i have been using the seti@home and boinc for years now, but since i have upgraded to 5.2.x nothing really works as smoothly as it used to. took me 5 minutes to set up sho the first time

now my pc's at home refuse to run the screen saver. computation resulted suspended and no crunching was done. ok some tweaking and tinkering solved (sort of) that. i have to run it always to get it working.

but the most problems are on my work machines.

these cannot connect to the schedulers
01.11.2005 15:02:09|SETI@home|Requesting 16482 seconds of new work
01.11.2005 15:02:50||Attempting to communicate with [setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu] timed out
01.11.2005 15:02:54|SETI@home|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of -182
01.11.2005 15:02:54|SETI@home|No schedulers responded
01.11.2005 15:03:00|SETI@home|Deferring communication with project for 8 minutes and 2 seconds

i tried to change preferences, but the changes wont be saved, i have to edit manually the xml file.
also, the installation switched automatically to german and cant reset it to english. had to hack the locale files.
i am connected thru a corporate firewall. i havent been able to connect to the project and fetch any work. i have tried different firewalls, to no avail. still, changes are not saved.

on both home and work machines, cannot use the account manager. and the list of bugs is much longer.

i am no networking geek, but i am no ignorant either. if i cannot get this thing to work in 2 hours, a lot of people will give up much quicker than me and forget about donating processing power
what do we have here? a massive feature creep-related failure?


gm

---

Let's see where to start.

i have been using the seti@home and boinc for years now, but since i have upgraded to 5.2.x nothing really works as smoothly as it used to.

What was the version of BOINC your ran before? Have you totally uninstalled it through Add/Remove programs before installing the 5.2.x version? Which 5.2.x version?

now my pc's at home refuse to run the screen saver. computation resulted suspended and no crunching was done. ok some tweaking and tinkering solved (sort of) that. i have to run it always to get it working.

How did you install BOINC? As a single user/multi user install or as a service?
The Service Install does not have graphics or a screensaver by default, you need to tweak it to graphics capabilities.

these cannot connect to the schedulers
01.11.2005 15:02:09|SETI@home|Requesting 16482 seconds of new work
01.11.2005 15:02:50||Attempting to communicate with [setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu] timed out
01.11.2005 15:02:54|SETI@home|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of -182
01.11.2005 15:02:54|SETI@home|No schedulers responded
01.11.2005 15:03:00|SETI@home|Deferring communication with project for 8 minutes and 2 seconds

Bookmark the BOINC Wiki please. Error Code -182 is a time-out error. Your request took too long to get an answer. Or it bounced right off. Check the firewall at all times before blasting the software.

i tried to change preferences, but the changes wont be saved, i have to edit manually the xml file.

If you cannot reach the project to update through Boinc Manager because of your time-out problem, any changes made on the website will not propagate to the XML files until after you managed to clear the time-out problem.

also, the installation switched automatically to german and cant reset it to english. had to hack the locale files.

That's something you set yourself in your OS. Probably Windows, so check your Input Locales. My American English Windows in The Netherlands installs all, shows all and runs all in English after lots of tweaking. I never blame a program for changing the install rules, I always blame my OS!

i am connected thru a corporate firewall. i havent been able to connect to the project and fetch any work. i have tried different firewalls, to no avail. still, changes are not saved.

Are you the system administrator who can change firewalls at a whim? Is this at a company? Big one? Have you tried something simpler, like the use of an external proxy server? Or the company's proxy server? Or the ISP's proxy server?

Something in the firewall most probably changed. Like the actual blocking of TCP ports 80, 1043 and 31416.

on both home and work machines, cannot use the account manager.

That's because the Account Manager site is still under construction. The entry is here already, the actual program not yet. Have patience.

BOINC supports 'Account Management Systems' (to be announced).

---

Let's see where to start.

i have been using the seti@home and boinc for years now, but since i have upgraded to 5.2.x nothing really works as smoothly as it used to.

What was the version of BOINC your ran before? Have you totally uninstalled it through Add/Remove programs before installing the 5.2.x version? Which 5.2.x version?

---> yes i uninstalled it before reinstalling. to be honest i dont remember what version i was using, it ran fine for ages and didnt give it any thought, i upgraded just because i noticed that the old version stopped working.

now my pc's at home refuse to run the screen saver. computation resulted suspended and no crunching was done. ok some tweaking and tinkering solved (sort of) that. i have to run it always to get it working.

How did you install BOINC? As a single user/multi user install or as a service?
The Service Install does not have graphics or a screensaver by default, you need to tweak it to graphics capabilities.

---> i tried them all. i wanted the screen saver. ok running it always is not too bad, but still... it worked fine before, for years. only way to get the SS is to set it to run always, then when screen saver kicks in the graphics appear.

these cannot connect to the schedulers
01.11.2005 15:02:09|SETI@home|Requesting 16482 seconds of new work
01.11.2005 15:02:50||Attempting to communicate with [setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu] timed out
01.11.2005 15:02:54|SETI@home|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of -182
01.11.2005 15:02:54|SETI@home|No schedulers responded
01.11.2005 15:03:00|SETI@home|Deferring communication with project for 8 minutes and 2 seconds

Bookmark the BOINC Wiki please. Error Code -182 is a time-out error. Your request took too long to get an answer. Or it bounced right off. Check the firewall at all times before blasting the software.

---> well i got that much. still, it worked fine before upgrading to 5.2.x...
i have been running sho and boinc for ages and never a glitch. machine, network, firewalls, settings are exactly the same

i tried to change preferences, but the changes wont be saved, i have to edit manually the xml file.

If you cannot reach the project to update through Boinc Manager because of your time-out problem, any changes made on the website will not propagate to the XML files until after you managed to clear the time-out problem.

---> i am talking about the option menu on boinc manager. if i try to change anything there, it won't be saved. ok not sure i am getting it right. i supposed changes would be stored locally. i understand no communication is occurring between my client and the servers.

also, the installation switched automatically to german and cant reset it to english. had to hack the locale files.

That's something you set yourself in your OS. Probably Windows, so check your Input Locales. My American English Windows in The Netherlands installs all, shows all and runs all in English after lots of tweaking. I never blame a program for changing the install rules, I always blame my OS!


---> well dont get me started on windoze... however, as i said before, it worked fine before. now i have the choice of changing language on boinc options... if it only worked...same goes for proxy settings. no luck there. so how do i get the client to communicate with the project?

i am connected thru a corporate firewall. i havent been able to connect to the project and fetch any work. i have tried different firewalls, to no avail. still, changes are not saved.

Are you the system administrator who can change firewalls at a whim? Is this at a company? Big one? Have you tried something simpler, like the use of an external proxy server? Or the company's proxy server? Or the ISP's proxy server?

---> i cant change the corporate firewalls settings. however we have different ones (yes, big company), on different ports. i tried several. none worked. they did before.
not sure i can use a proxy server if i cant get out of my corporate network anyway.



Something in the firewall most probably changed. Like the actual blocking of TCP ports 80, 1043 and 31416.

---> well i expected that to be overcome by the proxy settings on boinc

on both home and work machines, cannot use the account manager.

That's because the Account Manager site is still under construction. The entry is here already, the actual program not yet. Have patience.

BOINC supports 'Account Management Systems' (to be announced).

---> ok fair enuff.
dont get me wrong, i dont want to sound obnoxious or arrogant, but i have some experience in testing and QA... we had something called regression test ;-)
i dont really have the time to spend in investigating why boinc doesnt work, or how to solve troubles. this is one of those appls i expect to work seamlessly for anyone with 2 fingers, 3 neurons and a pc. missing that, expect cpu cycle donations to drop...

---

now my pc's at home refuse to run the screen saver. computation resulted suspended and no crunching was done. ok some tweaking and tinkering solved (sort of) that. i have to run it always to get it working.

How did you install BOINC? As a single user/multi user install or as a service?
The Service Install does not have graphics or a screensaver by default, you need to tweak it to graphics capabilities.

---> i tried them all. i wanted the screen saver. ok running it always is not too bad, but still... it worked fine before, for years. only way to get the SS is to set it to run always, then when screen saver kicks in the graphics appear.

Are your computers running 24/7, all the time, or only on idle time?
What setting do you have set for your screensaver to kick in?
Is your screensaver set to the BOINC version?
If you are attached to multiple projects, do all your projects have a screensaver/graphics option? Are you attached to Einstein@Home? Are you using the E@H 0.18 beta science application to crunch your units with?

---> well i got that much. still, it worked fine before upgrading to 5.2.x...
i have been running sho and boinc for ages and never a glitch. machine, network, firewalls, settings are exactly the same

BOINC versions prior to 4.45 cannot easily be compared to the new 5.2 versions.
You said earlier you had to change over, since your old version refused to give you further work, which makes me think you ran 4.13 or before. Anything before 4.19 was given notice in August that you had to upgrade.

5.2.x needs a bit of extra TLC to get it to run properly again, but that's because a lot of things have changed for the good. Like giving you 1 day work when you ask for it, not just 3 hours worth of. So you need to reset some of your settings. And you need to make sure you can get through firewalls now, else the security of BOINC is nothing.

---> i am talking about the option menu on boinc manager. if i try to change anything there, it won't be saved.

What are you trying to change?
If language alone, go try this:
Options, Options, Language Selection, Choose the language you want to use, Press Tab on the keyboard, press OK. Exit BOINC completely and restart it so changes can take place.

same goes for proxy settings. no luck there. so how do i get the client to communicate with the project?

Make sure the correct proxy server is set. a Proxy PAC server will not work.
So anything with an IP address or set as http://www.proxyserver.abbreviation will work. Set the correct port number. Press OK, don't just press Enter.

---> i cant change the corporate firewalls settings. however we have different ones (yes, big company), on different ports. i tried several. none worked. they did before.

Something in the firewall most probably changed. Like the actual blocking of TCP ports 80, 1043 and 31416.

I put my quote in yours above. I have the feeling it's the big problem: Your main ports are blocked. You being able to switch between firewalls in a company is something I cannot envision. You may have the option to use different ports, but not change firewalls on a whim, or else you could just as well say you don't want to use any firewall!!

dont get me wrong, i dont want to sound obnoxious or arrogant, but i have some experience in testing and QA... we had something called regression test ;-)
i dont really have the time to spend in investigating why boinc doesnt work, or how to solve troubles. this is one of those appls i expect to work seamlessly for anyone with 2 fingers, 3 neurons and a pc. missing that, expect cpu cycle donations to drop...

We alpha testers have worked with the developers to make it easier to attach. The 32 character key is gone, it's email address and your own password now. Is that not easier?

That things were about to change was adamant, as the older versions looked to be too difficult for the general Joe to work with. So think of this as changing Windows 3.11 over to Windows 95.. big, yet it was still Windows. ;)

---

Are your computers running 24/7, all the time, or only on idle time?
What setting do you have set for your screensaver to kick in?
Is your screensaver set to the BOINC version?
If you are attached to multiple projects, do all your projects have a screensaver/graphics option? Are you attached to Einstein@Home? Are you using the E@H 0.18 beta science application to crunch your units with?

no im running only seti, screen saver is set to boinc. if boinc is set to run based on parameters and display screen saver is set to boinc, screen saver comes on but boinc results suspended and the boinc logo pops up randomly on the screen.
setting boinc on run always will sort that, but obviously that will slow down the machine.

5.2.x needs a bit of extra TLC to get it to run properly again, but that's because a lot of things have changed for the good. Like giving you 1 day work when you ask for it, not just 3 hours worth of. So you need to reset some of your settings. And you need to make sure you can get through firewalls now, else the security of BOINC is nothing.

ok fair enough. anyway, i ahve been able to get thru the firewall setting a different proxy (we have several, in different countries)

If language alone, go try this:
Options, Options, Language Selection, Choose the language you want to use, Press Tab on the keyboard, press OK. Exit BOINC completely and restart it so changes can take place.

ok well, where is the ok button on the option menu? cannot see it anywhere. anyway, i managed to get the setting saved. its necessary to hit return.

Make sure the correct proxy server is set. a Proxy PAC server will not work.
So anything with an IP address or set as http://www.proxyserver.abbreviation will work. Set the correct port number. Press OK, don't just press Enter.

ok i got that working. still a mystery why some proxies wont work. maybe soemthing to do with the port numver used? 3128 doesnt work. other proxies use different port, and work.

I put my quote in yours above. I have the feeling it's the big problem: Your main ports are blocked. You being able to switch between firewalls in a company is something I cannot envision. You may have the option to use different ports, but not change firewalls on a whim, or else you could just as well say you don't want to use any firewall!!

yes my mistake, we have different proxies.

We alpha testers have worked with the developers to make it easier to attach. The 32 character key is gone, it's email address and your own password now. Is that not easier?

it is indeed but to be honest this time i had lots of troubles after loading the latest version.

That things were about to change was adamant, as the older versions looked to be too difficult for the general Joe to work with. So think of this as changing Windows 3.11 over to Windows 95.. big, yet it was still Windows. ;)

what a bad example ;-)
anyway, hope my remarks will help some. ill come back with more, if necessary
gm

---

I am tired of people trying to answer everything with THE BOINC WIKI! If the BOINC WIKI had the answers, I wouldn't be posting here. The problem is that ever since version 5.X, BOINC has been trying to do things I tell it not to do. They need to fix it before they lose their entire base. I have been hooked into SETI since 1999 and I am ready to drop it from both my home PC's.

---

I am tired of people trying to answer everything with THE BOINC WIKI! If the BOINC WIKI had the answers, I wouldn't be posting here.

The Wiki may not have all of the answers, but it does have a lot of them, including explanations on lots of error messages and numbers. If you can't find it in the Wiki, it is because we haven't put it in yet or come across it yet to put it in.

They need to fix it before they lose their entire base.

I am tired of people claiming this without being able to give any proof of what they claim. The "fix it" without explaining in every post what the problem is is also getting very stale.

---

Since now we have another new BOINC Manager Versin 5.2.7 release today.

These are some of the Changes since 5.2.6
Does anyone know what Localization updates where made?
What are the Usability enhancements?

---

What are the Usability enhancements?

It's now got a secretly included game. Spacerockets I think it is. Anyway, try to find it for yourelf. :)

---

Hi,
I have also problem to connect through firewall since version 5.2.x
After upgrading to these versions I cannot send results, report them
and get new wu's. Everytime getting this:
15.11.2005 6:51:37|SETI@home|Reason: Requested by user
15.11.2005 6:51:37|SETI@home|Requesting 14116 seconds of new work, and reporting 15 results
15.11.2005 6:51:42|SETI@home|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of 500
15.11.2005 6:51:42|SETI@home|No schedulers responded

Today I tried to downgrade to ver4.71. over 5.2.7.
Note: Need to run instalator twice, if somebody want to test it. After first run you get an error message, because no exe files are installed. After second run of installator (choose 'Repair') everything works well.
Ok, after downgrade (and restart of PC) I was able to send/receive/report results without problems.
Question is - why I can connect with 4.71 and cannot connect with 5.2.x ?
I made no changes in settings during experiments with different 5.2.x versions (today tested 5.2.7, 5.2.6, 5.2.2)

Running WinXP SP2, Dell notebook, BOINC 5.2.7 with only Seti@home project, connected through 'big company' firewall.
Edit: BOINC installed as shared user installation, screensaver disabled

Big thanks for help (otherwise I have to keep version 4.71)

Spok

---

Beside his problems with firewalls and proxies, which is really a complicated stuff, "gianmarco" run in a real bug. He described it as "can not save the settings, can not change the language, can not find the OK button". This is description of a bug on "older" Windows releases, where the RAS libaries where not installed by default. This bug is fixed in the newer 5.2.x releases.

The "localization updates" are what they claim to be. *lol* Many people spend a lot of time to translate all the new stuff to many languages from all over the world.

The "Usability enhancements" are special software support for people with handicaps. CPDN is together with british BBC working to produce a CD version of CPDN and BOINC software to be released for the public next year. And the BBC has a lot of rules a software must respect, including "Usability enhancements". For my feeling a very good improvement.

The 500 error is not clear to me at the moment. The major difference between 4.7x and 5.2.x is the usage of a open source libary for HTTP communication and no longer using self programmed functions. There may be the need for some tweaking this lib in special cases. Over all this lib curl is working good. But at the moment I don't know what the hell is the basic for a 500 error with boinc. Sorry.


-- Jens

---

can not find the OK button". This is description of a bug on "older" Windows releases, where the RAS libaries where not installed by default. This bug is fixed in the newer 5.2.x releases.

Om my WinME system running Boinc 5.2.7 I still don't see the OK button in any of the four TABs in the options window. :-)

can not find the OK button". This is description of a bug on "older" Windows releases, where the RAS libaries where not installed by default. This bug is fixed in the newer 5.2.x releases.

Om my WinME system running Boinc 5.2.7 I still don't see the OK button in any of the four TABs in the options window. :-)

I mailed with Rom Walton (Developer of the BOINC Manager) about your report and he believe he got it fixed. He is searching for help to test this. He will send you a privat build of BOINC Manager with the fix, if you mail him at "rwalton at ssl.berkeley.edu".

Greetings from Bremen/Germany
Jens Seidler
Webmaster http://www.boinc.de/

---

Thank you, I will send him an e-mail.
We already had some contact before. ;-)