SOB: Account creation question **Updated**

Spacehead

Lifer
Jun 2, 2002
13,067
9,858
136
I'm trying to create an account but it keeps giving me "invalid username". Are you not allowed to use anything other than numbers or letters? I'm trying to use a (.)period in the name.

Also, i guess it needs to be less than 12 characters too. :(
I'm doing this from the account web page, not thru the client.
 

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
16,695
4,658
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I know for a fact you can't use "_". :( That's why I'm KenG6 there.

I don't think the client can really register you (anymore).
 

GLeeM

Elite Member
Apr 2, 2004
7,199
128
106
It's been too long, I can't remember :confused:

I'll give you bump though :)
 

ssvegeta1010

Platinum Member
Nov 13, 2004
2,192
0
0
I don't think you can use a period. Amd.borg is "amdxborg" on SoB, so that's what I'm going from. Actually, he's "amdborg", but still no period.

Confirmed. Names that I try don't work with periods.
 

Spacehead

Lifer
Jun 2, 2002
13,067
9,858
136
OK, the 1st time i run the client, do i just fill in the username? Or do i need to fill in the team too? I've already join AnandTech thru the account preferences on the web page.

Also, being on dial-up, do i want to check or uncheck the "Transmit Intermediate Blocks"? I would guess uncheck, but i's been a long time since i've run SOB.
 

diapickle

Golden Member
Dec 5, 2005
1,171
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Yeah you need to fill in the team to earn stats for AnandTech.

I don't know about the reporting blocks thing, why don't you try the default config and see if it lags?
 

ssvegeta1010

Platinum Member
Nov 13, 2004
2,192
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Intermediate blocks should transmit every few minutes. I doubt that it would make much of a difference in speeds, but you might as try both ways.
 

Spacehead

Lifer
Jun 2, 2002
13,067
9,858
136
OK, we're on the TeAm now :)

Yes, as i figured, unchecking "transmit intermediate blocks" holds then till i connect & send them.

Thanks diapickle :)
 

Allio

Golden Member
Jul 9, 2002
1,904
28
91
Heads up - you need to reboot after installing the client or it'll forget about the first test it assigned you and download a new one the next time you close the client. Something to do with a registry key not being created until after reboot. It's not that hard to restore your first test if this does happen, but you still might want to know.

The blocks are a couple of bytes each and won't cause any problems if you're disconnected, they'll just queue up, so using it on dialup is no problem. It will give you a slightly lower work rate because it pauses processing for a few seconds to upload the block each time.
 

Spacehead

Lifer
Jun 2, 2002
13,067
9,858
136
Originally posted by: Allio
Heads up - you need to reboot after installing the client or it'll forget about the first test it assigned you and download a new one the next time you close the client. Something to do with a registry key not being created until after reboot. It's not that hard to restore your first test if this does happen, but you still might want to know.
So how do you restore things? After rebooting i'm starting over with new work :(
 

Allio

Golden Member
Jul 9, 2002
1,904
28
91
Ok, here you go. This looks incredibly long and complicated but it takes about 2 minutes. Don't get discouraged, you won't need to ever do this again :p

If you lose a test etc here is a step by step procedure to regain the "lost" work.

First exit the sob client then;

1. Check your Sob directory for the unfinished test.

This is generally C:\Program Files\SB\ or which ever directory you installed Sob to.

Within this directory there should be a file with unrecognised format the name of the file will be:

z####### where # is some number 0-9

for example z6779487 generally when you have a lost test there will be two of these files, z6779487 and z6670993 for example.

If you don't have any z####### files in the Sb directory your not in the correct directory or your out of luck. Since only progress is reported there is no way to get the file back from the server SOB etc. If you have deleted it etc (Cleansweep, mistake, etc. your work is more than likely unrecoverable.)

2. Great you have the file, so now you know the n value of your lost work.

eg. z6779487 has an n value of 6779487
and z6670993 has an n value of 6670993

The lower n value is probably your lost test.

But which k value does it correspond to? Well you have to login to the server to check which k corresponds to the n.

3. Login to sob

http://www.seventeenorbust.com --> preferences --> pending test management

http://www.seventeenorbust.com/accou...sPending.mhtml if your already logged in.

You will be presented a screen which looks like a spead sheet with the following headers:

ID, Number, IP Address, Assigned, Last Reported, Progress, Percent, cEMs/s, Expire?

Followed by the relavent information, if you run more than one computer you will have several of these.

363953 4847?2^6779487+1 169.1.000.100 Thu Aug 19 15:59:21 2004 never 0 % -0

358621 28433?2^6670993+1 169.1.000.100 Sun Aug 1 03:08:44 2004 Fri Aug 13 03:52:13 2004 4589089 68 %

Notice the two above have the exact same IP address 169.1.000.100 and one test shows 0% done the other 68%. The 68% is your lost test and notice that the n values match 4847?2^6779487 28433?2^6670993 the z files in you
Sb directory.

Note the K value for your lost test in this case 28433.

4. Now go to your resistry in windows

start --> Run type regedit you wil get a registry screen be carefull here, only changes those values relevant to Sb.

Now navigate to the following folder

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE-->SOFTWARE-->LhDn-->sob-->cache

and click on the cache folder, this will bring up three REG_DWORD values

cache REG_WORD 0x00000002 (2)
k REG_WORD 0x000012ef (4847)
n REG_WORD 0x0065ca91 (6779487)

these values must be modified to reflect your lost test.

left click on k so that it is selected then right click modify.

A box will come up with the header Edit DWORD Value.

Click the radio button in the "base" subwindow to decimal.

Doing so will change the Value data: on the left from hexadecimal to decimal (In this case from (12ef --> 4847) )

Change the 4847 to reflect the old test, 28433, or whatever your k value is and click OK.

Now do the exact same with the n-value.

Your registry should then look like this

cache REG_WORD 0x00000002 (2)
k REG_WORD 0x00006f11 (28433)
n REG_WORD 0x0067725f (6670993)

if your cache value is not 2 for example 0 then change this value to 2 as well.

5. Now restart your sb client and it should pickup from where the previous unit left off 68% in this instance.

6. If everything went smoothly now you can reloggin to the sob website and delete the 0% test.
 

Spacehead

Lifer
Jun 2, 2002
13,067
9,858
136
Thanks Allio, that did the trick.
So, if i set up any other clients, should i reboot after installing the client but before getting any work?
I guess it wouldn't matter even if i did D/l work as long as i'm not too far into it before rebooting?

And if i didn't do the changes you said, would the client just pick back up on that 1st block after finishing the other or would it always try to get new blocks fromthe server?
 

Allio

Golden Member
Jul 9, 2002
1,904
28
91
It's easiest to just reboot after installing, yeah.

Getting some work but dropping it after 0.1% or whatever doesn't matter, you can expire it manually or it'll expire by itself after a while.

No, it wouldn't pick up on the first block again; the client forgets about it until you make those registry changes.
 

diapickle

Golden Member
Dec 5, 2005
1,171
0
0
Sometimes when your windows crash your client can also forget about unfinished work. So those registry tricks are also useful then.
 

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
16,695
4,658
75
Originally posted by: Spacehead
OK, we're on the TeAm now :)

Yes, as i figured, unchecking "transmit intermediate blocks" holds then till i connect & send them.

Thanks diapickle :)
Not exactly. Unchecking "transmit intermediate blocks" holds them till you complete the work unit, and sends only the completed WU. An SBQueue holds them till you connect & lets you send them (and fetch an extra WU or 2 before your current one is done).

I created SBQueue for my own dial-up problems, you know.
 

Allio

Golden Member
Jul 9, 2002
1,904
28
91
I've got an always-on connection, but I leave an SBQueue running on my Linux box and point all my clients to that. I like having real-time stats updates but I don't like the pause in processing when you're dropping them directly to the server, which can be 10-15 seconds if my upstream is saturated.