Troubleshooting BOINC

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Problems installing BOINC

• The installer failed?.
• The installation completed, but BOINC doesn't work.
  • Jump to the troubleshooting section for the error given by BOINC.

BOINC won't start

• BOINC gives an error? when run from the command line.
• BOINC doesn't run at startup?.

Problems while running BOINC

If BOINC isn't working properly, there are two places to look for problems:

Preferences

Often, BOINC will be working as expected, but simply not doing what you want. Some preference settings will stop BOINC from doing work entirely. Check the messages if this is the case. Otherwise, review your preferences? looking for settings that may cause the problem you see. As a last resort, reset your preferences to the defaults.

Messages

BOINC logs many messages informing you what is happening. If BOINC isn't running properly, there should be an error message shown in the message log?.

Use the error reference to diagnose and fix the problem based on the error message.

Problems attaching to a project

Check your account name and password and try again

If your account name contains unusual characters, you may get this error even though you typed the name correctly. Rename your account to use ​ASCII only, then try again. Once you have attached successfully, you can reset the account name to the original value.

Project temporarily unavailable

If you try to attach to a project that's down, you'll get this error. Wait a while, then try again.

Network communication failure

This means BOINC can't do any communication at all. Check the common network problems?.

BOINC is crashing

Crashes are rare, and if you are unlucky enough to experience a crash (or repeated crashes) then the developers would like to learn from them and help you if possible. First, check for outstanding crash problems, then use the instructions for reporting crashes.

Open tickets for crash bugs (4)

#1197

BOINC 7 causes Windows 7 64bit explorer crashes

#1238

BOINC Manager crash - Statistics Tab - Clicking "All projects (sum)" while a project hasn't initialized

#1328

BOINC Manager Crash - Quickly alternate clicks on tray icon

#1333

Sometimes Images in Notices can crash BOINC Manager

BOINC Manager crashed

BOINC Manager? may crash with an error message, or it may simply vanish. If an error message is displayed, try to write it down.

The core client crashed

Usually when the core client crashes, BOINC Manager will show a "not connected" error.

Further Help

If you have a problem with a particular project, go to the 'Questions and Answers' area of the project's web site. You may find the solution to your problem. If not, post it there, and you'll get help from other users. If the problem persists, use the BOINC Manager to 'reset?' that project. This will erase any tasks in progress and start from scratch.

If these troubleshooting steps don't solve your problem:

• Talk with a Help Volunteer
• Refer to the ​BOINC FAQ Service
• Browse other BOINC-related web sites
• Check out the BOINC message boards

Report a Bug

If all else fails, you may need to report a bug. Bug reports are not for general troubleshooting. Please discuss the bug on the BOINC message boards and gather as much information as you can before submitting your report.