Once again: How to report offline-work to primenet?
 

Hi,

On my dual-office System I have one ntprime-service run on each cpu.
I wanted my home-System to participate on prime95. I dont have any internet-access from home.
So I installed a third prime95 on my office-pc, started it and got 5 numbers to factor. Then I stopped the just installed prime 95 and copied the following files to a cd and took it home:
- pNXXXXXX
- results.txt
- worktodo.ini

I installed prime95 on my home-system and copied the 3 files into the appropriate dir (and disabled 'write-protection'). Then started prime95 and it starts factoring :-)
During that I didn't touch the third installed prime95 on my office-pc.
A few days later, when on my home-pc there only was 1 number to factor, I copied the 3 mentioned files back to my office-pc to let it connect to primenet and report its results.
But after copying, removeing write-protection and starting prime 95 it just downloaded new numbers to factor but didnt seem to report the results.
I looked up my stats and for the four numbers which I factored on my home-system it shows negative numbers (like '-4.8') in the column 'days to go'. ?!? 8-/

In the last section ('Exponents Cleared since last Synchronization ') it still says 'zero' in every three lines and on top of the page it tells me that I still have 0.00 'P90-CPU hrs/day'.
:-(

So, what happend here?
What haven't I understood/did I wrong?

cheers
uli

Instead of using a third copy of Prime95 on your office computer to get exponents for your home computer, just use the manual test pages. You could use these to get and report results.

[url]http://www.mersenne.org/ips/manualtests.html[/url]

thanks for your answer, but on 'PrimeNet Manual Testing Forms' it says:
"Test Results checked into PrimeNet using the Manual Test Results Check In form, below, are recorded for official GIMPS credit, but are not credited for CPU time by PrimeNet."

...but the 'Primenet CPU time' is what I would like to see :-O

Is there another possibility to report my 'results.txt'?
What information can I provide to make you understand whats going on on my computer?

cheers
uli

Manual test pages will not give you credit on Primenet. What you need is to copy the prime.spl file over from your home computer to the third office computer before letting it contact Primenet. Prime.spl is required for Prime95 to report the results.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by garo [/i]
[B]Manual test pages will not give you credit on Primenet. What you need is to copy the prime.spl file over from your home computer to the third office computer before letting it contact Primenet. Prime.spl is required for Prime95 to report the results. [/B][/QUOTE]

thanks for dealing with my issue - I know, I'm probably the 10000st coming with that question...

There is no file called 'prime.spl' on my harddisk.
in the prime95 directory these files appear:
- INSTALL.LOG
- License.txt
- local.ini
- pN856929
- prime.ini
- prime.log
- prime95.chm
- Prime95.exe
- readme.txt
- results.txt
- STRESS.TXT
- UNDOC.TXT
- Uninstall.exe
- WHATSNEW.TXT
- worktodo.ini

thats it :-(

btw: Im running V23.7

cheers
uli

I think, but am not sure, that Prime95 does not write the prime.spl file unless you've checked the "Use Primenet" option.



"It's not nice to fool Mother PrimeNet." (with apologies to writers of a certain margarine commercial)

So what is the best way to run prime95 at home without any connection to the internet?

I know you want PrimeNet credit and you won't get it with the manual release forms, but that's probably the best way. There's some way to sneakernet it but I find it to be complex and not worth the effort. The better thing to do, of course, is to get a connection at home. Maybe just for a few minutes every few days. Is there someone you know who has a dial-up account that you can 'borrow' for a few minutes every now and then?

The critical file (for credit) is prime.spl it holds the results
The worktodo.ini is also important (without it no work will be done).

After a result both must be transfered from the offline PC to online one.
Worktodo.ini must then be transfered back to offline one.



On a PC without a connection to the internet.
Install Prime95

copy local.ini (optional)
copy prime.ini
copy worktodo.ini from a machine with an internet connection, your 3rd copy of Prime95 will work.

If only one PC has the internet connection, have a separate directory for running Prime95 just to get work and return results.

On the offline PC.
Make sure Use primenet to get work and report results is checked in the Configure Primenet dialog box.
You can also check use dialup.

In the preferences dialogbox max out (with a value of 300)
Minutes between modem retries
Minutes between network retries

When a result is finished, a couple of lines of text are added to results.txt and a prime.spl file is created.

The lines from results.txt would be used if sending in results using the manual forms, but you want credit so the prime.spl is what is needed.

Copy the prime.spl and the worktodo.ini file to the machine/directory (online PC) that downloaded the work ( has the original worktodo.ini file).

Start prime95 briefly on this transfer machine, it should detect a prime.spl file and send it off and update the worktodo.ini, then you can stop it.

Copy the worktodo.ini back to the offline PC.

Thanks, dsouza, for the detailed instructions.
The only problem is, that there is no 'prime.spl' file. The 'results.txt'-lines are generated, but nothing else :-(

Im using prime95 V23.7 - maybe the file is called different now... or something... hmmm...

Is 'prime.spl' placed in the prime95-directory? Or somewhere else?
There is defenetly no such file here on my office-pc. Since the preferences are the same on my home-pc, I think there wont be such a file, either.

It has to work somehow!
If nothing helps, I will switch to the manual way, but that would be really a pitty!

thanks for your help until now, guys.

cheers
uli

The prime.spl file is created when you go to the menu

Test->Primenet and select use primenet.

Have you done that on the computer that is doing the crunching?