LHC@home

Yeti. I am running 5.1.24 but I keep getting the following error messages when I look at my VM Manager.

Runtime error opening 'C:\ProgramData\BOINC\slots\2\boinc_d4953a215272a089\boinc_d4953a215272a089.vbox' for reading: -103(Path not found.).
F:\tinderbox\win-5.1\src\VBox\Main\src-server\MachineImpl.cpp[745] (long __cdecl Machine::i_registeredInit(void)).
Result Code:
E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component:
MachineWrap
Interface:
IMachine {b2547866-a0a1-4391-8b86-6952d82efaa0}


Do you have any suggestions.

Mike.

Runtime error opening 'C:\ProgramData\BOINC\slots\2\boinc_d4953a215272a089\boinc_d4953a215272a089.vbox' for reading: -103(Path not found.).
F:\tinderbox\win-5.1\src\VBox\Main\src-server\MachineImpl.cpp[745] (long __cdecl Machine::i_registeredInit(void)).
Result Code:
E_FAIL (0x80004005)

Did you already walk through the checklist ?

If yes, I have only two suggestions:

First, check your AntiVirusSoftware that it stays away from all BOINC-Files. Best would be to exclude C:\ProgramData\BOINC\ and subs from all scanning activities

Second, abort all BOINC-VMs on the machine. Then open VirtualBox-Manager and delete all remaining VMs. Then restart the PC and try if it works

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Supporting BOINC, a great concept !

I could not get through the checklist very far. I tried to install the extension pack but I think it failed. I did run the leomoon program ad it said I was capable but not activated. I'm afraid I do not have the computer skills to make this work. All of my other BOINC projects are running great. But LHC was only running sixtrak tasks and even those stopped about a week ago.

This VM stuff is a total mystery to me I'm afraid.

I could not get through the checklist very far. I tried to install the extension pack but I think it failed. I did run the leomoon program ad it said I was capable but not activated.

You should fix this first, otherwise it will never really work

I'm afraid I do not have the computer skills to make this work. All of my other BOINC projects are running great. But LHC was only running sixtrak tasks and even those stopped about a week ago.

This VM stuff is a total mystery to me I'm afraid.

I don't have an idea why installing the extension pack should fail, I never saw this on all of my machines so it will be difficult to help you

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Supporting BOINC, a great concept !

I could not get through the checklist very far. I tried to install the extension pack but I think it failed. I did run the leomoon program ad it said I was capable but not activated. I'm afraid I do not have the computer skills to make this work. All of my other BOINC projects are running great. But LHC was only running sixtrak tasks and even those stopped about a week ago.

This VM stuff is a total mystery to me I'm afraid.

Are you sure you are installing the proper Extension Pack?

(I don't know which of your computers you are having the problem with so let us know).....but I see all 4 of yours have no tasks so you must have only been running SixTracks

So I guess you have the problem with all 4

Did you install Oracle VB from here ??
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Download_Old_Builds_5_1

With this version of Extension Pack?
http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/5.1.24/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-5.1.24-117012.vbox-extpack

(and always reboot after installing)

Btw I noticed you over on the Sixtrack thread and you mentioned not trying to run Theory Tasks........well once you get VB installed right you will find Theory Tasks are the easiest ones to run here using VB......they use less memory than the others so you can run all cores with them (I have run thousands of them)

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Volunteer Mad Scientist For Life

Does anyone have experience with newer BOINC Manager/Client 7.8.x for Atlas and other LHC tasks? Are there some advantages or disadvantages over 7.6.x?

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Does anyone have experience with newer BOINC Manager/Client 7.8.x for Atlas and other LHC tasks? Are there some advantages or disadvantages over 7.6.x?

I have read about it in the GPUGRID Forum. Obviously, it's still in some kind of "development" stage, and some people report about problems.

As for myself, I will definitely not change as long as the current version works fine.

Does anyone have experience with newer BOINC Manager/Client 7.8.x for Atlas and other LHC tasks? Are there some advantages or disadvantages over 7.6.x?

i have upgraded boinc to 7.8.2 on 3 windows pcs and havent experienced any problems with it in combination with any LHC application.
the only thing is that the "process time since last checkpoint" (hope it is called like that in english) is not working properly. But this does not have any influence on the results.
apart from that i have not recognized any advantages/disadvantages.

So, the "CPU time at last checkpoint" counter doesn't work in 7.8.x? Does it happen for all tasks or only ones running on VirtualBox?

In any case, it's bad news for me, because I use that counter to check for hanged/broken tasks. Oh well.

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So, the "CPU time at last checkpoint" counter doesn't work in 7.8.x?

yes, at least on my pcs.

Does it happen for all tasks or only ones running on VirtualBox?

i think its not working for all, but im not entirely sure about that, since my pcs crunch vbox tasks (and the atlas native) most of the time and more or less only LHC tasks.

To clean up the VM environment you just need to stop the VM service and restart it or kill it in process manager and when it restarts it will cleanup the environment. No need to restart the computer.

Real time saver and used this maybe 30 times already.

Each SingeCore-Atlas-Task needs 2,1 GB free RAM,

This isn't supported any more. 80% of the WU's ended up Invalid when set to 2100. All of the 1 core WU's attempted at 2560 MB succeeded but returned about 0.002 credit per CPU second or 1/5 the credit for those at 3420 MB.

The BOINC manager properties reports either 3.42 GB (for any WU sized 1 to 5 cores) or 9.57 GB (6 to 8 cores) Work space.

That solves to 2540 MB + (880 MB * ncores).

Thank you Yeti!

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When I run ATLAS BOINC only run 2 (8 core ) work units and only use 50% of my RAM and CPU (16 core), I have uncheck the box for atlas now to see if it will run 31 SixTrack work later.

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I'm now able to run 3 x ATLAS (8 cpu) work units simultaneously which use 65% of the CPU and 88% RAM or 28GB.
Seams that I need to have more RAM to be able get full load on the CPU while running ATLAS work units only.

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You may consider stop using 8 core vbox atlas tasks since their cpu efficiency (cpu time/(run time * number of vbox cores)) is pretty bad.
For that reason, generally speaking, using more than 4 cores per vbox atlas task is not a good idea. The efficiency of a one core task is the best.
Since one 8 cores task needs much less RAM than eight 1 core tasks, you have to chose, depending on your available RAM, the best number of cores per atlas task for your setup.

I'm now able to run 3 x ATLAS (8 cpu) work units simultaneously which use 65% of the CPU and 88% RAM or 28GB.
Seams that I need to have more RAM to be able get full load on the CPU while running ATLAS work units only.

1 new 8-core ATLAS-task to start, checks whether there is 9800MB free RAM of the maximum you have BOINC allowed to use.
When you've 2 or maybe 3 running, BOINC is waiting for free memory to start new tasks.

Thank you Crystal Pellet & gyllic.
Yes I can se that the CPU usage is only 30% with 3 8-core tasks running but that the memory use almost hit the roof.
I think I will by 16GB mor RAM.

@ gyllic when you say "one core task" is that an ATLAS one core task you are referring to?

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The following post explains the relationship between different setups (#cores per WU) and efficiency:
https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/forum_thread.php?id=4479&postid=34583#34583

... I think I will by 16GB mor RAM.

With 16 GB more RAM (total: 48 GB) your host should be able to run 6 or 7 ATLAS tasks concurrently if you configure a 4-core setup, depending on what else is running.

VirtualBox seams to result in much higher demand and use of RAM to be able to make efficient use of the CPU, my computer with 6-core Intel cpu and 16GB ram
currently use 13GB to run 5 LHCb Simulation and the CPU load is only 20 - 40%.

I think I have seen all that I need to see regarding how VirtualBox work with BOINC but I will continue struggle and try to make it work better on one computer and delete the 'Virtual Crap' on my other boxes.

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