Hi all, I encountered what may be a bug. Sometimes, I get transient (they are present mere seconds) IP address conflicts on my local network. The reasons why they happen are complicated and I can do nothing about them, it is beyond my control. Of course, Windows OS reports them with its usual pop-up window.

After any such conflict happens, BOINC projects are unable to communicate with their home servers anymore. The BOINC log window always reports "unable to resolve host name" or some variation of it. Strangely, the problem persists even after I reboot the machine. So far, I've found only one solution: I have to turn on HTTP proxy (even with non-functional proxy address) in BOINC Manager, press OK and then go to the same menu and turn it off again.

This happens every time on W7 64-bit (tested on two different PCs), WXP 32-bit seems to be unaffected. BOINC manager version I use is 7.0.28 x64.

a) What if you do a ipconfig /flushdns from a command line window next time? This will flush the immediate DNS cache in Windows.
b) Please do elaborate on why it happens, there may be a fix for it.

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So I had another IP conflict yesterday, and BOINC Manager stopped communicating again. I tried the ipconfig /flushdns command, but it didn't help, not even after I restarted the PC.

Maybe the IP conflict triggers something else, something deeper in W7? Are there other known causes which can disrupt BOINC's communication like that? Because all other programs (web browsers, software updaters etc.) continue to work fine after the IP conflict disappears.

As I said, the reasons why these conflicts happen in the first place are complicated. But basically, they happen during router/switch reconfigurations. You see, the building I'm in has many tenants and practically every week someone leaves or comes, which means new computers have to be added or removed from the local network. I don't know whether it is due to poor administration, weak rules enforcement ("frigging use DHCP or else") or cheap hardware (Huawei, anyone?) but the act of reconfiguration sometimes causes these IP conflicts. There is nothing I can do about it.

Yes, you can. You can put *your* computers (even if it's only one) behind your own router.

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I'm counting for science,
points just make me sick.

I just found out that Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise SP1 is affected as well.

Never mind.

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Coelum Non Animum Mutant, Qui Trans Mare Currunt

As whynot says, when you go and buy your own router, you connect that one to your internet outlet. The router will pick up the IP address change and if all's well continue to serve you automatically.

But the other cool thing that the router will do is give you your own steady IP address.

So let's assume the following situation:
- The internet outlet is at 10.1.232.100 when you connect the router to it. It will now take this address.
- The router will give your computer 192.168.1.4
- The internet outlet changes from 10.1.232.100 to 10.1.232.003
- You will still get 192.168.1.4 and have no problem. The router will take up the change of IP address and work with that. It's what they are for.

Routers come in all kinds of price ranges, from $30.- to multiple hundreds of dollars.

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So basically, you want me to install a piece of hardware to solve a software problem? Especially when BOINC is the only program in those PCs that fails to recover from the IP conflicts? Well, that's not exactly the kind of solution I expected to hear...

Oh well, nevermind. For now, I'll just write a script (or something) which will enable and disable BOINC's HTTP proxy automatically once a day. That works when I do it manually, so I guess it can be automated as well (Windows Task Scheduler is a bit of pain in the ass, but what the hell). Maybe that bug will get fixed in a year or two (if it is actually a BOINC bug, that is). Or maybe the switches/routers in "my" building will be replaced for some better ones. Whichever comes the first...