• Are there any limits to how long my machine can take to finish a work unit?
• Can I cache workunits?
• Can finished WU be sent to a different server?
• How do I delete a bad WU?
• How do I know how much bandwidth FAH is using?
• How do you set the deadlines for the work units?
• How many frames make up a WU?
• What are the current Point Values and Deadlines for the Folding Projects?
• What does preferred deadline mean?
• What does the 'Client will sleep for a day' mean?
• Where can I find a list of changes to the core versions?
• Will I lose my points if I don't complete a WU by the preferred deadline?

Yes.

Unfinished work units for most projects "expire" and are reassigned to another machine. The project is dependent on finishing the units in a timely fashion. The time limits for a given project can be found on the Stanford Project page here: »vspx27.stanford.edu/psummary.html, or see this FAQ: »Team Helix FAQ »What are the current Point Values and Deadlines for the Folding Projects?.

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by Gizmo edited by Pin
last modified: 2004-10-28 16:44:02

The way this project works is that workunits are assigned based on the results of work received from other computers. Since your work will help generate work for someone else in the project, you cannot cache workunits.

However, the folding clients do store up to 10 completed workunits in case of problems with Stanford's servers. So if you complete a workunit and the results server is down, it will be cached and you will receive a new workunit to work on. The client will try again to auto-send all the completed work at set intervals, after you finish your next workunit, or if you restart the client.

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by Spectre93 edited by MstrBlstr0
last modified: 2002-08-02 15:33:52

F@H Client Version 4
No, it's got to go back to the same server. No worries though. There is usually plenty of time before the WU expires and I'm sure Stanford will have it back up and running in no time.

Source

F@H Client Version 5
No and Yes! If the client fails to connect to the work server 2 times, then the completed work is sent to the Collection Server. This delivers work by the deadline, but credit (points) will not be awarded until the Collection Server delivers the work to the Work Server.

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by nozero edited by Pin
last modified: 2004-10-30 02:51:40

Three ways to delete a bad work unit:

Method A

•Stop the client.

•Delete wudata_xx.dat in the FAH "work" folder.

•Re-start the client.

Method B, using the -delete switch for the console client:

•Stop the client.

•Start>run>"C:\Folding@Home\FAH2console-v2xx.exe" -delete xx

Method C, the "brute force" method (see note below):

•Stop the client.

•Delete "queue.dat" and the entire contents of the FAH "work" folder.

•Re-start the client.

Note: There is an inherent danger using method 3 if there are completed work units (wuresults_xx.dat), in the queue, waiting to be transmitted!! You will lose those completed WUs. And nobody like to lose WUs!

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by Gizmo edited by nozero
last modified: 2003-03-17 17:35:10

FAHget about it. Just kidding. This is not an exact science, but you can get an guesstimate by using the following "formula". Dust off your decoder ring and git to cypherin.

The folder "work" uses about 1 MB. If you complete 1 WU per day, estimate about 1 MB upload plus about 1 MB download per day, in order to keep F@H going.

*Note*
To complete 1 WU per day you need at least a 1 GHz PC online working 24x7.

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by DSmithLady edited by wafen
last modified: 2005-07-23 17:33:24

From the FAH FAQ's at Stanford:

_________________________________________________
Each work unit is benchmarked on a dedicated 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 machine with SSE2 disabled. For most work units (although there may be exceptions, described in the next paragraph), we apply this equation

timeout = 20 * (daysPerWU) + 2
deadline = max(30* (daysPerWU) + 2,10)

where daysPerWU is the number of days it took to complete the unit. The "+2" days is there to give an additional buffer for fast WUs (to allow for servers down, etc). If 30*daysPerWU is less than 10 days, we set the deadline to 10 days, as a minimum time for all projects. The timeout is the time at which the WU is resent to another client and the deadline is the last time which we will give stats credit for the WU.
_________________________________________________________

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by sortofageek

It varies, when a work unit is downloaded, it will tell you how many frames are in that particular WU. You can also find this information in the FAHlog.txt located in your folding folder.

Log samples:

[22:13:22] Protein: NativeBBA5
[22:13:22] - Frames Completed: 0, Remaining: 100
[22:13:22] - Dynamic steps required: 500000

[03:28:54] Protein: PHE SIDECHAIN - AMBER
[03:28:54] - Frames Completed: 0, Remaining: 10
[03:28:54] - Dynamic steps required: 100000

---

If you happen to know the protein name, then the frame information can be looked up here.

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by Gizmo edited by Pin
last modified: 2004-10-22 23:45:18

The summary information for current projects can be found here: »vspx27.stanford.edu/psummary.html

Also includes Frames per WU and Core for a WU.

WU=Work Unit

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by MstrBlstr0 edited by Pin
last modified: 2004-10-18 22:50:07

The project summary page is here: »vspx27.stanford.edu/psummary.html

It gives two deadlines for each type of work unit (WU), preferred and final. It is desirable to complete each WU in time to meet the preferred deadline. If it cannot meet that deadline, the work server will need to send that same WU to another client. Since each WU is built from the previous one, this slows the project. If you find your CPU is too slow to meet the preferred deadlines, consider configuring the client to Request work units without deadlines. You will then receive timeless WUs, WUs without a deadline. This is the best way for slower computers or computers which do not fold 24/7 to contribute to Folding @ Home.

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by sortofageek
last modified: 2004-11-20 18:41:15

It's caused by a corrupt work unit on the server side. And, you just keep downloading it over and over again.

The Solution

•Using Ctrl+C shutdown the client.
•Delete everything in the work folder.

•Delete the queue.dat file

•Edit the configuration file (client.cfg) changing the ID number from 1 to 2, 3, or 4 any number will work, it just has to be a number other than the one already there, save the change.

•Restart the client. You should get a different protein and everything will be fine.

Stanford creates a corrupt work unit once in a while, so the program "sleeps" to give the server a chance to give you another protein, if someone isn't on your end to do what is described above.

Thank you TheWeatherMan for this FAQ.

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by MstrBlstr0 edited by wafen
last modified: 2005-07-23 17:35:32

You can find the list of changes to the core versions here.

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by MstrBlstr0 edited by nozero
last modified: 2003-03-18 18:12:25

There are two deadlines, preferred and final, listed for each WU on the Project Summary here: »vspx27.stanford.edu/psummary.html

Preferred deadline is explained here: /faq/thfaq/10213

If you cannot complete the WU by the preferred deadline, but still manage to return it before the final deadline, you will receive credit. However, if your CPU is too slow to consistently return WUs in time for the preferred deadline, it is better to configure the client with a GAH, rather than FAH, preference (advanced settings). You will still be folding, but you will receive timeless WUs, WUs without a deadline and you won't be slowing down the project that way.

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by sortofageek
last modified: 2005-11-14 21:46:16