SETI@Home Wow!-Event 2019

[Grumble_D]

If I sign up to this do I leave seti running as usual or do I need to do something special?

 

[StefanR5R]

Nothing more needed. SETI.Germany's event site will automatically start pulling your statistics from setiathome.berkeley.edu, and add them up for you individually, your team, your zodiac sign, and your country; starting at August 15, 16:00 UTC.

(Actually they are collecting stats already, including yours. But this is just a test and will be reset when the event actually starts.)

 

[lane42]

Welcome to the Team Grumble_D

 

[Markfw]

Well, here is a good one. I had my other 3900x with a 2060 running SETI for days, no problem, no reboots or anything. Then I checked the stats, and almost nothing today, so I went to the machine, and both SETI and F@H said no video card ! Something about openGL, so I rebooted, now working perfectly.

 

[StefanR5R]

This sounds like it happened because the software (SETI application or GPU driver) locked up or did not clean up on exit, such that GPU resources became unavailable for subsequent runs. If so, it could happen again any time.

Some things to check that come to my mind: GPU temperatures, GPU Voltages (if not stock), driver version, application version (if not stock).

 

[Assimilator1]

Hey Mark, what's your 3900X rig drawing from the wall running SETI? (without GPU crunching).

*************
Just realised I hadn't registered, sorted now.

 

[StefanR5R]

I replaced the dodgy wall outlet, the one which doubles as a junction box in the circuit which supplies my GPU hosts. Bits of its plastic parts were molten, and wire insulation was burnt away were they stuck in the terminal. Maybe there was too much resistance from corroded contacts.

My replacement seems to be functional. I have been running 2 kW through the circuit for a couple of hours now, and it does not get warm.

 

[crashtech]

I replaced the dodgy wall outlet, the one which doubles as a junction box in the circuit which supplies my GPU hosts. Bits of its plastic parts were molten, and wire insulation was burnt away were they stuck in the terminal. Maybe there was too much resistance from corroded contacts.

My replacement seems to be functional. I have been running 2 kW through the circuit for a couple of hours now, and it does not get warm.

Sounds like you may have averted a very dangerous situation.

 

[TennesseeTony]

I ALWAYS check my cords for amperage rating. My workbench is littered with cords. I don't unplug from the wall, I unplug from the PSU/printer/etc.

I have NEVER seen a cord rated less than 7A at 120volt. (Most of mine are 10A-120V)

And yet somehow today I find on my bench attached to my testbed PC a 10A 240V cord.......that is only 5A 120V.

It had been supplying about 6.3A 120V for all AMD GPU Sprints this year. So Public Service Announcement.....put your reading glasses on when selecting your power cord.....this one is a bit crispy/brittle.

EDIT: It was still doing it's job, supplying the juice, when I noticed it was a bit grey in color in some areas, and it snapped in my hand when I lifted it. Fortunately the juicy end fell out of my hand before I got zapped.

EDIT 2: I just mounted a small Fire Extinguisher near the bench.

 

[TennesseeTony]

Good Heavens I found another one! Inkjet cord!!! I cut it at both ends immediately. Look how small those wires are...and yet the outside diameter is the same as a 10A -120V cord.

EDIT: For science...the cord on the right in the 2nd pic is a 10A-120V cord. Massive difference.

 

[StefanR5R]

Device power chords here are typically rated 10A 250V. (Except for those Europlug chords without ground contacts, these are for 2.5A 250V only.)
Most extension chords and power strips are good for 16A 250V, and everything from wall outlet to breaker is 16A 250V too.

I find on my bench attached to my testbed PC a 10A 240V cord.......that is only 5A 120V.

Wait, wouldn't a 10A 240V chord work for 10A 120V too?

 

[TennesseeTony]

No Sir. You 240-250V guys get to cheat with little skinny (cheap) wires, but the US-of-A has to buy massive monster cables for things like water heaters, clothes dryers, etc.

P=IV

Power = I (current) x Voltage

Simple algebra lets you change the formula to other formats if you need to.

10A x 240V= 2400 Watts
10A x 120V= 1200 Watts

I am having trouble expressing how I arrived at the conclusion that this cord only delivered 5A at 120V (600 watts)....

Using P=IV:
600W=5A x 120V
600W= 2.5A x 240V

Yeah, that looks correct. Whew, I am having a brain fart trying to reverse engineer that one. I am still not happy with how I have expressed that though.

 

[StefanR5R]

So I figured a 10A 240V (2400W) rated chord could still take 10A 120V (1200W), and would get just as warm as if in a circuit with 10A 240V.

Of course, alternating current doesn't really work that way. But 50 Hz here vs. 60 Hz at your place doesn't make a difference for power chords, does it?

 

[TennesseeTony]

Nah, frequency doesn't matter in this case.

I still can't express it mathmatically, but the cord is rated 10A at 240V for 2400W. To get 2400W at 120V you need a 20A cord. Gah!!! I should be able to explain this better, but I give up for now and go back to building a Linux SETI rig. With a thicker cord.

EDIT: multiple edits in the previous post...some were AFTER Stefan's post..

EDIT 2: Electricity is like water. If you need 10 liters (Power) per minute at a certain pressure (Voltage), how big does your pipe (Current/Amps) need to be?

 

[ao_ika_red]

Glad to know things were worked out, Stefan.
I always use this AWG rule when installing new power outlet or making new extension cord. So far so good, but again, I never pull as much as 2kW of power from single breaker.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge

 

[crashtech]

As I understand it, the higher the voltage, the higher the power carrying capability in watts for any given conductor diameter. This is why extremely high voltages are used to transport power over long distances. Large swaths of homes can be fed with a conductor the size of one's thumb, provided it enters the local grid at 100KV or more.

 

[biodoc]

Does anyone have a link to previous years results of the Wow event?

 

[Orange Kid]

2018 Changing the year to whatever you want in the URL will do it also.

 

[StefanR5R]

I didn't notice it earlier, but now the stats tables at the event site have a calendar menu at the right top. It lets you jump to any year of 2012...2019 --- without all the labor involved in editing the URL. :-)

--------
Edit,
it looks as if we are warming up to continue a trend from 2016--2018.

 

[Assimilator1]

Yea Tony, a 10A cable is a 10A cable for any voltage, but 1/2 the voltage & you 1/2 the power that can be carried.
And yea power grids are run on high voltage to reduce cable heating & power losses vs running a lower voltage & higher current.

I've always wondered why some parts of the world run 110-120v vs 230-240v for home power.....

Btw, sounds like you & Stefan both avoided a dangerous situation, narrowly!

 

[StefanR5R]

Btw, sounds like you & Stefan both avoided a dangerous situation, narrowly!

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is not a walk in the park!

 

[Orange Kid]

Ok need some help.
Install Mint 19.2. Check
Install Nvidia 430.26. Check Can't get it to stay at resolution I set, keeps defaulting to auto after reboot.
Install all updates. Check
Install Boinc and Seti. Check Running both cup and gpu.
Install Lunitics Seti apps, blew it up. Removed and reattached, all good with stock apps.

Soooo.... what do I do to keep resolution at the settings I use. Changed it using the Nvidia app and saved to the xconfig but no go.

What Seti apps to use for better times?

All new to me so talk s l o w.

 

[lane42]

Would like to help but iam using ubuntu and don't know if its different.

 

[biodoc]

Soooo.... what do I do to keep resolution at the settings I use. Changed it using the Nvidia app and saved to the xconfig but no go.

You'll need to run nvidia X-server settings as 'sudo' to make any changes.

sudo nvidia-settings

 

[Orange Kid]

Would like to help but iam using ubuntu and don't know if its different.

As I understand, Mint is a variant built off of Ubuntu (Debian). I saw somewhere in all my recent reading that you can upgrade the kernel using ukuu.
Another question is, why is it that while with the 430.26 Nvidia driver package installed and the opencl drivers are there, you still have to do a sudo in order to have them acknowledged?
These are the things about Linux that drive me crazy.

You'll need to run nvidia X-server settings as 'sudo' to make any changes.

sudo nvidia-settings

Thanks. Makes no sense to me as when making the changes in the 'app' and writing to the xconfig you have to 'authenticate'.
You move your mouse and you have to 'authenticate', as bad as windows uac.

Going to rain today so will either get this to work or go back to windows.