F@H stopped working

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erich
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:48 pm

F@H stopped working

Post by erich »

I've been running F@H on Win10 1909 for a few months and it has generally worked. I noticed that often the screensaver didn't show my name or team, but then at other times it would. Today, I thought I would try to figure that out, and now it's not working at all.

At first, although the screensaver would run and the visualization would run, there would be no donor information. I was not able to get to the controls in the web interface. The client was not in my tray, so I tried to start it. Process manager would show it as running, but no tray icon. The FAHControl window had almost everything greyed out and unselectable and "Connecting" was highlighted.

So, I updated it (to 7.6.13). (BTW, I install/update it via Chocolatey.)

At that point, I could start the client in the sense that there was an icon in the tray, the icon had no response when clicked. The web interface still couldn't connect, and the control window had "Updating" highlighted (with almost everything still greyed out). I think the visualizer was still doing work although unattributed.

So I uninstalled it and re-installed it.

Now, I get a non-responsive tray icon, a never-connecting web interface, an "updating" control window (still greyed out), and the visualizer is doing nothing. The entire thing appears dead in the water.

What is going on and how do I fix it?

Thanks.
ajm
Posts: 754
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2020 5:22 am
Location: Lucerne, Switzerland

Re: F@H stopped working

Post by ajm »

Something seems to be wrong with your configuration.
When you uninstall FAH, you are presented with the option to delete the data as well (checkbox "incl. data", then a confirmation dialog). Please do it.
Before that, you may want to keep a copy of the file config.xml which you'll find in %AppData%\FAHClient (copy this in the address line of an Explorer window).
After the reinstallation, FAH will require that you enter your username, your team and your passkey (if applicable). All this is stored in config.xml.
erich
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:48 pm

Re: F@H stopped working

Post by erich »

Maybe the problem is that I'm not running as an admin and I install it using an admin account?

I see all the shortcuts get dropped into the installing admin's Start Menu. It looks like those shortcuts point to system-wide files, but if I copy them to my user account, they don't work. Process manager shows me that the FAH client is running, but I get no icon in the tray and I can't connect to the web interface.

Does FAH not work for unprivileged users? How was I able to run FAH previously?
bruce
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Location: So. Cal.

Re: F@H stopped working

Post by bruce »

When you run beta code, you can expect a certain level of problems.

I understand 7.6.13 installs "for everybody" rather than "just for me" You may have ended up with two copies of FAHClient running, and that's NOT good. Find the shortcuts that start FAHClient during rebooting and correct them. ... or wait for 7.6.16 and say a little prayer. :wink:
erich
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:48 pm

Re: F@H stopped working

Post by erich »

Beta code? Is v7.6.13 a beta? I don't see anything on the site indicating that. All the presented downloads for every platform are v7.6.13 which seems like it should be the production release.

So, my original problem was with v7.5.1. Testing a re-install of that, and it's a hybrid user/system install. The .exe and libraries install for everyone/system, but the shortcuts are just for the installing user. When I installed it, I must have copied those shortcuts over to my unprivileged user profile. It worked (most of the time) until it didn't.

I have completely cleaned out FAH and installed v7.6.13. It too is not a system install (placing shortcuts in the installing users start menu) and it just doesn't want to work.
ajm
Posts: 754
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2020 5:22 am
Location: Lucerne, Switzerland

Re: F@H stopped working

Post by ajm »

7.6.13 is presently the normal release.

If there was two installations, it may be difficult.
I would use Revo Uninstaller. After the normal uninstallation (with FAH uninstaller), Revo can scan the whole system for related files, folders, registry entries, etc. and show any leftover.
PantherX
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Re: F@H stopped working

Post by PantherX »

Welcome to the F@H Forum erich,

I am not sure what service Chocolatey is but the recommendation is to always download from the Official F@H website. It is a bit of an issue to not have automatic updater for the client or any notification but it has been requested.
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erich
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:48 pm

Re: F@H stopped working

Post by erich »

PantherX wrote:I am not sure what service Chocolatey is but the recommendation is to always download from the Official F@H website.
Ah! Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows. It's fantastic. The F@H devs could take over the F@H package if they wanted more control.

Chocolatey packages either have hash-verified installers embedded or download the installers (also hash verified) from the original source at the time of install. The latter is the case for the Folding@Home package. They also usually run the official uninstaller to properly remove software you don't want.

I went through the registry and the file system. F@H was totally removed. I have no doubt of that. It appears to work on a test machine, so I don't think it's the installer itself (although I run as admin on the test system). I guess I'll just have to wait to try the next version.
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