What am I testing?

[GARYP166]

I've been a member for a couple of weeks now.

For a time I was testing 46,266,683. Then I had a crash and rebooted. According to the Prime95 window I am now testing 46,651,457 but if I click on My Account and then Assigments I still have 46,266,683, but with no update since 1st February.

How can I be sure what my PC is doing and that we are not at cross purposes?

Gary

[S485122]

Originally Posted by GARYP166

I've been a member for a couple of weeks now.

For a time I was testing 46,266,683. Then I had a crash and rebooted. According to the Prime95 window I am now testing 46,651,457 but if I click on My Account and then Assigments I still have 46,266,683, but with no update since 1st February.

How can I be sure what my PC is doing and that we are not at cross purposes?

Gary

Which version of Prime95 are you running ? What OS do You use ? How do you start Prime95 ?

If you started from the zip file all temporary files will not be saved : you MUST first copy the CONTENT of the zip file to a folder (of your Documents folder for instance : Vista will not permit you to modify files in the "Program Files" Folder.)

Jacob

[GARYP166]

I'm running version 25.8, build 5, downloaded 27th January and unzipped to a folder called

C:\Program Files\GIMPS

os: Windows XP Home Edition version 5.1 build 2600 Service pack 3

The first time I started by opening the program from the GIMPS folder, but now Prime 95 is set to start when the PC starts.

You said Vista will not permit you to modify files in the "Program Files" Folder. But there are five files in the GIMPS folder with today's date -

prime.log, local.txt, p6L51457, q6L51457 and m6L51457,

Do I need to reinstall somewhere else?

Gary

[cheesehead]

Originally Posted by GARYP166

p6L51457, q6L51457 and m6L51457

Those save file names are consistent with your prime95 window's report that it is working on 46,651,457.

When I checked on the status of exponent 46,266,683 at http://mersenne.org/report_exponent/...&B1=Get+status, it also agrees with your My Account/Assignments:

Assigned LL testing to "GARY P" on 2009-01-28

However, http://mersenne.org/report_exponent/...&B1=Get+status shows that 46,651,457 is assigned as:

LL testing to "ANONYMOUS" on 2009-02-03

So, perhaps your communication with PrimeNet since the crash has not had your proper UserID. Check what your prime95 now has as your UserID (click in the window on Test, then click on PrimeNet) and correct it to "GARY P" if necessary.

I don't know if a re-communication with your proper UserID might cause PrimeNet to consider that your 46,651,457 does not belong to you. I'd think that the long hex assignment ID should convince PrimeNet that it's truly yours, but someone else here may know better.

[GARYP166]

Clicked on Test - PrimeNet and the box was empty. Changed it to my userID. With my Gimps log in I am now assigned both numbers:

GARYP166 has 2 assignments

CPU NameCoreExponentWork TypeStage, %Assignedage
daysUpdatedNext UpdateEstimated
Completiondays
to go046266683 LLLL, 2.30%2009-01-28 21:53122009-02-01 20:332009-02-02 20:332009-03-29 01:4848046651457 LLS2, 20.00%2009-02-03 16:4762009-02-09 16:482009-02-10 16:482009-04-08 10:1758

When I pasted the table it looked OK, but the formatting disappeared when I clicked on preview.

Grateful for your patience; I'm new to this game. I read your reply at 0130 UK time, which is why I waited so long to reply myself.

Gary.

[GARYP166]

Is anyone able to tell me what my status is please?

I am still testing 46,651,457 and this number is allocated to my userID if I click on Test - PrimeNet.

Logging on and going to My Account and Assignments I still have two numbers, but 46,266,683 is not being updated.

What is happening to the work I did on this number? There wasn't much, but I wouldn't want it to go to waste. Can I make it available to someone else? Alternatively when I've finished with 46,651,457 can I continue with it?

Gary

[markr]

We're getting there. The server now has both numbers assigned to you, "GARY P". That's good. Your computer's worktodo.txt only has 46651457. With a little care, you should be able to add 46266683 back to your worktodo.txt file, if you want to continue with it. Or you can use the server's Assignments page to unreserve it so it goes back in the pool for someone else.

Salvaging the work you did on 46266683 will depend on whether prime95's folder has any save files for it. Are there any files with names ending with 66683? For comparison, p6L51457 & q6L51457 are the save file & backup from LL testing 46651457, and m6L51457 is the save file from P-1 testing it.

If you have a file or files like that, then some/most/all your work on 46266683 should be salvagable, unless the crash corrupted them all. 46266683 just has to be added back to your worktodo.txt file - details later.

If you don't have a good save file for 46266683, then your choices are to either start it from scratch, or to unreserve it.

Cheers!
Mark

[GARYP166]

Markr

Thanks for replying.

No, there are no 66683 files. I don't know what happened - I just rebooted and started again, and the 51457 files are being kept. So it looks as if it will have to be done again.

My expected end date for 46,651,457 is not until 12th April, so it's probably best not to keep the other one for myself. Currently neither of the numbers have the box next to them checked if I click on My Account - Assignments, so how do I free 46,266,683?

Moving on your reply suggests that my PC was the primary storage medium for the results. Is this really the case, and are the save files not kept on a server?

Gary

[cheesehead]

Originally Posted by GARYP166

Currently neither of the numbers have the box next to them checked if I click on My Account - Assignments, so how do I free 46,266,683?

Click on the box next to the number you want to release so that a check mark appears, then click on the box to the left of the "Unreserve checked exponents" button so that a check mark appears there too, then click on the "Unreserve checked exponents" button itself.

(AFAIK the multiple steps are intended to prevent accidental un-reservations, but it could be smoother -- such as using an "Are you sure?" question rather than the not-very-intuitive check box beside the button.)

Moving on your reply suggests that my PC was the primary storage medium for the results. Is this really the case, and are the save files not kept on a server?

Yes, the save files are kept on your PC.

If a copy of each save file were kept on the server, that would multiply the data transmission between client and server by an enormous amount (save files are millions of bytes; current GIMPS messages between client and server are on the order of a hundred bytes each). Also, it would raise the storage requirement for the server by some large factor.

[GARYP166]

Done. Thanks for the help.

Gary