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Trouble installing F@H client, and keeping it working

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 1:38 pm
by bigtruck747
Hello!

I was hoping to get a little help or advice on the install of F@H on my computer.

I've had F@H on this computer in the past and it was working with no problems, but then I starting having a bunch of different problems with the computer ... ended up replacing the RAM ... and re-installing the OS about 3 times ... I'm currently running Windows 7 Pro, and the computer is stable (or at least I believe it is!?)

So just a couple days ago I tried putting F@H back on this computer ... and had problems right away with it. As soon as I installed F@H, everything else on the computer started running VERY sluggishly!!!!

I decided to turn my computer off, and then back on, and when I did that; folding.stanford.edu/client/ gave me the message; Your browser was unable to connect to a Folding@home client running on your computer.

Install the Folding@home client.
Make sure your Folding@home client is running.
Reload this page.

From there I uninstalled F@H, and tried re-installing it ... and had the exact same problems ... turned the computer off, turned it on, and it was like the client wasn't even there???

Anyone have any ideas? I really appreciate all of your help! Thank you!

Re: Trouble installing F@H client, and keeping it working

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:30 pm
by P5-133XL
Sluggishness or severe lag is virtually always caused by the GPU slots. My first suggestion is to make sure they (or at least the one associated with the primary display) run just on idle.

There really isn't a way to fix the problem other than not to run GPU folding while using the machine. The problem stems from the fact that the video subsystem is not designed to share. So if you are folding and try to move the mouse (or any display activity) it has to wait till the current folding chunk is finished before handing off the GPU to something else like Windows trying to move the mouse, or move a window or even type a key.

Re: Trouble installing F@H client, and keeping it working

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:59 pm
by bigtruck747
P5-133XL, Thank you for your help!!!

Your advice makes sense, however like I mentioned, F@H used to work just fine on this computer ... I'm wondering if there is some change in V7 that is possibly causing the issue??? I'm guessing I had V6 running on this computer before I started having all the problems with the RAM and what not.

Also, I just had the V7 client running a couple minutes ago ... restarted my computer, and when I go to try to open the web control, it again says it can not find the client???

I wouldn't think the GPU slot would affect that would it???

Thank you!

Re: Trouble installing F@H client, and keeping it working

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 3:57 pm
by bigtruck747
***UPDATE***!!!

So I decided to go to my laptop and see which version of installer it had, it has fah_installer_7.3.6_x86.

The current version is fah_installer_7.4.4_x86 that I was trying to download and install on my desktop here.

I uninstalled fah_installer_7.4.4_x86, and then installed fah_installer_7.3.6_x86, and things seem to be working fine, or at least the way the used to.

Question, using version; fah_installer_7.3.6_x86, does the GPU not get utilized at all?? Roughly how often does the installer get updated?

Thank you everyone for your help!!!!!!

Re: Trouble installing F@H client, and keeping it working

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 5:43 pm
by 7im
There is no difference in the performance of those two client versions. Client versions do not affect how the system folds. All the folding is done by the FAHCore files. And there has been no recent change in fahcore files.

The client gets updated at unregularly intervals. The contract programming is updating server code and client code. Sometimes the servers get more time coding, sometimes the client does. It's based on feature needs and priority, not a regular schedule.

Re: Trouble installing F@H client, and keeping it working

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2014 6:36 pm
by bruce
The "connecting" problem can happen for several reasons.
1) an overzealous firewall can block internal communications unless an exception gets configured.
2) Installing "just for me" is always better than installing "for everyone" and that might have changed between one install and the next.
3) At least two pieces of FAH software must be running. One of the control applications (Duhhhh) and FAHClient.exe which normally automatically starts hidden.
4) (Maybe something else)

Re: Trouble installing F@H client, and keeping it working

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:10 am
by PantherX
If you are having connectivity issues with the Web Control and/or Advanced Control (AKA FAHControl), please read this post which can provide some pointers (viewtopic.php?p=261089&f=24#p261089).