1) Forums : General Topics : Virtual Box Update (Message 22305)
Posted 10 Nov 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
I personally stick with VBox supplied with BOINC client. Works ok for me and works well with other projects requiring VBox.

Like Jonathan said you can try and see if it works for you. Keep us posted.
2) Forums : Technical Support : Can I multi-thread the non MT tasks (Message 22259)
Posted 12 Sep 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
Camb_legacy has no real scientific value apparently.
However, if you are still interested in crunching it change project preferences to use more than one core and max 1 job, uncheck other projects and see if this works.

And "plank" project is finished
3) Forums : Technical Support : Lots of tasks in error (Message 22250)
Posted 5 Sep 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
Okay, I reinstalled VMBox 5.2.28 and the corresponding extension pack and now it seems to run properly. I tried VMB V6.10 again, but got the same problem I used to:

"Postponed: VM job unmanageable"

V5.2 never had this problem and all versions of V6 seem to have it. Someone told me it's a communication problem between the virtual machine and BOINC.

All set, thanks for your help!


I found out that VirtualBox that is supplied with Boinc installer works best.
4) Forums : Technical Support : calculation errors (Message 22249)
Posted 5 Sep 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
I reinstalled a VM and got the same error. But I'll delete it on another VM completely and try again.

Is that the complete error log?

<core_client_version>7.14.2</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<message>
process exited with code 193 (0xc1, -63)</message>
<stderr_txt>
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
Stack trace (64 frames):
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]
[0x4d1cf8]
[0x46390d]
[0x48a030]
[0x569228]
[0x56a60b]

Exiting...

</stderr_txt>
]]>


CPU Typ
GenuineIntel Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2650 v3 @ 2.30GHz [Family 6 Model 45 Stepping 2]

Linux Debian
Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) [4.19.0-5-amd64|libc 2.28 (Debian GLIBC 2.28-10)]

camb_legacy 2.17 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu


Faulty memory perhaps or try to limit the number of tasks running at the same time.
Speaking of the number of tasks running consecutively create app_config.xml file in projects folder
and paste this


<app_config>
   <app>
      <name>boinc2docker</name>
      <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent> 
     </app>
  </app_config>


Replace 1 with the number of tasks you wish to run.

Alternatively, try to install VirtualBox 5.2.8.
5) Forums : Technical Support : Lots of tasks in error (Message 22244)
Posted 4 Sep 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
I'm having the same problem. Looking at my task history, the last few hundred vbox tasks have all died with computing errors. I watched it happen yesterday; the job only ran for a few seconds before giving up the ghost. They all seem to have the same exit code:

-2147221163 (0x80040155) Unknown error code

These jobs were running without errors at the beginning of the summer; no software or hardware changes I can think of in that time period.

Running Windows 10, 16GB RAM on a pretty beefy custom desktop. I've been running VBOX 5.2 because later versions seem to have timing and communication issues and are more likely to error out.

I see several other threads complaining about computation errors. This could be happening to lots of folks who just haven't noticed yet. Help!


Can you post the error log from one of the failed tasks?
6) Forums : Technical Support : Lots of tasks in error (Message 22217)
Posted 22 Aug 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
I am not VirtualBox specialist but wouldn't be better to run Boinc natively?

Sure. But their work was created on another OS (usually some version of Linux), and it is not practical to create a version for Windows. So they use VirtualBox, which allows it to run on any OS that can run VB.


I thought you are running Cosmology on Debian in VirtualBox :-D
7) Forums : Technical Support : Lots of tasks in error (Message 22214)
Posted 22 Aug 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
Give us a shout when you find out something.

PS
I am not VirtualBox specialist but wouldn't be better to run Boinc natively?
8) Forums : Technical Support : Lots of tasks in error (Message 22212)
Posted 21 Aug 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
This error can be caused by the infamous segmentation error.
Test your RAM with memtest86+.
Additionally, make sure you have sufficient amount of memory available.
9) Forums : Cosmology and Astronomy : Calculated projetcs... (Message 22200)
Posted 8 Aug 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
[double posted]
10) Forums : Cosmology and Astronomy : Calculated projetcs... (Message 22199)
Posted 8 Aug 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
Really frustrating not seeing any reply from project admins. And not professional at all.
If project cannot be maintained and results processed what is the point of keeping it running?

I hope it is not just for the sake of money grants from university.
11) Forums : Announcements : Science update (Message 22190)
Posted 12 Jul 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
Admins, are you receiving?
12) Forums : General Topics : Which project has more scientific value (Message 22181)
Posted 25 Jun 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
BUMP
13) Forums : Technical Support : Can't Complete Tasks, all end with: EXIT_TIME_LIMIT_EXCEEDED (Message 22180)
Posted 25 Jun 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
An update on what I am finding:

If I set ncpus to 4 in app_config, allow the VMs to be created, then shut down BOINC, edit the ncpus to 12, then restart, the VMs still "think" there are 4 vCPUs, but they are allocated 12 by BOINC (I think). This is the only sure fire way I can get tasks to finish, but it can't be left alone this way, because once the tasks are finished, the VMs are deleted and new ones created with the values from app_config. If the values from app_config and the VM match, the tasks will time out. If they mismatch, with the app_config value being significantly higher, the tasks will complete successfully.


This can happen when a project ties the downloaded tasks to the app_config, or website, settings at the time the workunits are downloaded.


So the solution would be to change settings on project's website, delete app_config files and reset project in boinc client?
14) Forums : Technical Support : Can't Complete Tasks, all end with: EXIT_TIME_LIMIT_EXCEEDED (Message 22178)
Posted 21 Jun 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
Disabling HT seems to be the fix in this particular case. Whether this fix is yet a crutch for some other shortcoming will remain a question for those better versed in computer science. Happily, I will be able to run the more significant tasks of this project now; consider this matter closed.


Did you have a chance to solve the problem without disabling HT?
15) Forums : Technical Support : Can't Complete Tasks, all end with: EXIT_TIME_LIMIT_EXCEEDED (Message 22171)
Posted 11 Jun 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
I wouldn't be able to tell if this is correct. I run max 2 cores per task and all my tasks are finishing just fine. Sometimes I run one WU per core with the same result.

I checked my failed WUs and I found one with exactly same error you described.

Me and other users are experiencing same issues on nanoHUB project with EXIT_TIME_LIMIT_EXCEEDED, which is utilizing boinc2docker so maybe it means that WUs are somehow faulty.

Project admin would be the best person to clarify situation with those faulty WUs however he seems to be not active on the forum.
16) Forums : Technical Support : Can't Complete Tasks, all end with: EXIT_TIME_LIMIT_EXCEEDED (Message 22168)
Posted 6 Jun 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
Thank you for replying! I wondered about that myself, but then again, the tasks are making it about halfway through before they fail. I am presuming that VT-x being disabled would not allow that much progress to occur, though that's only a guess. But there's also this, from the link to the machine in question: https://www.cosmologyathome.org/show_host_detail.php?hostid=391524

"Virtualbox (6.0.8r130520) installed, CPU has hardware virtualization support and it is enabled"

Somewhere I read that downgrading VBox may be required, but I wouldn't know to which version.


I would go for VirtualBox that is bundled with BOINC installer (just check BOINC client website). On Windows host you can remove existing VBox and and run installer combo. No need to remove existing Boinc installation as VirtualBox gets installed first. After that you will be prompted to continue installation of Boinc client which you can abort. After that reboot PC.

On Linux install boinc-virtualbox package from repository supplied by your distro.
17) Forums : Announcements : Science update (Message 22164)
Posted 1 Jun 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
It would be great to see some news where C@H is standing at the moment.
18) Forums : General Topics : Tasks statistics all 0 (Message 22159)
Posted 26 May 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
That would indicate invalid or pending validation tasks . But without seeing your hosts we can't help you.
19) Forums : General Topics : Which project has more scientific value (Message 22158)
Posted 25 May 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
Hello Marius,

I was browsing old topic about camb_legacy and in one of your posts you said

I encourage everyone to take a look at running camb_boinc2docker jobs which are of more use to us scientifically anyway.


What is your current stance on this? Should we crunch this project or should we focus on camb_boinc2docker?
20) Forums : General Topics : Expired certificate (Message 22147)
Posted 17 Apr 2019 by Hal Bregg
Post:
Hi,

Firefox reports that C@H website has expired certificate or not valid and by default does not let me in.


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