigadv WU; To work bigadv WU's you must have a CPU that has 8 cores and 16 threads.

1) You will need to go to "Advanced" or "Expert" mode (check point 1 in post 3 if you're not sure how to).

2) Complete your current WU. To do this, right-click your SMP slot, and choose "Finish". This will pause the client once the current WU finishes.



3) Click the "Configure" button in the top left, and go to the slots tab.

4) Highlight the "SMP" slot, and click "Edit".



5) At the bottom, under "Extra slot options (expert only)", click "Add". Enter the following:

Name: client-type
Value: bigadv



6) Restart your client by right-clicking it and choosing "Fold".

You should now be receiving -bigadv WUs.

Advanced setup (CPU+GPU or multiple GPUs)

Spoiler :

1) Now we set up the client to take advantage of any remaining hardware. First we change from "Novice Mode" to "Expert Mode". Simply click the drop down arrow next to "Novice" and choose "Expert".



You now have access to a lot more information, which is explained in more detail in the second post of this guide. For now, ignore it, and we'll set up the GPUs.

2) Click the "Configure" button in the top left of the client. Then go to the "Slots" tab. Now, you can add an additional client. Assuming you set up with the SMP client initially, you can now add as many GPUs as you have available.





3) Click the "Add" button, and you are brought to a screen where you can add further clients. For the GPU, simply select the "GPU ID" box. For the ID, you can either manually set the GPU to ID 1, 2, etc. Or, for ease, you can leave it at -1, and the client will figure it out itself. Click "OK" to add the client.
For now, ignore the "Extra slot options" section.



4) Repeat this for however many GPUs you have. Congratulations! you've just set your computer up for Folding@home.
Now, you can leave the client on "Expert Mode", or switch it back to "Novice Mode", since it looks a bit sleeker".



The next post explains how to enabled -bigadv for CPUs with 8+ threads.. If you don't want to worry about that, the client is basically set up, so you can skip on to the 4th post, and see how to configure HFM to actually monitor your client's status and performance.

Enabling FahCore_16 WUs for AMD GPUs

Spoiler :

This section will give access to the new OpenCL WUs for AMD 5/6 series. There are beta WUs, and as such are very buggy.
Doing this does not stop old core 11 units from downloading and folding


1) First we change from "Novice" to "Expert" Mode. Simply click the drop down arrow next to "Novice" and choose "Expert".



2) Click on the "Configure" button and go to the "Slots" tab. Highlight the "gpu" slot, and click the "Edit" button.





3) At the bottom, under "Extra slot options (expert only)", click "Add". Enter the following:

Name: client-type
Value: advanced



4) Fold away.

HFM.NET Guide

Spoiler :

At the moment, HFM can't actually read the logs produced by the new client. So, I'm leaving this post empty until an update is made.

Connecting multiple machines

Spoiler :

The new client also gives you the option to connect other machines to each client. You will then be able to monitor each computer's client, as well as having basic client options, such as pausing/restarting one of the slots.

NOTE: I am assuming both computers are on the same network. "Remote" remoting connecting clients would use the same principles though.

1) Make sure both computers you want to connect have the client installed. Switch your clients to "Expert" mode.

2) On the main computer, on the left "Clients" panel, click "Add" at the bottom.



3) Enter the name you wish to call the client, the IP address, the port number (you can leave 36330 as default), and the password (choose your own).



To get the IP address of the computer you wish to monitor, go to the secondary computer and open command prompt. Type "ipconfig", then find the following line:



4) You should now have two clients in your Clients list, and you can monitor them both as if they're local. Simply rightclick the specific client slot (not the client itself) and then you can choose from one of the options there.



I don't believe monitoring remote clients creates a new log folder, so if you're using HFM/Fahmon, you will need to connect them (if on the same network), or use a hosting site as usual to monitor them too.

Understanding the client

Spoiler :

This section is for experienced Folders only. Much of the information here is not needed if you just wish to run the client.

So, you've added slots for all your CPUs and GPUs. Now, assuming you've kept "Expert" mode on, this is what you see before you:



So, we'll split it up into 4 parts:





Clicking this button will bring you to the advanced settings options, with the following tabs:



Here you can change the client name, IP address, port, and the password used to start the client. This will be explained further in the "Clients List" section below.



This tab is used to change your Folding@home username, team number, and passkey used.



Here it lists all client slots you have running; all SMP, Unicore or GPU clients. You can also press the "Edit" button, and change some of the settings, such as changing the number of cores the SMP client uses (beware; doing this mid-WU will cause the WU to reset).

List of possible flags.



This section allows you to secure remote accessing of your clients. You can set a password, a port to use, as well as allow/deny IP addresses.



This tab is rather similar to the old "Advanced" tab for the GPU/Unicore clients. It's pretty straightforward; you can change the priority and CPU usage of the FahCore_xx.exe file. You can also edit the "Checkpointing frequency", saves a checkpoint of the WU periodically.

For the "Optimizations" setting, you can ignore the first option, unless you have an old, old CPU. For semi-modern CPUs, there's no issue with the instructions. You can also ignore the "CPU affinity locking" option. Since you can't specify which core you're locking the core to, it's better to use another program instead.

The "Power" option gives you the choice of pausing the client when Folding on a laptop not connected to a power supply, to preserve battery life.

"Verbosity" specifies the detail in the log; 1 is basic info, 5 is full detail. It is set to 3 by default.



The final tab allows you to add additional commands to your clients. Since most commands are added by default (such as the old "-smp", "-forcegpu", "-gpu x", "-verbosity x" flags), you probably won't need to use this section too often.





Here, you have rather basic client settings.

Startup & Shutdown. Whether you want the client to start up minimised, and whether you want the client to quite when closed (by default, it minimises when closed, and you must quit from the systray).

Local Client. Whether you want the client to start when you log in, and what command to use.

Visualization. What command to use for the viewer, whether it's fullscreen or not, and the resolution to use, as well as which style of visualisation to use.

I have yet to determine whether the viewer hurts the client as the old one did.



Options to change the client status.

Fold. Continue Folding if the client has been paused.

Pause. Pause all client slots.

Finish. Pause all client slots after they finish their current WU. Similar to the -pause and -oneunit flags of the old clients.

These options affect all client slots. To change just one of the clients, right-click it and choose the option.



The button to open the Folding viewer:



Options for the viewer can be found by going through the "Preferences" options (outlined above).

By default, the viewer will show the visualization (and WU information) for the first slot in the client. If you wish to see info and visualization from one of your other slots, highlight the preferred slot.

Again, I have yet to determine whether the viewer hurts the client as the old one did.



What it says, really.

"Hide" will minimize the client to the system tray, while "Quit" will close the client completely.



A list of all clients being monitored. The local client is the only one there by default, though you can add more clients (outlined in post 4).




This section of the client shows the name you are currently Folding under, as well as which team. If you click on your Folding name, it will take you to the Stanford stats page for that username.

Next to the team number, you have a drop down menu. From there you can choose this stats site clicking the team number takes you to (username will always go to Stanford though). Your options are:



The most popularly used Folding stats site on OCN is Extreme Overclocking.


This part of the client lists the slots you have running on your client; your SMP, Unicore and GPU clients.

The information given is:

• The ID of each slot
• Whether it is running, paused, or hung.
• The description. For SMP slots, it will list the number of cores/threads being used. For GPU clients, it will list which number GPU it is in your rig (starting at 0), the GPU core, and then the GPU itself.



This section is similar to HFM/Fahmon/other Folding monitoring program, with the notable exception of PPD and Time Per % values. It gives the following information for each slot:

• The ID of each slot
• Whether it is running, paused, or hung.
• The amount of the WU it has completed.
• The estimated time remaining to complete the WU.
• The credit of the WU (including bonuses for SMP/Unicore WUs).
• The Project number, and the in brackets, the Run, Clone, Gen values.

When comparing PPD and performance, the Project number alone is needed. When there is a problem with your client, all PRCG values are needed.



Just a complete dossier on your system.

A couple of things to note.

1) Build. The "Platform" will be "win32 Vista" whether you have Vista or Windows 7, and the "Bits" will be "32" regardless of whether you have an 32-bit or 64-bit OS. This is because the client itself is natively 32 bit.

2) System. The GPUs your have set up will be listed here, as well as their CUDA capabilities. You'll also see where all the logs and work folders are stored under "CWD".



The standard log of your client, listing the status and progress of each slot. You won't need to worry about it too much unless you're having trouble with your WUs (it keeps crashing, never starts, etc).



Similar to the "Work Queue" section above, but with a bit more information:

• The FahCore being used (FahCore_a3, _15, _a5, etc).
• How many attempts to connect to the server have been made (when trying to upload/download a WU).
• Time of download and final deadline.
• Server the WU was downloaded from, and will be uploaded to.
• Unique WU ID.

Multiple Passkeys

Spoiler :

This section is primarily for the Team Competition Folders, but anyone who wishes to use more than one passkey will benefit from this guide.

1) Switch to "Advanced" or "Expert" mode, and then click the "Configure" button and go to the "Slots" tab.

Now, highlight the slot you'd like to add a different passkey to, and click "Edit".



2) At the bottom, under "Extra slot options (expert only)", click "Add". Enter the following:

Name: passkey
Value: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (32 character passkey)



3) Thank me by sending me cookies.

Additional Information / Tools

Understanding the SMP Bonus Point System

Spoiler :

Quick Return Bonus (QRB) Plan Qualification

by 7im » Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:35 am

• 
  Introduction

The Quick Return Bonus (QRB) also known as Bonus points was first implemented with tthe SMP2 Beta Client and will eventually be implemented for other clients. It is now being applied to some projects for the Uniprocessor client. It encourages you to return the WU (Work Unit) as quickly as possible by rewarding you points which increases rapidly the faster you return any WU before its Preferred Deadline (Details). The reason is that WUs returned quickly are more scientifically valuable as they allow important research to progress faster.

• Requirements For QBR

In order for Donors to take advantage of Bonus Points, there are some basic requirements which one must meet:
1) Use SMP2 Beta Client v6.3X or higher (Details).
2) Configure the Client with a Passkey (Details).
3) Successfully fold 10 QRB designated WUs (FahCore_a3, etc.) before their preferred deadline by using the same combination of Username and passkey.
4) Maintain a successful return rate of >=80% for QRB WUs, i.e. out of every 10 QRB WUs assigned, you must return at least 8 of them.

• Formula For QRB

Once the Username/Passkey combination has successfully been qualified for Bonus Points, they will be calculated by this formula:
final_points = base_points * max(1,sqrt(k*deadline_length/elapsed_time))
The max(1,...) ensures that final_points are never lower than base_points.

The above formula is converted to Points Per Day (PPD) as follows:
ppd = base_ppd * speed_ratio * max(1,sqrt(x*speed_ratio))
where speed_ratio is the machine speed relative to the Core i5, and x = k * deadline_length

• Failure To Get QRB

Despite fulfilling all the requirements for QRB, if you are not getting bonus points, it could be because:
1) The assigned WU wasn't uploaded before the Preferred Deadline.
2) A change occurred to the passkey and/or username after the WU was assigned.
3) The username/passkey combination used has yet to qualified for QRB as it didn't finish 10 QRB WUs.
4) Total number of WUs that have not been returned exceed 20% of your assigned WUs.
5) The WU that was returned was incomplete, e.g. EARLY_UNIT_ENDED, UNSTABLE_MACHINE, etc. (Details)

Please note that 3rd party tools do their best to estimate how many points you will receive when a WU is completed. Actual points are based entirely on the information that the server receives, which may include information that 3rd party tools cannot know. 3rd party tools assume that you'll finish the WU successfully (which may not happen) and that the current rate of production (which may change) will be continued up to 100% and that the result will be successfully uploaded immediately thereafter.

• Troubleshooting QRB

Despite fulfilling all the requirements for QRB, if you are not getting bonus points, you may check:
1) Are there any typos in the username and/or passkey?
2) Is the username/passkey combination qualified for the QRB?
3) Are any of your clients producing errors which may have caused you to fall below the 80% WU return rate?
4) Are you finishing the WU before the Preferred Deadline?
5) Is the Client properly configured?

• Useful Links

Folding@home Passkey FAQ
Passkey form
Brief Overview Of SMP2 Client
SMP2 Detailed Installation Guide
SMP2 Pictorial Guide
V7 Beta Pictorial Guide

Troubleshooting "BAD WU's"

Spoiler :

Troubleshooting "Bad WUs"

by PantherX » Sun Oct 31, 2010 6:40 pm
While folding on your CPU/GPU you may have encountered a Work Unit (WU) that has given an error. When that happens, the WU falls into one of two categories and it is almost impossible to tell the difference:

1 - Problematic Hardware
Sometimes a WU assigned to your F@h Client is a good one but due to some specific hardware problem on your system, it cannot be fold correctly. Thus it has returned an error. This issue can be fixed on the donors side (more details below).

2 - Bad WU
A certain percentage of WUs will encounter an error on perfectly good hardware. The Pande Group (PG) tries to keep a very low error rate (<1% of the Project) but you may occasionally get a WU that will fail. Unfortunately they can't tell which WUs are going to be bad until somebody runs them. This issue might be fixed on PG's side (more details below).

The primary purpose of this topic is to help you differentiate between the two by eliminating those things that you can do something about (item 1), leaving only Bad WUs to be reported.

A list of common errors can be found in these FahWiki pages; CoreStatus and Common Errors, which may give you an idea of what has happened. If you have encountered an error, please post the relevant section of your FAHlog/FAHlog-Prev (Details) in the F@h "Issues with a Bad WU" Forum and make sure that the thread title is the PRCG (Details) of that WU.
Note: The use of -advmethods flag increases your probability of getting a bad WU since you will have access to late-beta stage WUs.

---

1 - Problematic Hardware

by PantherX » Mon Nov 01, 2010 8:10 am

• Problematic Hardware

Due to the diversity of hardware, it is impractical to test the WUs on every setup. Before PG releases a Project to the public, they follow a certain protocol to ensure that their Project(s) run on as many systems as possible. Below is a brief summary of their protocol: (it assumes that the new Project passes each stage)
Stage 1: A new Project undergoes internal (PG Members only) testing to ensure that the new Project meets their standards on designated test hardware.
Stage 2: The new Project is made available to Beta Testers (Details) who ensure that the WUs can be processed without any errors on a range of available hardware.
Stage 3: The new Project is then made available to those F@h Donors that are using the -advmethods flag. The Project is then monitored to see if any anomaly occurs due to the diversified nature of hardware folding this new Project.
Stage 4: The new Project is then made available to all F@h Donors. Rare error reports may still be encountered (more details below).

• Troubleshooting The Classic Client & SMP2 BETA Client

Since both of the F@h Clients use the CPU, the troubleshooting techniques are common.

• Stock Systems

Running the F@h Clients on a stock system is very simple and there aren't many issues with these systems. The most common troubleshooting technique on these systems is:

1) If you are experiencing FILE_IO_ERROR, you should do the following:
A) Run CHKDSK to ensure that the hard disk drive isn't faulty.
B) Make sure that the folder isn't being "shared" by another Client. If you have multiple Clients, they must be running from separate folders.
C) Some Anti-Virus programs can interfere with the folding files. Adding the folding directory to the exception list will avoid this problem.
D) You may not have write permission for that folder so check your permission level.
E) The partition may be full so consider freeing up some space.

• Overclocked Systems

Please note that Overclocking (OCing) your hardware will void your warranty and may damage your hardware. You're solely responsible for your action(s). OCing can increase the frequency of hardware errors so PG Members are not supportive of it, nonetheless many F@h Donors OC safely (NOTE: Factory overclocking is still considered overclocking). This Forum has no official stance, but when solving a problem, we first focus on the OC simply because history has shown that it's often the root cause of reported problems.

This Forum doesn't assist people to OC their hardware. You are better off asking those questions in OCing Forums. F@h is a stressful application and an unstable system that generates errors and will probably cost you more points that the overclock gains. The errors also slow down the Science since duplicate WUs are sent out to determine if the WU is bad (more details below), hence if your system produces errors, you must adjust it to the point that it can process the most demanding WU without errors. If you are not sure of something, please avoid doing it or ask before doing it. The techniques are:

1) If you have OCed your CPU, please return it to stock settings and see if you still get errors. Folding is a CPU intensive application and pushes the CPU to its limits in ways that may not be detected by common stability tests. Hence you may need to reduce your OC settings to make it "F@h Stable". Do note that the F@h developers have their own stress software called Stress CPU which you can run to ensure that your CPU produces scientifically valid results. Stress CPU is more stressful than Prime95.

2) If you have OCed your RAM, please return them to stock settings and see if you encounter an error. Common tips to mitigate RAM errors are:
A) Loosen the timings since too tight timings may cause an issue.
B) Check the voltage applied to the RAM.

3) Make sure that the temperatures while folding are within a safe range. Since there isn't any clear definition of "safe range" due to the variety of available CPUs. Know that, the cooler the CPU runs while folding, the better it is. You can use temperature monitoring applications to see the current system temperature like Core Temp, HWMonitor, Real Temp which are available for free. If you have noticed that the temperature isn't in the safe range, you can:
A) Reduce your OC.
B) Increase your fan speed.
C) Ensure that your system has proper ventilation.
D) Clean any dust build-ups from your system.

• Troubleshooting The GPU2 Client & GPU3 BETA Client

Since both of the F@h Clients use the GPU, the troubleshooting techniques are common.

• Stock Systems

Running the F@h GPU Client(s) on a stock system is very simple and there aren't many issues with these systems. The most common troubleshooting techniques on these systems are:

1) If a factory OCed GPU is giving an error, you should lower the frequencies to the GPU manufacturer's stock settings to check if the error appears or not. If no error appears, then the factory OC wasn't "F@h Stable" hence you have to tweak the OC to avoid any further errors.

2) If you are experiencing FILE_IO_ERROR, you should do the following:
A) Run CHKDSK to ensure that the hard disk drive isn't faulty.
B) Make sure that the folder isn't being "shared" by another Client. If you have multiple Clients, please use separate folders for each.
C) Some Anti-Virus programs can interfere with the folding files. Make sure you add the folding file to the exception list.
D) Be sure that FAH recognizes your hardware. The incorrect use of the -forcegpu flag can cause failures and can adapt your FAH client for the wrong hardware.
E) You may not have write permission for that folder so check your permission level.
F) The partition may be full so consider freeing up some space.


3) When upgrading your drivers, please use this freeware application Driver Sweeper to remove any stubborn file(s) which might cause problems when your try to fold.

4) Please refrain form folding on BETA Drivers and reporting any issues with them. If you are using BETA Drivers, and a problem appears, F@h developers can't differentiate whether it is the Drivers fault (GPU Vendors' bug) or something in their software (F@h bug). Hence please wait for the WHQL Driver release which will be tested by the F@h developers and once it is verified to produce scientifically valid results, you can update your Drivers if you wish (Details). You can also search the Forum to see which Drivers are used for folding.

• Overclocked Systems

Please note that Over-Clocking (OCing) your hardware will void your warranty and may damage your hardware. You're solely responsible for your action(s). Please remember that officially, OCing is discouraged (Details). Do note that this Forum doesn't specifically cater towards OCing hardware so if you need advice, you are better off asking those questions in a forum that caters to such audience.

The reason to check one's hardware is that F@h is a stressful application and an unstable system will generate errors which will cost you your F@h Points. This also slows down the Science since duplicate WUs are sent out to ensure that the WU is bad (more details below). Hence if your system produces errors, you must adjust it to ensure that you can fold without any errors. The techniques are:

1) Return your GPU to its stock settings to see if the error reappears. If no error appears, then your OC wasn't "F@h Stable" hence you have to tweak the OC to avoid any further errors.

2) Test the memory on your GPU. OpenCL works on supported ATI/AMD GPUs as well as Nvidia GPUs.

OpenCL -> [ATI - 9.12 or higher Driver + ATI Stream SDK & Nvidia - 195 or higher Driver] Can you run MemtestCL without any errors at default? If yes, then repeat the test by increasing the number of runs and memory used by this method:

Code: Select all

Step 1: Start up a command prompt (start -> run -> cmd OR Win key+R -> type cmd OR Windows 7 users can browse to the directory and Shift+Right Click -> "Open command window here")

Step 2: Change to the directory where the MemtestCL executable is located

Step 3: Type this:
memtestCL 128 100

Step 4: The first value is the value of GPU RAM to be used while the second value is the number of times the test will run, both can be changed so you can check your GPU

Step 5: Once it completes the test, it will show you the Final error count. 0 will indicate everything is fine while a non-zero digit may indicate instabilities.

If the error value is not zero (0), then the GPU is faulty. Consider returning your GPU frequencies to stock or even even lower to see if the error stops. If it doesn't then the GPU isn't producing scientifically valid data so consider changing the GPU or stop the F@H GPU Client on that GPU. (Discussion Thread)
Note: If you have Nvidia GPUs, you can run MemtestG80 which uses CUDA. Just replace the "memtestCL" with "memtestG80" in the above instructions. (Discussion Thread)

3) Make sure that the temperatures while folding are within a safe range. Since there isn't any clear definition of "safe range" due to the variety of GPUs available. Know that, the cooler the GPU runs while folding, the better it is. You can use temperature monitoring applications to see the current system temperature like GPU-Z, HWMonitor, Real Temp which are available for free.

Heat problems are more of a problem if you have multiple GPUs or if you have a single-slot GPU which exhausts the heat into your case. Also, various projects put different stresses on the hardware, so just because the previous project didn't overheat doesn't mean that the next project won't.

If you have noticed that the temperature isn't in the safe range, you can:
A) Reduce your OC.
B) Increase your fan speed.
C) Increase the ventilation of your system.
D) Clean any dust build-ups from your system.

• Using qfix To Submit A Complete/Partial wuresult

Under some rare circumstances, the F@h Client may not be able to send a wuresult. In this case, you can use a 3rd party application called qfix. Do note that the instructions below are for Windows so if you use Linux or OSX, please adapt these instructions according to your OS.

• Using Command Line Interface

Step 1: Stop your F@h Client by using CTRL + C (for console version) or the X Button (for Systray Version)
Step 2: Place qfix your F@h Client folder
Step 3: Open a Command Line Interface windows by going to Start -> Run -> type cmd -> click OK
Step 4: Change the directory to your F@h Client's folder by using cd command
Step 5: Run qfix
Note A: If you're folding the same WU as the one which failed (same PRCG), note the number of the slot you're currently running. When a WU starts processing, it will tell you which slot position it's in with a message like "[12:45:08] Working on queue slot X [October 31 12:45:08 UTC]"
Step 6: Run your client with -send all flag (Method) to send the recovered partial/complete WU
Note B: If you're folding the same WU as the one which failed, delete your current WU by running the client with flag -delete X where X is the number displayed in Note A.
Step 7: Close the Command Line Interface window
Step 8: Restart your F@h Client like before (normal method)

• Using Windows Shortcuts

Step 1: Downloaded qfix and put it in the F@h Client folder
Step 2: Create a copy of qfix on the desktop as a shortcut
Step 3: Create a F@h shortcut with the -send all flag (Method)
Step 4: Stop your F@h Client by using CTRL + C (for console version) or the X Button (for Systray Version)
Step 5: Double click the qfix shortcut
Step 6: Double click the send all shortcut
Step 7: Restart your F@h Client like before (normal method)

Once you have submitted your complete/partial wuresult, please wait for the next update of the Official Stats before verifying that you have received credits.

---

2 - Bad WU

by PantherX » Mon Nov 01, 2010 8:38 am

• Bad WU

It is statistically impossible to have a Project without a single bad WU. You may encounter them, although they are rare. If you happen to get a WU which may be bad, please make a report of it in this Forum stating the PRCG (Details) and the relevant section of the FAHlog/FAHlog-Prev (Details). Do note that for each error a WU gives, an additional copy is sent out to ensure that the WU is bad rather than faulty hardware. Once you have reported the WU, the Forum Administrators/Moderators will do a lookup on that WU. If three or more reports are there of an error, the WU is marked as bad. Please note that this isn't an instantaneous process so if you happen to be reassigned to the same WU, please do the following:
Step 1: Stop the F@h Client
Step 2: Delete the Work folder
Step 3: Delete the queue.dat file
Step 4: Change the Machine ID to another unique value
Step 5: Start the F@h Client

After that, you will be assigned another WU so you can continue folding. Do monitor the WU that you have reported. If it turns out to be bad, it is alright. If someone else completes it, then you need to check your system. Please remember that an occasional error can be expected and there isn't any definitive reason as to why it happened. It is generally okay to have an error or two once in a while but if the errors are frequent, then it is advised to look further to eliminate any cause of this problem so you can increase your contribution to F@h.

I wish to thanks the following users who have contributed in this thread: (alphabetically)
7im
bruce
toTOW
uncle fuzzy

Answers to: Reasons for not using F@H.

Spoiler :

Answers to: Reasons for not using F@H.

by John Naylor » Sat Feb 09, 2008 4:10 pm
Common reasons people give for not installing F@H, and the counterarguments...

Will F@H reduce the security of my computer?
The Folding@home client and distributed computing system is no less safe than other programs that you can download from the internet and run on your computer. Because security of the F@H client is very important to the Pande Group, they have designed the F@H system to be as secure as feasible through encrypted downloads/uploads, file checksums, etc. F@H should not reduce the security of your computer. But, to ensure maximum security of your computer, never download a client or purported client update from anywhere other than the official download page.

Can’t they just use a Supercomputer? /They already have 400,000 processors, how is my one processor going to make any difference?
F@H is more than three times as powerful as the world’s current most powerful supercomputer, in terms of operations per second, so using a supercomputer would be a massive step backwards for the project. Even with that in mind, the project is still restricted by the power available to it and needs all the extra silicon it can get.

Won't this stop me using my computer?
F@H is designed to give priority to any process other than itself, so if you use your computer it will back off to allow the programs you run to have all the power they need. This applies to the CPU and SMP clients, but GPUs do not have this functionality so it is recommended that GPU clients are paused if a GPU-heavy program is to be used.

I’m worried about the environment, won’t running this program increase greenhouse gas emissions?/ Won’t running my computer at full or near full usage all the time make my electricity bill skyrocket?
F@H needs only to be run when your computer is running. From the folding@home website here the average computer uses 100W a day if heavily loaded, which works out at about $10/month (using a value of $0.15/kWh) if the computer is run flat out 24/7. If you factor in the time that you would be using that machine anyway, the cost is going to be much lower. As for the PS3, thus uses about 200W (using the original power supply) and about 115W on the newer power supplies in the 40/80gig models. The Slim model further reduces power consumption to around 80W. That is between $8 and $20 a month again assuming the machine folds 24/7 and $0.15/kWh.
Cheers to Tarx:There is also the fact that treating all the diseases which this project can and probably will help find cures for, has a significant environmental cost (i.e. to power all the necessary machinery), and also a significant financial cost should you become a victim of the diseases. The comparatively small extra outlay for running F@H is peanuts compared to the cost of treating these diseases.

Won’t running my computer at full usage/100% all the time damage it?
Modern computer chips are precision instruments, they are designed to be able to operate continuously at full speed without degrading. A typical example of this would be the humble web server. These serve thousands, maybe tens of thousands of connections a minute and are fully loaded for long periods at a time, yet hardly ever fail due to hardware faults. For the more technically minded, it is usually a good idea to clean out any heatsinks though (this applies to both desktops and laptops).
Good point by kikimarie:You may wish to install a temperature program and watch the temperatures if you are using a laptop to run F@H. Well designed laptops should stay within their defined operating temperatures but will almost certainly get noisy, and the temperature monitor program should ensure peace of mind about the noise. However if your laptop cannot cope with the extra heat then the monitoring program will alert you to its' overheating and the need to buy a cooling pad or similar device, to enable continued running of F@H.

This is pointless; you can’t solve something like this without lab work!
This is correct, however Folding@Home uses independently tested and proven techniques to advance and work alongside the work done in laboratories across the planet.

F@H is irrelevant now due to [Corporation X]’s research. Why bother?
As long as we lack complete knowledge about how and why proteins misfold, the work of the Folding@Home project will remain relevant. Maybe the project will render itself irrelevant by solving these problems, we don’t know. But for the foreseeable future, the project will not be rendered irrelevant by the research of any one company or group of companies.

How can I be sure that my resources, "loaned" for free, will not be used to generate research that will then be sold for profits, e.g. like United Devices?
Folding@Home is a project run by Stanford University, and they release all of their findings into the world free of charge, in the form of peer reviewed papers. See here for more. Anyone in the world can then use the results to further their own research without the need to redo these computationally intensive simulations.

I have an internet usage cap, using F@H will use more than I am allowed, will it not?
Put simply, no. The uniprocessor clients use up to 10MB each way at their normal settings (assuming use of v6 clients), but most computers if run just during the day will only finish a Work Unit every 2 or 3 days. Over a 30 day period that is an absolute maximum of 300MB (if a WU is completed every 2 days, so 15 WUs at 10MB each way), or well within any usage cap. Most Work Units are far smaller than that limit anyway, and the v5 and v6 clients can be set to limit Work Unit downloads to 5MB each way.
WARNING: Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the GPU clients if run on higher-end GPUs - if run for ten hours a day internet usage can be as high as 30MB... which over a thirty day period is 900MB. Please consider this if you have a high- or top-end GPU and want to run the client, but have a bandwidth cap.

The Project has been running since 2000, but I don't see any cures. Why not?
For this, a note from the director of the project:

VijayPande wrote:In terms of big picture highlights, we spent the first 5-6 years working out how to use distributed computing to efficiently tackle protein folding and then applying it to do the first simulations of protein folding reaching the folded state with experimental validation, etc. This was one of our primary goals laid out in the Science section and we're excited to have accomplished that. Part of our work today involves continuing in that direction with more complex systems, continuing to push the state of the art.

The other part of our work is to apply these methods to study disease, especially Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Huntington's Disease (HD). We are interested in understanding what's going on in these diseases to facilitate a cure. Indeed, our motto in big letters on our web page is "Our goal: to understand protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases," and we are on track for that. One could ask "how do you know if you understand the disease?" A good answer is new small molecule drugs which appear to prevent or minimize the effects of the disease. This too is in the works, with encouraging results in the lab (but it's not time to talk about this publicly until it passes peer review).

However, it takes a long time (often as much as 2-3 years) from the point where we have something interesting in the lab to where we are talking about the results publicly (it has to be validated by ourselves and go through peer review). Our first results on AD and HD will hopefully be coming out soon, i.e. in the next 6 to 12 months or so.

Finally as for a cure -- a cure takes a while to test and develop. First, one has to understand what's going on and that's where basic science comes in and most of what FAH does. However, we and others are excited to take the published results from FAH and apply them to real world problems such as AD and HD and our expectation is that our work could give some critical insights into these diseases, thereby helping to accelerate a cure.

Additional Tools List

Spoiler :

Tools list

by John Naylor » Sun Dec 02, 2007 2:19 pm (Last Edit: Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:25 pm)

This list of third party tools was originally compiled and maintained by NicoV, but due to his work constraints has been taken over by myself. Most of the credit goes to him.

bruce wrote:I want to publically thank NicoV for the service he has provided by creating and updating this list until now. It's a real service for all of us.

I echo that sentiment.
Comments, broken link reports, or new tools to add to the list are welcome, just PM me (I prefer Private Messages, no need to overload this topic).
The authors of the tools are welcome to send me a short description of the tool so I can add it here.
BTW, you can link to this topic as much as you want, or even copy its content to another web site.

Monitoring
- FahMon: (T) -
FahMon is a small open-source tool. It allows you to quickly find out the progress of your client(s) without having to open different files and/or to go to the Internet. Versions 2.3.99.3 and later can calculate the bonus used in the SMP2 and -bigadv clients.

- HFM.NET: (T) -
HFM.NET is a monitoring application similar in design to FahMon - coded in C# and running under the .NET framework - but which gives more information than the current version of FahMon (2.3.99.3 at the time of writing) displays. It is currently under development, but works for many people. HFM.NET can also calculate the bonus used in the bigadv and SMP2 programs.

- DCMonitor: -
DCMonitor can monitor multiple clients for Distributed Particle Accelerator Design (DPAD/MUON), Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS), Folding at Home (F@H), and Seventeen or Bust (SoB) projects.

- LCDProc Monitor: -
A script that parses your unitinfo.txt from a Folding@Home client, calculates some basic stats and displays them on a LCD screen.

- Linux F@H Work Unit Monitor: -
Gkrellfah2 is a monitor and interface for the Linux Folding@Home client in GkrellM (Ver. >= 2.2). Also available is a client/server version for monitoring remote machines using GkrellMD.

- GFHCM - GTK Folding@Home Linux Client Monitor: -
GFHCM includes a stand alone version suitable for local desktop use. GFHCMC/GFHCMD is a client/server set that provides a daemon for remote and local machines that communicates to the client using socket programming. Using this combination it is possible to monitor 100+ remote machines from one client GFHCMC instance, or simply monitor you local desktop, using the daemon locally.

- InCrease: (T) -
InCrease is a GUI for monitoring, configuring, and controlling the Folding@home command-line client. Works with both the SMP and uniprocessor clients. Detects existing clients or selects and installs the client appropriate to the system on which it is running. Can also monitor remote Mac, Linux, and Windows units via network file systems.
With InCrease, you can easily have folding start when your machine boots. You can start, stop, pause, and continue easily from InCrease or its Dock menu. You can automatically pause while on laptop battery power, or while select applications are running. Compatible with fahlimit.
Requires OSX 10.2 or later; autoupdate features requires OSX 10.3.9 or later.

- FAH Tracker v2: -
FAH Tracker v2 is a program for monitoring and controlling Folding clients. It is mainly aimed at controlling multi-GPU setups but supports SMP and CPU clients too.

- FAH LogStats: -
FAH Log Stats allows users to monitor the progress of a Folding@Home client, locally, or remotely via Windows shares and FTP . Its written in Borland C++ Builder 6 and features a semi-configurable user interface.

- nFoldMan: -
nFoldMan is a successor to FAHManager and FAHMonitor, and generalizes the monitoring of folding processes to enable tracking any number of them on this machine, a file-shared machine, or a remote machine over the network. Remote processes can be located for monitoring using Rendezvous. Local processes can be controlled and remote processes may be controllable if they permit it.
Requires OSX 10.3 or later.

- Folding@Home Client Info:
Cross-platform set of perl scripts. Clients send data to a server that can be viewed in any web browser.

- Folding@Home Kicker Applet: -
Folding@home Applet is an applet for the KDE panel. It provides a convenient and unobtrusive way to monitor, visualise, and control the Folding@home client software on Unix systems running KDE.

- Konfabulator 2 widget:
An all new Konfabulator Widget to monitor the current F@H WU. It will display, as scrolling or static text: User Name, Project Name, Percentage of WU completed, WU Points, Date WU should be completed by. Also shows a graphical progress bar.

- FAHView & FAHServe:
FAHView is a very flexible progress bar for the Folding @ Home console. It allows you to view the progress of each protein F@H is working on, with very low cpu and memory usage. It can act as client software for FAHServe.
FAHServe is a data-collection server for the FAHView client. It allows you to track up to 3000 clients across your local network or across the internet. FAHServe also lets you send commands to your FAHView clients.

- Folding From Tray: -
A small tool allowing you to start and stop the FAH service with a simple click.
It also allows you to check the current WU's progress, get an estimated time remaining and download the protein's picture and your personal statistics.

- FAH Monitor & Farm -
A utility to supervise local and remote F@H nodes, with the capability to cache WU information for the hosts which do not have direct access to the Internet. Supports skins (26 are available now). Displays the following information about the current WU: WUname, FAHcorename, FAHcoreversion, WUcredits, WUstartdate, WUdeadline, WUforecastend, PPD, PPH, run-clone-gen. Also builds histograms of productivity for each of the present 6 cores for each node. This program is currently under active development.
For Windows 2000/XP only.

- Yahoo! Widget:
A Widget to monitor the status of your Folding@home client. Displays a bar showing Work Unit (WU) progress completed and uses scrolling text to display the user name, the project name, the WU percentage completed, points earned for the current WU, and the date it is due back at the server.

- UnitInfo: -
UnitInfo is a Dashboard widget that displays your most important Folding@Home stats: Work Unit count, status of current unit and rank in your team.

- FahSpy: (T) - -
Monitoring tool for Folding@Home.

- F@H WUdget: -
A widget for monitoring Folding@home clients on Mac OS X.

- Electron Microscope III (EMIII): -
Electron Microscope is a program used to track Folding at Home client. It will monitor up to 50 clients and give you the details about each client’s progress as the FAH client runs. EM will also show you what each change in the protein looks like as the process continues.

- Folding@home Gadget for Windows Vista...:
Monitor the progress of your Folding@home work units with this Windows Vista Sidebar gadget.

- FahProgress: (T)
DIsplays progress of clients on a network. Designed simply to be as small as possible.

Websites
- Jmol-fah webpage:
A website that allows you to see (almost) all the F@H WUs in 3D and manipulate them.
Check here for more information.

- Folding Wiki:
This site will allow you to not only learn about all things Folding, but will also allow you to share your knowledge.

- fahinfo.org:
A web based database of PPD scores for CPU comparison.

Visualization
- Jmol: -
Jmol is a Java molecular viewer for three-dimensional chemical structures. Features include reading a variety of file types and output from quantum chemistry programs, and animation of multi-frame files and computed normal modes from quantum programs.

- fpd:
This program displays an image of the current protein molecule and shows some information about the most recent ten work units downloaded. It requires an X Window with OpenGL (GLX) extensions.

- fpd for Mac OS X:

- FoldinGL:
FoldinGL will display three-dimensional, animated and rotating protein, which is the result of your current Folding@home calculation.

- xfpd: -
xfpd is 3d viewer for Folding@Home data (README).

Statistics
- EOC Folding@Home Stats
- Kakao Stats
- XCPU Stats
- Coolrunr's F@H Stats Scripts
- Free-DC Stats
- HardFolding stats
- CPU and GPU stats and entry forms to expand the database
- Sage Folding@Home Stats System:
Sage is a web-based stats system for your Folding@Home team. It is light, fast, and based on PHP and an assortment of SQL-based database management systems (primarily MySQL), so it is ideal for webservers.

- -bigadv bonus point calculator and SMP2 bonus point calculator:
These two calculators should allow you to get a fairly accurate idea of what bonus you will receive upon completing your current unit.

Folding Sig Images
- EOC sig images: (Hosted)
Sig images generated by EOC. You have to be in their statistics to have a signature.
There's a Graphical Signature Designer that you can download from here.

- FAHsig:
A PHP script to create graphic stats images.

Installation
- Folding At Work:
A tool to help system administrators installing FaH in an office environment (easy install, can run only during non working hours, ...)

-InCrease (see entry above in the "Monitoring" section):
An installer/manager/monitoring program for Folding@home clients on Mac OS X.

- finstall:
FAH installer for Linux, Free/OpenBSD, MacOSX, Wine.

Diskless folding programs (based on linux)

- Folding@Home Diskless Programs from notfred:
Windows Network Boot Diskless Folding HOWTO.
Debian/Ubuntu Network Boot Diskless Folding HOWTO - RPM based distros will be similar.
Folding CD Generator.
Folding USB Stick.
Folding VMware Virtual Appliance.

Other F@H Tools
- qd, the QUEUE.DAT Dump utility and other convenient utilities:
Howell has passed away, and he will be greatly missed. Some people are maintaining his tools, which are linked above. A HOWTO is available on how to use qd in the FAH Wiki.
Two mirrors of Howells website exist: mirror 1 & mirror 2.
The latest version of qd is available at the qd-tools website.
qd: This program prints out a formatted dump of the queue.dat file. (updated version
qdiprint: This program prints out point value information from the qd data file in readable form.
xyz2pdb: This program converts a molecule display file in .xyz format into .pdb format.
qfix - Latest Binaries of qfix: This program will attempt to repair the queue.dat file if it is suffering from several sorts of errors the client has, from time to time, made.
Related Links: [How to] Submit partial result with qfix (for Windows) - This should only be used in cases where a WU EUE's and doesn't return the work completed. How to guides are also available for Mac OS X and Linux clients.
qgen: (T) This program will attempt to rebuild the queue.dat file if it has been lost or is unavailable.

- qd - Mac OS X Gui version:

- CoreDownloader: (T)
This small program can download all currently used FahCores if the client cannot do for so, for instance when it returns HTTP Get error 0. It will unpack the core and put it in the relevant directory automatically.

- FAH BAckup System:
The FAH Backup System was developed as a backup program for Folding@Home to recover lost WorkUnits easily and effectively.
It is a DOS Batch file that was made with space in mind. It is only a 1KB download! Easily checkpoint and restore all of your machines from a single computer!

- fahswitch:
fahswitch is for only running folding@home while the login screen is shown.
fahswitch requires Mac OS X release 10.2 or later.

- fahlimit:
fahlimit is for reducing the cpu load caused by the folding@home core.

- FAHChart: (T [in French]) -
A tool to make graphical charts from your FAHlog.txt files.

- fah-tools:
Miscellaneous tools for Folding@Home.

- FAH SMP Affinity changing utility:

GPU tools
- GPUBench:
GPUBench is a benchmark suite designed to analyze the performance of programmable graphics processors in areas of particular importance to general purpose computation.

- ATITool:
ATITool is an overclocking utility designed for ATI video cards.

- GPU Caps Viewer:
GPU Caps Viewer contains a stress tester for GPUs. If your GPU can run the fur rendering test for an extended period of time without issues, it should be stable.

Testing Your System Stability
- StressCPU2: (T) -
This is a small program to torture-test your CPU in order to make sure that you don't have overheating problems. It will only run on SSE-equipped x86 CPUs. It executes a special version of the Gromacs innerloops that mixes SSE and normal assembly instructions to heat your CPU as much as possible. This is the closest CPU torture test to running F@H that we currently know about, and as such is recommended for stress testing machines that will be running F@H. [Not a recommendation by the project staff, but by users of this forum]

- Memtest86:
Memtest86 is a thorough, stand alone memory test for x86 architecture computers. BIOS based memory tests are a quick, cursory check and often miss many of the failures that are detected by Memtest86.

- Memtest86+:
Based on the well-known original memtest86 written by Chris Brady, memtest86+ is a port by some members of the x86-secret team. Our goal is to provide an up-to-date and completly reliable version of this software tool aimed at memory failures detection.

- MemtestG80: (T) -
MemtestG80 is a modified version of Memtest86+ with some additional custom tests which works on CUDA-enabled nVidia graphics cards, which has been created by Imran Haque from the Pande Group. It may be useful to those running Folding@home on their GPUs to help detect memory errors that could compromise a simulation but will not trigger a proper EUE.

- IntelBurnTest:
IntelBurnTest is a small application which runs the Linpack Test on your PC. This is probably the most extreme test any PC will face and works a PC considerably harder than Folding@home, so it is probably the ultimate stability test.

- OpenGL Tester:
This is a simple program that tests if a system's OpenGL abilities are working properly.

- OpenGL Test:
This program tests the OpenGL (controls 3D rendering and hardware acceleration) subsystem on your machine. If you see a spinning cube and pyramid, it works (and that means so should the Folding@Home graphical or screensaver client, and the fpd protein display application) Also really good for testing new video cards, drivers and older machines.

- List of benchmark tools

- Ultimate boot CD:
A bootable CD with many, many tools to test your system stability.

- Ultimate boot CD for Windows:
A windows version of the Ultimate boot CD.

- Super Pi:
A program to calculate millions of digits of Pi.
It can be used for improving/testing your memory timings. It doesn't really stress the cpu to the extent of other tools but if you can pass the 32mb test you're well on the way to being stable, although further testing is recommended with another program.

- Core Temp:
Core Temp is a compact, no fuss, small footprint program to monitor CPU temperature.
The uniqueness of it is that it shows the temperature of each individual core in a each processor in your system! You can see in real time how the CPU temperature varies when you load your CPU.

- OverClock Checking Tool (OCCT): -
A little tool for testing CPU stability, aimed at multi-processors.

- Temperature Monitor: -
Temperature Monitor is an application to read out all accessible temperature sensors in Macintosh computers. The program can visualize the history graphs of the readings, display measured values in a large variety of fashions, or announce readings by speech output. It can also store and export values.

- CPUID Hardware Monitor: -
This application displays readouts for all major temperature sensors in a Windows computer system.

Other
- RunH:
RunH is a mini-utility that simply runs a batch file or executable you specify in the background.
This is very useful if you want to run a batch file, but don't want to have the user see it run or accidentally cancel it.

- FSAutoStart:
FSAutoStart allows the user the ability to automatically shutdown services and programs in order to free system resources and experience superior system performance.

- smcFanControl:
smcFanControl enables manual control of fans in Intel Macs, which is potentially useful for those folding on Mac laptops and Mac Minis.

- SetPriority: (T (usage instructions)) -
SetPriority is useful for people folding with VMs whilst using the GPU client in Windows. It can be used to ensure that the GPU cores run at higher priority than the VMs.

- Ultra VNC and TightVNC
These two VNC programs allow you to easily monitor any headless system, which is potentially useful for folders running barebones folding systems with no GPUs, or with GPUs but no monitors.

Legend
(T): Topic discussing the tool
: Windows compatible
: Linux compatible
: Mac compatible
XXXX: Not supported any more

How Can I add the F@h Signature Stats?

Spoiler :

Originally Posted by NotEnoughMinerals

Can anyone help me with the required code for getting the signature stats to work? I found a few tutorials but can't seem to get it to work.

My user number is 607003

Originally Posted by DR650SE

TO FIND YOUR USER NUMBER CLICK THIS LINK
NBR FOLDERS LIST
CLICK ON YOUR NAME. YOUR USER ID NUMBER FOR SIGNATURE STATS WILL BE AT THE END OF THE URL.

Heres a few options

Spoiler :

Originally Posted by DR650SE

Copy the URL for your desired signature stats bar (right click, properties, copy link) and paste it into your browser. Paste in your ID number in place of 607003. Now take the URL and make it small with bitly | shorten, share and track your links (URL Shrinker site). Now use the bit.ly url in your sig with image tags.



I have found that if you put the actual sig URL in your post/sig, it will not work properly. Once you shrink the url, it will work. This can be done with bit.ly, tinyurl, ect.


NOTE: Please don't ask me for custom colors. I don't know how to do custom colors. There are 5 catagories in the sig that control colors. C1=, C2= C5= ect. The little section after the "=" is the color code. I just randomly pound the keyboard till something pretty is generated. I have no rhyme, reason, or method to generating the sig color combos. I just hit random keys Thats how I generated the list above.

More Tweaks
All credit goes to LiLChris from overclock.net. - Source
Thanks to too456 for finding the guide.

1. Folding Slot Options

Spoiler :

If you do not know how to use these advanced options correctly, please ask before you do so.

Folding slot options

This flag will grant you access to WUs in late-stage beta. (-advmethods)
client-type
advanced

This flag will allow you to get bigadv WUs on capable systems (CPU with 8 cores/16 threads). (-bigadv)
client-type
bigadv

New flag in v7.1.24 it is related to (-gpu x)
gpu-index
x

FAHControl will start the slots in the paused state; Works on individual folding slots
pause-on-start
true

FAHControl will start the slots normally; Works on individual folding slots
pause-on-start
false

It tells when the next WU should be downloaded after the current WU reaches X percentage; X should be between 90 and 100.
next-unit-percentage
X

Will configure your Slot to get small WUs (~5MB)
max-packet-size
small

Will configure your Slot to get normal WUs (~10MB)
max-packet-size
normal

Will configure your Slot to get big WUs (~500MB)
max-packet-size
big

Will set the priority of the FahCore being used.
core-priority
idle

Will set the priority of the FahCore being used.
core-priority
low

It tells when to pause the Slot after X WUs are completed; X can be any number; 0 is indefinite.
max-units
X

It will create a checkpoint after X minutes; X is a value between 3 and 30.
checkpoint
X

X is the VendorID of the GPU.
gpu-vendor-id
X

X is the DeviceID of the GPU.
gpu-device-id
X

X is a 32 digit requested from Stanford here. This is option is used for multiple passkeys (Mainly used for the Team Competition)
Passkey
x
Edited by LiLChris - 6/1/11 at 2:43am

2. How To Add Extra Options.

Spoiler :

How to add extra options
Only effects the slot you added the options to

Folding Slot Options

1) Go to advance mode in th dropdown box. (top right)

2) Press Configure (top left) then Slots tab.

3) Select the folding slot you want to add options to and click edit.



4) Click Add.



5) Type in the folding slot options from the list.

Example
Name: client-type
Value: advanced



FAHcontrol advanced options
Adding anything to this section effects all slots on the local FAHControl

1) Go to advance mode in the dropdown box. (top right)

2) Press Configure (top left) then Expert tab

3) Press add and a pop up will appear.



4) Type in the extra option from the list that will work on all folding slots.

Example
Name: pause-on-start
Value: true


Edited by LiLChris - 4/1/11 at 10:17am

Please let me know if there is anything I should put on the original post. I didn't have much time at the time, when creating this thread. Feel free to PM me with links and such. All credit will be given for input.

Acknowledgement: This page has been cosmetically enhanced by the talented justinkw1.

[BatBoy]

DR, we've relocated your thread to the Windows Software forum. Great idea and NBR definitely needs a F@H team.

[reborn2003]

Cool DR,

I have just downloaded it and will join the team.

Up and running or should I say Folding! - It seems to be a nice workout session for our Aliens!

What a Noob LOL! I just realised that the 2nd GPU wasn't folding. I was like oh what!!! Just enabled it and it knocked off like 2hrs from the completion time.

Hows your Folding going DR?
We got any stats up yet for our team???

Cheers.

[DR650SE]

Welcome Chief! +1

None yet, but I left it folding over night Thursday, all day Friday and Im out of town for the weekend. So when I get home my cpu will be at 100% for3.5 days. Didny have much time to mess with it but my gpu's were not at 100% and i didn't have time to mess with them. Last i saw both gpu's said something like 5 days I need to figure out what Im doing wrong.

I check the team page hoping to see some pts submitted but I Havent seen anything. Wonder if i Didnt set something up right. And Im out of town till Monday morning wish I could remote in. I need to set it up so i can remote in when I go out of town.

[reborn2003]

Originally Posted by DR650SE

Welcome Chief! +1

None yet, but I left it folding over night Thursday, all day Friday and Im out of town for the weekend. So when I get home my cpu will be at 100% for3.5 days. Didny have much time to mess with it but my gpu's were not at 100% and i didn't have time to mess with them. Last i saw both gpu's said something like 5 days I need to figure out what Im doing wrong.

I check the team page hoping to see some pts submitted but I Havent seen anything. Wonder if i Didnt set something up right. And Im out of town till Monday morning wish I could remote in. I need to set it up so i can remote in when I go out of town.

Thanks DR,

Hopefully we can start seeing some stats being added to the team soon.

Your right about the GPUs not being run or folding at 100%. Mine are at about 34% load on both atm. If only I could get them closer to 100% load that should smash the workload time.

What speed is your CPU maxing out on over the 8 threads? I'm currently running at 2.99Ghz across the 8 threads.
The CPU folding seems to take quite a long time compared to the GPU workload. It's been folding for a few hours now.

Cheers.

[DR650SE]

I think Im making around 2.6 - 2.7ghz or something. But i think ATI gpu's are better at these calculations. I think that's what i read.

The f@h site also says a ps3 cpu is much more efficient as well and 20 faster than an average pc cpu. Crazy. They have some power in them.

[reborn2003]

Originally Posted by DR650SE

I think Im making around 2.6 - 2.7ghz or something. But i think ATI gpu's are better at these calculations. I think that's what i read.

The f@h site also says a ps3 cpu is much more efficient as well and 20 faster than an average pc cpu. Crazy. They have some power in them.

Cool Cool!

Okay back and it seems we have our 1st team Stats. Team 213698's contributions to Folding@home

I wonder who that was?
It looks like I should be completing some work units soon too.

Cheers.

[DR650SE]

Hmm wish i knew how to check mine from the web. Wonder if its me or you

I set my name to DR650SE but its possible that i messed up. Did you add a user name? I thought there would be more points for time.

[reborn2003]

Originally Posted by DR650SE

Hmm wish i knew how to check mine from the web. Wonder if its me or you

I set my name to DR650SE but its possible that i messed up. Did you add a user name? I thought there would be more points for time.

Yeh I'm not sure how it accumulates the points yet. It seems we need to finish the projects or work units.

My username is reborn2003 and chiefule-reborn2003.
However it looks like someone else has finished a work unit before us.
It said that Anonymous has scored the 1st points for us so far. Maybe it was you lol!

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/...teamnum=213698
Team members
Rank
(within team) Donor Score WU
1 Anonymous 0 1

[DR650SE]

May have been. I just put the name in the application.