Since installing the following Windows XP upgrades, the BOINC Manager can no longer connect to localhost:

Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - December 2005
Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP
Update for Windows XP

All these upgrades were installed on the 15th December. Has anyone else had any issues with these upgrades? If so, how does one fix the problem?

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I am also looking for help on this and found that BOINC cannot connect since updating Windows today.

I had previously had problems with the BOINC Manager not being able to connect to boinc.exe. I solved this previously by going to gui_rpc_auth.cfg and changing the random letters there to a blank line with carriage return.

That worked until today, when I updated Windows; following the update and restart, I got the Connection Failed message again.

I removed my altered version of BOINC and downloaded again from the BOINC website, but this version already has a blank line for gui_rpc_auth.cfg.

Not sure what to try at this point; suggestions welcome.

running Windows XP, SP2.

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I installed the same 3 updates this afternoon, rebooted, and started Boinc with no unusual behavior. I'll add that I'm running the 5.2.7 base version of Boinc, Single User install, options for screensaver and "Start Boinc at logon" unchecked", so I start Boinc manually after the rush of other startup services settles down. Don't know if any of these differences factor into the problem or it's absence. I just 5 minutes ago, after reading the thread, shut the machine down entirely and cold-started it, just to test. Again, no problem starting Boinc. [shrug]

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"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward Justice"

I would start with Windows firewall - I'd bet it got turned "on" by the security update. If you're running another firewall, it should be "off", and if you aren't and it is on, you may need to allow boinc.exe and boincmgr.exe full access, or at least to ports 80, 443, 1043, and 31416...

I suppose I'll get that update automatically in the next few days myself. Sigh. I trust the Mac auto-update procedure, but the Windows one seems to sometimes cause more problems than it solves.

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I would start with Windows firewall - I'd bet it got turned "on" by the security update. If you're running another firewall, it should be "off", and if you aren't and it is on, you may need to allow boinc.exe and boincmgr.exe full access, or at least to ports 80, 443, 1043, and 31416...

I suppose I'll get that update automatically in the next few days myself. Sigh. I trust the Mac auto-update procedure, but the Windows one seems to sometimes cause more problems than it solves.

Nope. Windows firewall is still of. I use a hardware firewall through my router that has ports open for BOINC and hasn't caused any problems in the past.

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I've had this same problem but for the last 2 months. Same issues but it has occured long before the windows update. The only time this does not occur is when I start BOINC manually, that is, not automatically at boot.

Seems to me that the BOINC Manager and BOINC.exe are having issues as to who should load first? I shut down every night and the problem does not occur everytime I restart, usually at very random times, although it has happened 3 times just today.

Tim

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Seems to me that the BOINC Manager and BOINC.exe are having issues as to who should load first?

More like BOINC and certain Microsoft apps... BOINC requested a port from ICANN and was assigned 1043. Microsoft Outlook and (maybe) Messenger and maybe "something else" just grab a port in that range without caring if it's assigned to somebody else. If they start first, BOINC fails to connect if launched during startup. If launched later, it fails on 1043 but "rolls over" to 31416.

If it's not the firewall, I would take BOINC out of the startup sequence, shut down completely and reboot, then launch manually and see if it works.

There should be a 5.2.15 out soon with more fixes for this problem, now that it's better understood what's causing it if it's _not_ the gui_rpc_auth.cfg issue.

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Removing BOINC from the Startup menu seems to have resolved the issue. Just weird it never occurred before.

Thanks for the help.

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This morning BOINC loaded fine at startup; perhaps it just needed a cold start?

If I have further connection problems I will try removing it from the start menu, and will look forward to the next version of the BOINC Manager.

thanks for the help.

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Last night before I shut down I installed 5.2.14, did a reboot and everything worked fine. I did a reboot 10 minutes ago and the same problem appeared but in a different way. Instead of showing that manager is "disconnected" on the status bar as per usual, manager just shows that it is "connecting", basically it freezes. Reloading manager does not solve the problem but rebooting does (on occasion!). Just thought I would add this in, waiting patiently for 5.2.15...

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My Widows update was finally ready about 10 hours ago. Let it run.
Suspended and exited BOINC, then made a backup.
Let the update reboot the computer.
No problems since. (Or before update, for that matter.)

Win XP SP2 / BOINC 5.2.8 (single user, no screensaver) / 1 project (cpdn)

Last night before I shut down I installed 5.2.14, did a reboot and everything worked fine. I did a reboot 10 minutes ago and the same problem appeared but in a different way. Instead of showing that manager is "disconnected" on the status bar as per usual, manager just shows that it is "connecting", basically it freezes. Reloading manager does not solve the problem but rebooting does (on occasion!). Just thought I would add this in, waiting patiently for 5.2.15...

I've seen the same behaviour when giving 5.2.14 a try under W2KSP4+. It's just frozen and doing nothing. Reverted back to 5.2.13 without problems.

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Urs

Last night before I shut down I installed 5.2.14, did a reboot and everything worked fine. I did a reboot 10 minutes ago and the same problem appeared but in a different way. Instead of showing that manager is "disconnected" on the status bar as per usual, manager just shows that it is "connecting", basically it freezes. Reloading manager does not solve the problem but rebooting does (on occasion!). Just thought I would add this in, waiting patiently for 5.2.15...

sslickerson,

There were reasons why 5.2.14 was never released, probably best to retrograde to 5.2.13 and wait for a new official release.

I'd recommend you try taking Boinc out of the startup folder, or use msconfig to remove it from the startup sequence, and start Boinc manually, after Windows has finished it's frenetic startup routine.

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"The arc of history is long, but it bends toward Justice"

Argh...
I updated my machine today and BOINC 5.2.13 just refuses to connect to localhost.
Funny, it was working till upgrade.
It is always started manually, and is linked to two projects - SETI and Rosetta.
Nothing helps - firewalls, blank lines with return, no Outlook, no Messenger...

Oh... Win XP Pro SP2

Argh...
I updated my machine today and BOINC 5.2.13 just refuses to connect to localhost.
Funny, it was working till upgrade.
It is always started manually, and is linked to two projects - SETI and Rosetta.
Nothing helps - firewalls, blank lines with return, no Outlook, no Messenger...

Oh... Win XP Pro SP2

would suggest trying to connect to 127.0.0.1 rather than localhost (may be a network confusion), also check the password that your connection is using (stored in c:\\program files\\boinc\\gui_rpc_auth.cfg - usually a long random string but you can change it to something you can remember, just make sure you hit return at the end of the line before saving it, and only edit it in Notepad or another frill-free text editor)
Also check that the boinc.exe is running - ctrl-alt-del and look at the task manager processes list for boinc.exe
If all else fails... delete and re-install. Usually cures Windows problems (bit drastic but can be fun!)

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