FahMon setup guide?

TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
edited August 2009 in Folding@Home
I saw some of the posts in here with the FahMon window showing the stats on work units in progress. Since Stanford has never gotten around to fixing their graphical display client, I thought I'd try using the FahMon if I can get it to work.

So far on my main PC, I have a single 6.23 graphical client installed (should I be using the run as a service version instead?) along with FahMon , both in C:\Program Files.

This is with XP Home SP2. E7300 dual core cpu, 4 GB ram.

The folding seems to be working fine, but I can't get any stats out of FahMon. No information on the work unit, no numbers, etc.

And where's a link to the GPU folding program for ATI cards? I might put F@H on my 4870 if I can get FahMon to work right.

:doh:

Comments

  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    The GPU2 client is now the same for ATI and Nvidia. They process different WUs and use different cores, but both are installed from the same file, which can be found here: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther

    You don't have to run the console version. I always run the system tray client because it allows you to pause while you game, etc...

    As far as the FahMon setup goes, it sounds like you are not pointing FahMon to the correct folder. Look here: http://trac.fahmon.net/wiki/AddNewClient
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    I think I got it figured out, I had to change the folder address. It had \work\ at the end and once I took it out it worked.

    I got rid of the graphical 6.23 client, took it out of add and remove programs, and emptied the recycle bin.

    Then I downloaded the GPU version as shown in the link above. It said it needed XP SP3 to work smoothly, but it seems to be fine so far on my XP SP2.

    I've been watching in the ATI Catalyst Control Center, and it seems like the GPU is doing the work now. I raised the fan speed from 30% to 40% to keep the GPU temps around 67-68 degrees C.

    One question. Task Manager shows the E7300 dual core CPU with a 50% load on it from folding. Isn't the GPU supposed to be doing all the work now? I didn't think the CPU would have that 50% load anymore.

    I am getting @ 2500 PPD with the 4870 at stock speeds right now.

    I was thinking of trying an installation of the 6.23 system tray version to give the CPU something to do, just to try it out and see how it looks in the FaHMon, but didn't want to run the CPU 100%.
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    The FahMon WAS working good, now it's screwed up. My ISP decided to have network problems today, resulting in no internet access for a couple hours. During that time, a work unit finished and it could not send the packet or get a new one. When the interent came back on, it got a new packet, finished it, and got another, but the FahMon log file shows nothing new, it won't update at all. I tried closing and reopening it, reloading the file, and repointing it to the folder where the work is happening. Nothing.

    Annoying.

    Edit - got it working, I went through and deleted fahmon, and every single file from Fah, and reloaded it all. But I don't think I should have to do all that!
  • makoa26makoa26 Las Vegas
    edited July 2009
    Tim wrote:
    I think I got it figured out, I had to change the folder address. It had \work\ at the end and once I took it out it worked.

    I got rid of the graphical 6.23 client, took it out of add and remove programs, and emptied the recycle bin.

    Then I downloaded the GPU version as shown in the link above. It said it needed XP SP3 to work smoothly, but it seems to be fine so far on my XP SP2.

    I've been watching in the ATI Catalyst Control Center, and it seems like the GPU is doing the work now. I raised the fan speed from 30% to 40% to keep the GPU temps around 67-68 degrees C.

    One question. Task Manager shows the E7300 dual core CPU with a 50% load on it from folding. Isn't the GPU supposed to be doing all the work now? I didn't think the CPU would have that 50% load anymore.

    I am getting @ 2500 PPD with the 4870 at stock speeds right now.

    I was thinking of trying an installation of the 6.23 system tray version to give the CPU something to do, just to try it out and see how it looks in the FaHMon, but didn't want to run the CPU 100%.

    The 50% load that you see is because the ATI drivers use 100% of one core for folding unless you set some environment variables. If you are interested in learning more about setting that up, a wealth of information can be found here http://foldingforum.org/viewforum.php?f=51 My variables are BROOK_YIELD=2, CAL_NO_FLUSH=1, CAL_PRE_FLUSH=1, and FLUSH_INTERVAL=144. As best as I understand it, these variables reduce processor load on ATI folding by sending data between gpu and cpu in packets rather than constant polling. I'm guessing that my variables should be pretty close to what you might find optimal because I fold on 4870's also. Good luck with it all.
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    This FahMon is starting to annoy me. Today, after showing the progress through 2 full work units, it froze at 38% on the next one. After restarting the PC and starting a fresh work unit, it still shows the 38% progress, even after deleting its data twice.

    If they can't make a program that works any better than this, I'm not going to waste my time and effort on it.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Allow me to posit: Why does it matter if you can use FAHMon?

    As long as the machine is folding, why do you need to see percentages? Why can't you go to your Folding stats page and refresh the page to make sure you're still submitting work units?

    That said, I think you're the only one having trouble with FAHMon, so... PEBKAC? Restarting the PC isn't the way to fix FAHMon, but it's a great way to FUBAR your work units, so I'd advise against doing it excessively in the future.
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Also, if for whatever reason FAHMon refuses to work for you, all it really does is read from unitinfo.txt and FAHlog.txt and pull point info from databases on the web, which you can easily access. In less than 10 seconds and a calculator you can figure PPD and everything else FAHMon reports. I know how fun it is to pull up FAHMon every 10 minutes, but if it doesn't work for you I hope that doesn't discourage you from folding. You might also try some other monitoring utilities, there are a few others out there.
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Does FahMon require XP SP3 to run well? I have SP2 on my main PC.

    Same thing for the GPU 6.23 folding program?

    What does PEBKAC mean?
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    PEBKAC = Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    could be a PICNIC error.



    Problem in Chair not in Computer.

    Or the good old id10t error.

    To add to what Snark said.
    Tim, everyone likes to check on their current ppd from time to time but honestly after a month of having all my folding clients up I could careless. I just started to watch the stats websites because that is what really matters. I have seen a few versions of Fahmon that have memory leaks and kill CPU production so I refrain now and if I need to verify a client is working I just check the log file itself.
  • TimTim Southwest PA Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    I gave up on the FahMon thing, it wasn't worth the hassle.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    I installed Fahmon, added 5 clients and pointed each one to a base directory of a folding client, and it kicked right in and started showing folding info...

    For reference I have 4 services installed for my 4 CPU cores and a graphical GPU2 client, and it picks up the info off every one of them.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    why don't you run a SMP client instead of 4 single core clients.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    The single core ones are just what I happened to see first... it's easy to start / stop them anyway, I made two batch files that start and stop all 4 services at once.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    I run the 64-bit console, I use Tray-it to drop it off the desktop and just kill the tray icon and use the desktop shortcut to launch. It also generates more points.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    I just tried the windows 32/64 bit SMP client, it won't even start on my PC...

    Yes, I ran install.bat, and yes, it gave me 2 of the line it indicated meant success...

    Looks like I'm sticking to 4 solo-core clients.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Check this thread. Or just download the new .exe. here. Last time I downloaded a new smp install it didn't have the new exe binary and it wouldn't launch. Just replace the existing .exe with the new one and go.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    Ah, that's enlightening. Be nice if they posted that in the downloads section.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    Sigh. The SMP client still does not work for me...

    The smpd / mpi services appear to be functional but even through attempting to force SMP with the -smp 4 flag, it is only using 25% CPU time (1 core).
  • makoa26makoa26 Las Vegas
    edited August 2009
    Cool. I made a comment about the uni client in another thread. The bottom line is that they are rock solid stable and a breeze to set up. BTW, did you uninstall/delete all of your uni client files before you tried SMP? I know it's rather tough to set up the SMP client for beginners, but the fact that you know how to create a batch file indicates that you're no beginner.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited August 2009
    I got it running, actually. Turns out I just needed to tweak my install process a bit.
  • makoa26makoa26 Las Vegas
    edited August 2009
    Tim wrote:
    I gave up on the FahMon thing, it wasn't worth the hassle.

    Another way to track your progress is here http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/user_list.php?s=&t=93&p=1
    Just find your folding name and click on it. I know what my update average is, so if it falls off somewhere, I know that I've got a problem somewhere.
  • makoa26makoa26 Las Vegas
    edited August 2009
    lordbean wrote:
    I got it running, actually. Turns out I just needed to tweak my install process a bit.

    SWEEEEEEEEET!
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