Folding At Home - fold to cure! (and get cool blue flowers)

OK - if you wondered what's all that fuss over folding and what are
those flowers, read the below guide. I've made it simple and short
as possible.

(For full details, read this thread in DevHardware.)

What is this?
Folding at home (aka Folding@home, F@H in short) is a distributed
computing project designed to perform computationally intensive
simulations of protein folding. Bottom line, it help research medical
projects which their goal is curing people.

Are there any risks to my computer?
Not really, however it's not recommended to let F@H
run 24/7 on laptop. No problem with desktop computer.

OK, I wish to help. How can I start folding?

• download the client.
• It is recommended you download the text-only console as it
  fold faster and can be run in the background. So that's the one
  I'm going to explain and work with.
• Download the program (e.g. FAH502-Console.exe) into its
  own directory (e.g. C:\FAH) as it's creating and using its own
  files.
• Double click the program to activate it - you will now be
  able to configure the settings. Use the defaults, except for
  Start As Service - I recommend activating this option, as it
  would make F@H run in the background whenever the computer
  is restarted, and you won't have to mess with this.
• Choose yourself nickname, and put 12912 as the team number.
  (this is our team!)
• Very important: F@H will not slow down your computer!
  It use only the spare cycles and replace the "System Idle" process.
• Let it run - make sure you're connected to the internet so
  that F@H can get work to compile and send the results.
• If you have it running as Service, do not execute the
  console application manually - it's already running in the background.

I am folding. How can I see my progress?

• Go to the directory where you saved FAH502-Console.exe
• You will see two text files: unitinfo.txt and FAHlog.txt
  • unitinfo.txt - information about current "unit" being compiled.
    In there you will find unit name, time it was downloaded to your
    computer, due time and progress in percentage completed.
  • FAHlog.txt - main log file of F@H where you can see full
    details about your progress. The log record every 1% of progress,
    you can estimate how much time current unit is going to take.
• You can also use FahMon application:
  • Download FahMon application.
  • Add your F@H client by right clicking the left panel (where
    you see Progress, Name and ETA) and typing your name and
    the location of the F@H client on your computer.

I want more details. Where can I see what I'm really doing?
Here you will find the list of all Fold At Home projects - each
project is also known as Work Unit or WU in short.

I have another computer. Can I use the same username?
Yes of course, and all work done will be added under your name.

You promised me blue flower. How can I get it?
First, you must finish your first Work Unit (aka WU) so that
you will be recognized by F@H server. Their server updates
every 3 hours or so, so it won't be instant.
Second, you have to find your F@H User ID:

• Go to this page.
• Type your nickname into the text box and click Search.
• You should see your name as link - click it. Your ID will
  appear in the left menu as User: [your number]
  (the number also appear in the URL)

Now you should have your 6 digits number. Go to your User CP
here in the forum and click Edit Options. In the bottom you
should see "Overclockers Club Folding@Home" panel - put your
number in the text field and Save.
The forum update the F@H status every midnight - so be
patient, it's not instant. One blue flower is given for every
10,000 points, gold flower for every 500,000 folding points.

I have Hyper Threading. Can I run more than one instance of F@H to boost speed up?
You have to have each instance running out its own folder (thus
and therefore you would want two seperate folders, each with a
copy of the client) and for machine number you would have 1 for
the first and another number (2 sounds good) for the other.

Running two processes will show the processor running at 100%,
but it will necessarily lengthen the amount of time a WU will take
to complete. If you want to benefit the cause, then run only
one instance; if you are in it for points, then run two.

Note-- The above is specifically for HT-enabled machines.
Single-processor machines should only run one instance period.
(thanks Dngrsone for this information)

My results are not being sent, and I see this in the log file:

What's going on?
You chose Yes in the setting "Ask before sending results" -
that's not good for console version running in service mode.
To solve this, change the setting to No by following those steps:[list=1][*]stop the service if running[*]type "C:\Programs\FoldatHome\FAH504-Console.exe -config"
in the Start-->Run command line, change the path to the real
path of course.[*]fill in the settings, and make sure to choose No in the
"Ask before sending results".
Now F@H will automatically send the results and get new unit
when done working on WU.
(thanks Dngrsone and Paul for bringing this issue and solving it)

Some nice links:
Our Team Stats
Team Users List

Want cool signature?

1. go to http://www.amitbb.co.il/Downloads/t...enerate_Sig.asp
2. in the Username text box write your folding username.
3. fill five colors in the format of RGB, for example write FFFFFF
   for white color, or 0000FF for blue color.
4. click submit, you'll see URL address.
5. copy&paste this address to your signature.

That's it for now, start folding and you won't regret it!

in log file FAHlog file and in console i m getting this entry

Could not get ID from server. Retrying...

make sure you're connected. try to disable the firewall, or at least unblock port 8080
which F@H use for connecting to their server. make sure this port is available i.e
close any program that might be using it as well.

very nice thread Shadow

edit: Congrats Shadow for becoming 14th Plane God

Shadow
i was using other version before.
so i downloaded the "no-nonsense" 5.04beta version and did whatever u said!
i just have one question : this application is running in front of me now, and it just minimises in my task bar and if i close it, it shuts down! Does it do this or have i done anything wrong??

i said "yes" to the service option!!

check the Processes list in the Task Manager - if you see Fah_Core7a.exe running
then it's all right and it's working. Otherwise, restart your computer and check again.
Anyhow, you must not run more than one instance of the application - if it has already
been executed by the Service, you should not execute the console. You can see the
progress by using FahMon as explained above.

Shadow, ofcourse its working!!
i can see the Fah_Core82.exe there in task manager.
i was asking if this thing can be removed my task bar??
i just clicked on the exe 1 time, then it asked me all the questions and then it started working. but it is showing in my task bar...... which i wudnt like

or will it not show when i'll start my PC next time and just work in the back ground!!

indeed, once you restart it would work in the background and will have no visible window.

thought so!!
and thanx for those 20 rep points

Hey Shadow, I've got a bit of a problem with the F@H console I set up at work, I set it up as a service and got it too complete its first wu, but its having a problem sending the data back -- this is the reponse I get in my log.

[12:21:42] + Attempting to send results
[12:21:42] - Presenting message box asking to network.

This was after I restarted the service, I've allowed it access through my Firewall, but its still not connecting to the main host.

The one I set up at home works fine, no problems with it, do you think its got something to do with the main buildings firewall at my work?

Paul

Yeah it does sound like a firewall issue maybe ask them to open it...

I think it's using port 8080 so ask them to allow you this port.

I dont think they'll do that as its a government run building.

Although I do know that we have a server which is running outside the firewall, then I could ask my boss if it was ok to patch that into F@H instead of my own console.

lol, i can see FaH taking over our lives (working lives anyway!)

It looks like you answered "ask before sending results: yes" It should pop up a box somewhere asking you to allow it to send results. It won't send until it's given permission. If set to no, the console will try to access the Stanford website as soon as it's finished with the WU.

If your web browser is set to access the internet through direct internet connection, then it shouldn't have a problem accessing (it downloaded a WU, didn't it?). If you go through a proxy, then you can program the console to use the proxy-- address and port, with or without username and password. The only issues I've had is my firewall proxy not allowing certain Stanford IPs, and I've added those to my exception list and it works hunky-dory.