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magictorch

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
1,858
Location
Annapolis Valley, NS
quick start to folding

Ok Ive had a quick look through some links but dont have a massive amount of time to read up on the best course of action.

If you could help choose the right software that would be great.

I dont want to stress the system too much and get too tangled up with complex interfaces. just want a simple install- let it run and switch it off when i need to.

Any pointers to links to load an uptodate SMP beta version of folding at home would be great and ill start to try and get some points for your team.

Hope you can help.

By the way have any of you tried to clean a heatsink while it is still attached to the cpu-ie blowing the dust out with condensed air?
 

sswilson

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
24,652
Location
Moncton NB
By the way have any of you tried to clean a heatsink while it is still attached to the cpu-ie blowing the dust out with condensed air?

Do not try this at home!!!!!!!

Air in a can is not moisture free. On top of that.... it comes out of the can colder than ambient temps so not only do you need to worry about the moisture in the canned air, you'll also get condensation due to the temp difference.

Not convinced???? Point your canned air in a safe direction (not at the computer!!!!), and spray it upside down to see what comes out.... see all that almost frozen water??????

If you feel you must do it, unplug your PSU and press the start button to completely drain the caps, and then let the motherboard sit for a while before turning on to ensure that it's completely moisture free.......
 

magictorch

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
1,858
Location
Annapolis Valley, NS
ok no compressed air

Ive only used it on the keyboard so far bu thanks for the warning.

I had a look at the SMP beta faq, they strongly recommended a quadcore, then a coreduo. I wonder if it will be ok....with this AMD dual core
 

sswilson

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 9, 2006
Messages
24,652
Location
Moncton NB
I did wonder about people using condensed air on their system, first time i used a can i was surprised at the splutters of moisture!

The problems are magnified when folks use it inside a case as they are (more often than not) holding the can sideways in order to get a clear shot at what they're trying to spray.

Not sure on which client would be best for you, but whichever you do decide to use, don't run it as a service if you want to be able to easily turn it on and off.
 

magictorch

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
1,858
Location
Annapolis Valley, NS
ill just experiment

with some clients. Ive never really worked up the courage to use it in the case and never will. ill stick with my qtips and just take the heatsink off and work with it. I cant work up the "bottle" to use a vacumn ..ive not had much luck with electric goods in the past.
 

pscout

Fallen Folder
Joined
Mar 24, 2007
Messages
373
Location
folding in GTA
Ok Ive had a quick look through some links but dont have a massive amount of time to read up on the best course of action.

If you could help choose the right software that would be great.

I dont want to stress the system too much and get too tangled up with complex interfaces. just want a simple install- let it run and switch it off when i need to.

Any pointers to links to load an uptodate SMP beta version of folding at home would be great and ill start to try and get some points for your team.

Hope you can help.

By the way have any of you tried to clean a heatsink while it is still attached to the cpu-ie blowing the dust out with condensed air?

I would go with the SMP client on your opteron. Even with the hiccups still around with the beta program this will far outproduce running 2 standard clients.

Install .net 2.0 ... the faq has a link to it or you can get it from windows update.

Download the win smp client 'installer' - it really only unpacks files so make sure you point it at a directory that you have created eg c:\fah. I like to use my d: (data) partition.

You will need to have a password on the id you use before you continue so set one up now in windows -> settings-> user accounts

Once you have the above done, double click on install.bat in an explorer window in the fah directory you unpacked to above. It will ask you for your id and if the one it shows is what you are using just hit enter. Then it will ask you for the password for that id twice.
If it shows 2 lines saying mpiexec is ready then you are ready to continue.

Now you will configure your client.

Before you start this step decide on what id you will use ... it only needs to be unique with the hcf team so you can pick what you want ... to avoid typo's later, it is best to have something fairly short, without special chars or blanks and it is case sensitive ... pick carefully since all your points will be added to this name at stanford and it can't be changed later - well you can start a new id but points accumulated cannot be transferred to another id or team.

Our team # is 54196.

Now create a shortcut to the fah.exe in your fah directory. Right click on it and select edit properties. At the end of the target string add " -verbosity 9" without the quotes ... and note there is a blank between the end of the target string and -verbosity 9. This will make sure more info is logged to the fahlog.txt file in case we need to debug any problems.

Drag the new shortcut to your desktop - you can also copy it to your startup folder so it starts whenever you boot and logon to your id.

Doubleclick the shortcut to launch the client.

It will open a cmd window and prompt you for configuration info:
- type the folding id you chose above and hit enter
- type our team # (54196) and hit enter.
- accept the next 4 defaults by hitting enter
- "allow receipt of work assignments >5 mb?" - type in yes to this and press enter
- change advanced options? just press enter

The client will start running and will connect to stanford to download a wu and start crunching it.

To stop the client, use ctrl-c with focus on the cmd window ... DO NOT close the window!! or you may corrupt the wu and lose any work on it. Use ctlr-c and the client will stop and the window will close. You can minimize the window.
 

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