Important BOINC Question

[deerslayer]

Ok, it's very possible that this is posted somewhere already, but really, I'm just too lazy to search.

Here's the deal. One of the rigs I built a while back had a dead motherboard. I ordered a new one, and set the computer back up, formatted, installed windows, blah blah blah. I had the ingenious idea to use BOINC (specifically Rosetta@home) to stress test it and make sure no other hardware was bad.

Not long after I got BOINC installed, the display started disappearing on me. When it came back, it acted as if there were no video card drivers installed. The display was very laggy and slow, like it is before you install a driver.

I put a different video card and finished up the rest of the initial installations that I needed to accomplish. I put the Radeon 9800 pro back into the system, and updated to the most recent catalyst drivers. It seemed okay, but then the display disappeared again and when it came back it was choppy again. I reverted to the previous version of catalyst drivers, same result.

Finally, I stuck a Ti4200 in it, and it works fine (as far as I know).

Today, my friend (that runs Rosetta@home for me) told me his computer keeps crashing. He described the same exact problem that I had with the PC I just reconfigured. His card is an x800, he thinks.

Is there a fix for this? Does anyone know what exactly is causing this? I'd hate to lose a cruncher over this, and he wont run it if it's going to crash his system constantly.

 

[amdskip]

I'm the friend who has the crashing system. Everything works great until I fire up BOINC.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Does this always happen - even without screensaver or gfx window - or only when the screensaver/gfx window is activated?

Have you tried a different project than Rosey?

Is the system otherwise 100% stable (= 24h of memtest86+ and 24h of Prime95)?

Can the system run gfx intensive stuff (games/3dMark) without probs?

 

[deerslayer]

It happens without the screen saver enabled. I never run the graphical portion. I have advanced view enabled, and the screen is minimized to the taskbar.

Never tried a different project.

 

[amdskip]

Yes the system is very stable without it. 4200 X2, Antec Neo 550, 2gb memory, etc. etc. all stock speeds.

I can play BF2 with no issues at all.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Does it also happen if you start BOINC, but suspend Rosetta? Just trying to figure out if it's a BOINC problem or a Rosetta problem.

 

[deerslayer]

Not sure, I don't have a PC to test it on.

 

[amdskip]

I'll test that out later tonight BlackMountainCow.

 

[amdskip]

I can start BOINC and suspend Rosetta and come back in 40 minutes and everything is ok.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

So I guess it's a Rosey problem then. Have you searched the forums of Rosey for similar reports?

I looked through the forums but couldn't find anything about it.

I'd say go right ahead and post your problem there. But before you do, I'd suggest attaching to Einstein@Home for example and see if a similar problem occurs. Just to make really sure it's Rosey and not BOINC istself.

 

[deerslayer]

Hop to it Skippy, I don't have the rig at my house anymore.

 

[amdskip]

I have Einstein@Home installed and running now and I will know later today the results.

 

[amdskip]

No issues with Einstein@Home, it is a Rosetta issue I believe.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

OK, so we got that down to Rosey now. If I were you, I'd plunge right into the Rosey forums and open a thread about the problem. If at all, someone in there or the devs will be able to help you.

The strange thing is, that I remember such problems about half a year ago wit Rosetta, but they said they fixed it for good and I have no ATI cards, so I never had that problem. I assume you use the latest BOINC release, right?

 

[petrusbroder]

You are right about that, Christian. There must be some reference in the Rosetta-archives --- or have they deleted those which are older then 150 days???

 

[deerslayer]

Did you get it fixed Skippy? I noticed my R@H results jumped, so I'm assuming you must have gotten it fixed.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Hehe, is there a better way to figure?

 

[amdskip]

Nope, it's not running. I'll see about updating my video drivers and see what happens.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Hmm. Did you post in the Rosetta forums about your problem?

 

[Crazee]

I am running BOINC with Rosetta@Home on a machine with an x800 and I have not experienced any problem like that. In fact this machine has returned almost 400,000 Rosetta credits. BOINC version 5.8.11 running Rosetta 5.59 WUs. Latest radeon drivers in a Shuttle ST20G5 AMD X2 4400 (not overclocked) 2GB RAM.