lost my block trying to turn on the "don't get another block" option

[FoBoT]

i had a PC crunching along, about 50% complete, 83 blocks left

i decided to try out the new option to not get another block after it finished the current block

after i saved the options and restarted the client , it wouldn't start, it kept erroring on "can't get block from server"

so since it wouldn't start back up, i turned that option off again, then when i restarted the client, it went to the server and grabbed a new block, thus wiping out my uncompleted block

is this option borked ? or can it only be used when you first grab a block , i.e. , once you get a block, you can't turn on this option in the middle, i.e. , "it's a feature, not a bug"

i can't believe i lost all that work

here is the applicable portion of the log file to help explain

[Tue Jun 17 15:13:20 2003] resolving hostname
[Tue Jun 17 15:13:20 2003] opening connection
[Tue Jun 17 15:13:21 2003] receiving from server
[Tue Jun 17 15:13:21 2003] logging into server
[Tue Jun 17 15:13:21 2003] login successful
[Tue Jun 17 15:13:21 2003] n.high = 2155280 . 82 blocks left in test
[Tue Jun 17 15:22:25 2003] connecting to server
[Tue Jun 17 15:22:25 2003] couldn't get block from server [can't connect], retry in 1200 secs
[Tue Jun 17 15:29:56 2003] connecting to server
[Tue Jun 17 15:29:56 2003] couldn't get block from server [can't connect], retry in 1200 secs
[Tue Jun 17 15:30:42 2003] connecting to server
[Tue Jun 17 15:30:44 2003] logging into server
[Tue Jun 17 15:30:44 2003] requesting a block
[Tue Jun 17 15:30:48 2003] got proth test from server (k=24737, n=3831727)

[jjjjL]

that's strange.

open up regedit and let me know if there's a dword named

special_handling in HKLM\Software\LhDn\sob\config

and if so what its set to.

-Louie

[FoBoT]

*EDIT* (i was looking at the wrong PC )

the key is there, it is set to "0" , but as i said above, after it seemed to be "stuck" with it set, i turned the option back off (that would make the key "0" i assume) , that is when it got a whole new block

i don't recall seeing a message regarding flushing the old block, like you see if you change your handle

i will try this exercise on another PC that has a relatively fresh block (so little work will be lost ) and watch that key/stop in the middle in case you want more info from the PC

thank you

[b2uc]

Speaking of lost blocks and such...is there a known number of partial completes that need to be reissued since the 5 day time limit was instituted? Seems there should be many partially completed test that could easily be finished up by someone else....or is there someone on the staff that gets the joy of the low hanging fruit?

[Mystwalker]

It's not possible to continue a test unless you have the cache file. But this file doesn't get tranferred to the server. So an expired test is basically completely lost...

btw. the expiration limit was 10 days, wasn't it?

[b2uc]

Eeek...why isn't the cache file transfered? Or is it just too big for dialup users to be throwing it about?

[Mystwalker]

I don't know the size it has due to current n's, but around 3M it was ~300KByte big. That's way to much traffic to be handable by the connection the SoB server runs on...

[Lagardo]

"Some of us" have warned months ago that there's a problem on the horizon when the full tests get to be many days worth of 24/7 crunching and there's no way to do a part of a test and then return what you have so you can actually (boot into another OS or turn the box off as you go on vacation or ...).

This is also going to hurt recruiting of new people when there is only the possibility of committing yourself fully for the project for days and weeks or otherwise not at all.

[juhehe]

I did try "don't get another block" checkbox and I could not lose my current work assingment. I was hoping I would lose it that way, becouse uninstallin SOB and installing the latest 1.1.0 did not do it, and neither did deleting the temp file in SB dirrectory.

I idled over month not running the client and I speculate my work will be ignored so I wish I could easily start from zero.
I could check the Windows registry, but I do not want to - there should be decent way to do it.

I really do not want to do 199 blocks and then be sacked. If the expiry period is 10 days, why does the server not report it

[Fri May 16 19:40:26 2003] got proth test from server (k=4847, n=3691647)
[Fri May 16 20:15:17 2003] logging into server
[Fri May 16 20:15:17 2003] login successful
[Fri May 16 20:15:18 2003] n.high = 18344 . 201 blocks left in test
[Fri May 16 20:50:12 2003] logging into server
[Fri May 16 20:50:12 2003] login successful
[Fri May 16 20:50:13 2003] n.high = 36688 . 200 blocks left in test
[Fri May 16 20:50:37 2003] block processing paused
[Tue Jun 24 22:45:02 2003] got k and n from cache
[Tue Jun 24 22:45:02 2003] restarting proth test from cache (k=4847, n=3691647) [1.0%]
[Thu Jun 26 17:34:13 2003] got k and n from cache
[Thu Jun 26 17:34:13 2003] restarting proth test from cache (k=4847, n=3691647) [1.0%]
[Thu Jun 26 18:12:31 2003] resolving hostname
[Thu Jun 26 18:12:31 2003] opening connection
[Thu Jun 26 18:12:31 2003] receiving from server
[Thu Jun 26 18:12:32 2003] logging into server
[Thu Jun 26 18:12:32 2003] login successful
[Thu Jun 26 18:12:32 2003] n.high = 55032 . 199 blocks left in test
[Thu Jun 26 18:51:45 2003] resolving hostname
[Thu Jun 26 18:51:45 2003] opening connection
[Thu Jun 26 18:51:45 2003] receiving from server
[Thu Jun 26 18:51:46 2003] logging into server
[Thu Jun 26 18:51:46 2003] login successful
[Thu Jun 26 18:51:47 2003] n.high = 73376 . 198 blocks left in test

[Frodo42]

I idled over month not running the client and I speculate my work will be ignored so I wish I could easily start from zero.

Just change your user name and you will be asked if you want to clear the cache answer yes and then change your user name back again.

I really do not want to do 199 blocks and then be sacked. If the expiry period is 10 days, why does the server not report it

It's used as double checking.

[eatmadustch]

If you wan t to start a new test, then change your username in the client. Then the programme will ask you if you want to clear your cache. You click yes, and change your username back again, then you can start your new test!

[jjjjL]

Originally posted by juhehe
uninstallin SOB and installing the latest 1.1.0 did not do it

The uninstall function was actually broken until SB v1.1

If you uninstalled v1.1 I think it would kill your work now or at least kill the directory where it's at.

-Louie

[tqft]

My problem is that I had to wipe my pc. I backed up the cache!

How do I get it SSB110 to restart crunching (about 80& complete)- I believe it involves editing the registry? Simply rebooting does not work - probably because the registry was wiped along with everything else before I reinstalled.

Probably not important as it has taken more than 10 days to rebuild my machine (and am yet to even connect to the 'net on it - I am at work in case you didn't guess).

[eatmadustch]

you have to edit the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LhDn\sob\cache

[tqft]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LhDn\sob\cache

==> "c:\Program Files\SB\z3827677"?

Or is the format given by the key description - [will try it when I get home]

Been there done that. No idea. Please help or will I just give up and geta new one

[MathGuy]

You need to add three DWORD values under that key:

"cache" - with the value 2
"k" - with the value of whatever k you were working on (you can find this in your sb.log file)
"n" - with the value of whatever n you were working on (presumably 3827677)

Did you re-install SB after rebuilding the PC? If not, there are other configuration keys that need to be re-established also. Let me know if you need them...

[tqft]

"got k and n from cache"

stopped and restarted SB for a test

"block processing resumed"

maybe needs a machine restart - will try that now

thanks people

[tqft]

Originally posted by MathGuy
You need to add three DWORD values under that key:

"cache" - with the value 2
"k" - with the value of whatever k you were working on (you can find this in your sb.log file)
"n" - with the value of whatever n you were working on (presumably 3827677)

when putting the values in the DWORDs make sure you select Decimal before typing - I know I didn't and wondered why it wasn't working properly

[Borax]

FoBot

I had the same problem after i installed v1.10 of sob. I looked in the registry for the cache and there was no cache. I also got the message "could not connect to server". When i closed the sob client it did not save my work to cache. If i leave the do not get another test unchecked it will work. This was a new install with no previous sob client running on win2k.