Old Boinc Accounts?
16 Dec 2020 20:57:37 UTC
Topic 224235
(moderation:
I was an active user until about 4+ yrs ago when my powerful Xeon system suffered a series of "heart attacks". I think my new system (i7-8700) with lots of RAM, etc is stable enough to get back in and help.
Question 1: I have all my old account info for Einstein, SETI, Predictor, Climate (ID's, acct #, etc). Is there any way to link these?
Question 2: I have a dual monitor and the ability to use 2 owned AMD RX570 Graphic (1 8GB, 1 4GB) cards. Can you give any suggestions for using both cards efficiently? Dedicate 1 to BOINC computing? Right now I'm running just 1 GPU in the system.
A little background: My system (which I built) is water cooled (CPU) but I do watch the temps closely. I do a lot of spreadsheet work and occasionally play games (AC). I'm also 78.
Thanks, MontanaDoug
MontanaDoug wrote:I was an
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Welcome back! I guess you've created a new account just to post this message. It doesn't seem like you are using the same handle as you had previously since a search on your current handle only reveals the current message and no previous activity.
Also, by default on your new account, nobody but you can see details about the hardware you have. Under European privacy laws, you have to give specific permission for anyone else to see even basic, non-sensitive information. If you need advice about ways to best set things up or handle problems, you'll need to change some settings by going (on the website) to your account -> preferences -> privacy and consider at least allowing others to 'see' those non-sensitive details. If you are interested in stats, you should allow the project to export them to stats sites.
It probably depends on what you mean by "all info". The easiest way is to use your previous credentials - username and email - since your old account should still be there. If you have those details try using them to login. That way you'll be able to find your old hardware details and stats and then your new machine can continue adding to that.
Also it's quite possible to give your new machine the old host ID so that new stats just get added to the old. I do this all the time. As an example, take a look at this host. The very low ID (63256) was created on 6th March 2005 and it's now in use on 2012 hardware to which an RX 570 was added a couple of years ago. I guess it's just about time for another motherboard/CPU upgrade but it's doing just fine driving the real compute engine which is the GPU.
Bear in mind that I've had the same account for nearly 16 years so I'm no expert in creating or reactivating old accounts, since I've never needed to do it again. If any of the above is unavailable, you can get to the old account if you have access to certain data in the BOINC data directory (perhaps a backup) of your old system before it had its final heart attack. Do you have access to the actual files from your old machine? If you're using Windows, I can't really help. I haven't even looked at a Windows machine in many, many years.
None of this presents any real problem. I've been using RX 570s for a couple of years now and they work very well. BOINC can use both at once but if you want to restrict to one, you can easily 'exclude' the other. It's all covered in the documentation. Both GPUs would be 'allowed' by default so if you wish to exclude one you will need to investigate the <exclude_gpu> option. Read the docs to get a general idea then ask specific questions about things you're not sure about.
Cheers,
Gary.
Gary Thanks for the
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Gary
Thanks for the reply/info - will pursue tomorrow.
Doug
Update Progress on many
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Update
Progress on many fronts!
1. Installed the 2nd gpu - system content!
2. Imported WGC projects and old statistics into BOINC.
3. Attempted to allow other users to see my hardware config (Not sure if I was successful?)
A Major finding
External hard drive complexities: A have a 4TB Seagate external HD which is used to store backup data (file history, disk images, Photoshop catalogs, etc). If the HD is attached to the system (USB) when I restart or do a fresh start, then my system goes to hell (boot takes 6min [really!] vs. 15secs w/o HD), gpu's get screwed up, GRRR! If I attach the external HD after getting into Win10, then everything is fine.
Further Questions:
1. I don't think BOINC is using both GPU's. I gather there is a "cc_config" located in C:\ProgramData\BOINC\ . In my case it should be in D:\ProgramData\BOINC\ since I loaded the BOINC program into my D drive (another SSD). I CAN't find it, specifically it's calling program (I realize I need to create the cc_config file), nor can I find the folder that you'd put the config file in. I've unhidden everything! Since you are not a Windows user, this may need to be bumped.
2. Importing old data. Looking back, I started SETI in May of 1999 and accrued a total of 10,437,251 credits. The email I used for a number of projects (Einstein, SETI, Climate, etc) has been defunct for a number of years so when I do a password "restore" through the project's web site, they can't send me new links. For Einstein, I have my former Account key (a long 30-40 character alphanumeric string); I also have my old user name and account #. (but not a password). Einstein would be a good test case, since I have the same info for most of my former projects.
The world will not end if I can't restore my past credits (obviously!).
Question #1 is the one I'm most interested in getting answered. Would like to use both gpu's.
Thanks, Doug
MontanaDoug
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NO they are still hidden. See if this gets you there https://einsteinathome.org/account/prefs/privacy
It's the 2nd one down from the top, click YES and be sure to click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
Got it! Am now using both
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Got it!
Am now using both GPU's.
Cheers, Doug
Mikey Thanks Done! C
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Mikey
Thanks
Done!
Cheers, Doug
MontanaDoug wrote:3.
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You were not successful - your computers are still hidden. Perhaps you didn't save the changes.
You'll probably save yourself a lot of future angst if you browse all preferences to see the sorts of things that you are able to change. Don't make blind changes - just be aware of what's there and ask questions if you think something might be useful.
I'm not sure I understand the logic of leaving a backup drive permanently attached. Backups guard against unforeseen disasters. If the backup is always attached, it might also be clobbered by such a disaster.
All operating systems tend to check consistency of file systems during startup. I have no idea what Windows does but it should be configurable in some way. If the drive is always attached, Windows would probably feel compelled to check it every time. A 4TB file system could take a long time to fully check if Windows is configured to do a thorough check. If you only attach it when needed, the OS should check it at that point only and you minimise the risk of ever losing your backups. Treat your backup disk with care - attach it when needed and at all other times put it safely away.
There are several ways to know this for sure without having to worry about cc_config.xml. Make sure you are running BOINC Manager in the Advanced view mode. If you are having trouble understanding how to do that, please read the documentation. Go to the tasks tab in the Manager and look at the tasks listed there. If both GPUs are being used, you should see two separate GPU tasks running. It's possible to run multiple tasks on a single GPU but that doesn't happen by default so let's just worry about single tasks per GPU for the moment.
If you only see one task running then we need to work out why both GPUs aren't being detected and used. In the manager you will find a 'Tools -> Event log' which allows you to see what the client is doing. Whenever you restart BOINC, the startup messages in that log will show you what has been detected. Since you say both are RX 570s, by default both should be detected and therefore able to be used. If you don't understand the startup messages, stop and restart BOINC and copy and paste just the new startup messages generated, into your next message here.
By default, there is no file created if you haven't changed anything, so that's probably why you can't find one. You can force a full file to be generated showing all the defaults (not usually necessary) if you want to see everything but if you just want to apply a single change to a default option, you can create your very own mini-version of the file with just that option included, and that would then trigger a modification to the defaults. The instructions for creating your own file (must use a plain text editor) are here.
You used to be able to login with the account key (authenticator) but if you read this old thread in Technical News, you will see there were plans to remove that option. If you remember your old email and password (did you save it in a browser?) you can login to the old account even if the email addr is no longer valid. You could try the authenticator but I don't know if that still works. You could use your current new login to send a PM to Oliver (the author of the Technical News thread) giving him your new email and the old authenticator/account details as proof of ownership of the old account and he should be able to reset the password on that account to allow you to reactivate it. The authenticator is a precise 32 character random string so copy and paste it carefully.
Cheers,
Gary.
MontanaDoug wrote:Done!I had
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I had started my previous response before Mikey's (and your) post had been made, but got called away before finishing. When able, I finished it and fired it off before checking for any other responses. So I've now found that your computer is visible and that results are being returned.
BOINC shows two GPUs detected. The number of completed results in your website list (measured over a period of time (around 24 results over about 8 hours) suggests that only the 8GB GPU is being used. I could be wrong with my guess but are you really sure both GPUs are working? I looked at a number of results and they all mentioned 8GB as the memory with no sign of a result from the 4GB GPU. So perhaps you may need to create a cc_config.xml file and include the particular option for <use_all_gps>1</use_all_gpus> as described in the documentation, to get the 2nd GPU working.
If you check your results on the website, you will notice that a couple of GPU results took 3-4 hours, rather than the more normal ~20 mins. You will also notice CPU results taking the best part of a full day. Slow GPU times may be a sign of lack of CPU support. Your CPU is 6 core, 12 thread and the GW GPU tasks need quite a bit of CPU support. You will need more CPU support if you decide to get both GPUs working and even more again if you decide to run concurrent tasks on the one GPU. However you should get to understand things just as they are before getting too adventurous with multiple concurrent tasks.
As an example of what is possible on an 8GB RX 570, I run 4 concurrent GW GPU tasks (and no CPU tasks) and get 4 completed results in under 39 mins, which is less than 10 mins per task. The CPU tasks take such a long time that I think this is a more efficient use of the hardware.
The potential problem is that the memory requirements of these tasks are likely to increase in the future. Everything seems fine at the moment but a time will probably come where running x4 might need to be reduced to x3 or even lower.
You are only running GW GPU tasks at the moment and not the Gamma-ray pulsar (GRP) type. If you intend to eventually run multiple concurrent tasks (of either variety) it would be best to select only one type in your preferences and disable the other. You will have problems if you allow both to compete with each other.
Cheers,
Gary.
Gary Many thanks for the
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Gary
Many thanks for the detailed reply. I'll be "chewing" on the info presented for a few days.
1. I noticed my old SETI credits got recorded (Thanks)
2. Backup - my actual strategy has multiple layers - My top layer are backups done every 2-3 months using a German backup system (Ashampoo) and is stored in a bank safe (haven't upgraded to Ft Knox or Svalbard yet) - the HD I mentioned that was clobbering my boot times is a lower layer storing Windows File History (and other things) that backs up non-system files a couple of times/day. It's easily accessible (but out of the way) so disconnecting it during boot is simple. I thought I found all the Win10 and ASUS bios triggers to isolate this device, but guess not.
Stay safe!
Doug
I have one of the first
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I have one of the first acounts here by seti, and i cant find it...it was under a npther e-mail acout createt, and now i have no chance to get into it..can you help me?
i had over 5 billins of tripolation credits there