Shutting Down the Client

[miningold]

I am wondering what is the proper way to shutdown the client so i can turn my computer off.

I have the smp mpich client and the gpu2 client both of which are console. My computer runs winxp and i am using fahspy to manage my folding. Both of my clients are running as services.

To turn off the client should i simply stop the service (through fahspy or windows?), should i click ctrl-c while the console is up, or should i just turn off my computer?

[MtM]

Services are stopped when you press shutdown, some actually say the best way to stop an smp is selecting shutdown from the startmenu. I would stop the service and wait untill taskman reports all fahcore_xx.exe to have exited, then shut down the pc. It's user preference.

If you used console's not in service mode, the preferred way is ctrl+c ( after which I personally still check with taskman for stray worker processes ).

[DanGe]

I'm not familiar with the behavior of the GPU client as a service, but you definitely should shut down the SMP service before shutting down Windows. I'm not sure if this applies to WinXP, but on Vista, if you forget to shutdown the service, the client could throw an error and trash the WU.

[MtM]

I'm not familiar with the behavior of the GPU client as a service, but you definitely should shut down the SMP service before shutting down Windows. I'm not sure if this applies to WinXP, but on Vista, if you forget to shutdown the service, the client could throw an error and trash the WU.

One says a> others say b>, 'you definetly should' imho or in my experience I can link to 100 people saying other then you, and it's just not really done to make statements like that because you're basicly telling them they are wrong. It might work for you, but it's not a golden rule or else it would have been noted in the faq and it shouldn't be getting asked that often.

If not, proof it! It could trash a wu as well if you stop the service and shut down before all fahcore_xx.exe processes have exited properly, it could even trash a wu just because it feels like it.

[miningold]

Thanks for the help.

However, i ran into a problem. I used fahspy to stop the services, the gpu client stopped fine, but the smp wont stop. I checked in the windows services listing and it said that they were both stopped but I can see my cpu still active, and the fahspy cpu monitor says that the core is still running. I am going to try and open the console and hit ctrl-c to see if the helps.

[miningold]

Ok i tried the ctrl-c in the console but that didnt't work. So i restarted the service in fahspy, then went into the windows services controller. Then i paused the client, and stopped it. Fahspy recognized that the client was stopped but the core is still running with 100% cpu and the fahcore_a1.exe's are still running.

This is frustrating.
Even the log window in fahspy says that the cores were killed.

I noticed in fahspy when i stop the smp client a get a popup that says:

Service_name: Folding@Home-CPU-(1)
Type: 10 Win32_OWN_PROCESS
State: 1 STOPPED
(NOT_STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSIBLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
WIN32_EXIT_CODE :0 (0x0)
SERVICE_EXIT_CODE :0 (0x0)
CHECKPOINT :0x0
WAIT_HINT :0x0

But i get the same message with the GPU client and it shuts down fine.

[miningold]

think i found the problem, i look at taskman when the client was running and there are 6 instances of fahcore_a1.exe running when there should only by 4. When i stop the client it drops down to 2 instances of fahcore_a1.exe anyone have anyidea why that is?

[miningold]

Problem solved i stopped the smp service, went into taskman and ended the processes of the other two fahcore_a1.exe then restarted. Opened up taskman and only four instances of fahcore_a1.exe exist.

[DanGe]

think i found the problem, i look at taskman when the client was running and there are 6 instances of fahcore_a1.exe running when there should only by 4. When i stop the client it drops down to 2 instances of fahcore_a1.exe anyone have anyidea why that is?

Sometimes, the SMP client does not shut down cleanly and leaves some FahCore_a1.exe's floating around. If this occurs and you wish to restart the client, you will have to manually kill the remaining core processes before restarting the client. Of course, if you do not feel confident doing so, you could backup your work file before restarting your client.

[MtM]

think i found the problem, i look at taskman when the client was running and there are 6 instances of fahcore_a1.exe running when there should only by 4. When i stop the client it drops down to 2 instances of fahcore_a1.exe anyone have anyidea why that is?

Sometimes, the SMP client does not shut down cleanly and leaves some FahCore_a1.exe's floating around. If this occurs and you wish to restart the client, you will have to manually kill the remaining core processes before restarting the client. Of course, if you do not feel confident doing so, you could backup your work file before restarting your client.

Ahh like I said in my first post in this thread? Thanks!

[Insidious]

I've always had great luck just doing a normal windows shutdown with the client(s) running.

Actually, when I had two SMPs running... that seemed to be the only way I could get them stopped without loosing their place and/or spoiling the WU. (??)

I'm sure it's not the only way to get them to stop, but I find it reliable (as long as restarting Windows isn't too imposing on what else you are doing.)

-Sid