Hi,

I have two computers running on a network comprising of a workstation (my normal everyday computer) and a Render computer. Both machines run Windows 7 64 bit and have 12 gigs of DDR3 Ram.

I have installed RenderCows on each computer and have launched them in admin mode successfully. However, there is an issue:

I was watching Hypervue network status box while rendering. It seems that my renderbox machine was doing all the work while my workstation was sitting idle and never engaged in the render process. Why does that happen? Obviously, I want to be able to utilize both system to expedite the render process.

It just seems like the render command completely bypasses my main workstation and heads to the renderbox everytime. I have no idea why it doesn't kick in so both machines are rendering.

In summary, I guess bottom line is this... if we see both machines in the Hypervue Network manager, why would only one machine do all the work?

Any ideas?

Thanks again for your time.

-Marshal

are both of the rendercows at the same build number?  If one of them is a different build then it wont work.

That is the first suspect, as Rich says. Suspect #2 is whatever security you have. It is quite possible for your firewall to allow communication, but your AV software treating the cow activity as a port sniffing, and block the main box activity (rare, but it can happen). If they are the same build number, and there is no comm blockage, then most likely one cow had a blown update that broke it. The only fix there is to completely clean out the cow on the compromised unit and reinstall it....

I would suspect that although both cows show up in Hypervue, Windows may not be seeing the Network.

To overcome this I started a "Home Group", which is new to Windows 7, and then got both computors to join the "Home Group". When you start a Home Group, Windows will assign a Password, which you'll need to record.

Thanks guys for the assist. briefly, they are the same build number and I've cleaned them out and reinstalled twice. It's confirmed that they are both on the network accordingly.

I'm still working on it.

I have an email into e-on but no success so far.

I would certainly welcome more ideas if anyone has them.

Thanks again,

-Marshal

bit of an abstract thought, but what processors do you have in each of the computers?

Both my workstation and my Renderbox has dual xeon L5520@2.3ghz. I also have hyperthreading enabled on both comps.

Could that be related in some way?

Thanks,

-Marshal

i dont think so, if you had had different ones like a dual and a quad then it might have been an issue, but i dont think it should make a difference with them...

One last suggestion, then im all out, have you tried increasing the tile size from 64x64? maybe to 128x128.

Good suggestion. I read something about that but not sure how to do that. That may help!

When you go to the render options panel, click the "Edit" button next to "external renderer" then find the bit where it says "force tile size to..." and change the dimensions there.

Its in the HyperVue Network Rendering Manager - Configuration Mode panel.