wiki:TroubleshootClient/New

Version 2 (modified by Didactylos, 16 years ago) (diff)

Started rewrite

  1. Troubleshooting BOINC
    1. Problems installing BOINC
    2. BOINC is crashing
    3. BOINC isn't running properly
      1. Preferences
      2. Messages
      3. Problems attaching to a project
    4. Problems while running BOINC (Windows)
    5. Problems while running BOINC (Linux)
    6. Further Help
    7. Report a Bug

Troubleshooting BOINC

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 is crashing

BOINC isn't running properly

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.

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

If you get a Network communication failure, it means BOINC can't do any communication at all. The likely problems are:

  • Connectivity: you don't have a network connection. Check your network or modem connection (if your web browser can get to outside sites, this is not the problem). See this ​information on Windows networking troubleshooting from Microsoft website.
  • Personal firewall software (ZoneAlarm, Norton Personal Firewall, McAfee, etc.) is blocking BOINC.
    • The first time you run BOINC, your personal firewall will bring up a dialog asking if boincmgr.exe and boinc.exe should be allowed to communicate (say yes).
    • If this dialog doesn't appear, bring up your personal firewall program and add an 'exception' entry allowing BOINC to communicate. If it already has an entry for BOINC, delete it. Detail vary between firewall packages.
    • You may have accidentally installed more than one firewall. Uninstall or disable all but the primary one.
  • Proxy server: there are two kinds of proxies, HTTP and SOCKS. You may be using one or both. Most home computers do not use proxies. To find out if you're using a proxy, look at the Internet settings of your web browser. (Firefox: Tools/Options/General/Connection? Settings; Internet Explorer: Tools/Internet? Options/Connections/Settings?). Copy the settings there (server, port, etc.) to the BOINC dialog.
  • (Windows) SETI@home: if it appears to attach OK, but the Messages tab has repeated shared memory error messages from the server: uninstall BOINC and delete the install directory (typically C:\Program Files\BOINC). Reinstall BOINC, but in a different directory (such as C:\Program Files\BOINC2).
  • Some DSL customers in the UK report needing to set MTU=1492 in their modem/router and rebooting it.

Problems while running BOINC (Windows)

  • If screensaver graphics aren't working, make sure you have the latest driver for your graphics adapter.
  • If BOINC applications are repeatedly crashing on your computer, it's possible that you need to upgrade to the latest version of DirectX? (9.0c or later).
  • (Vista) If BOINC applications fail each time you shut down your computer, copy the following text and paste it into the Notepad window, called WaitToKill.reg: 
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="20000"

The 20000 is 20 seconds. Increase/decrease to your liking. To add this to the registry double-click the file. The UAC will come up, press continue, press Yes on the next window and OK on the one thereafter. You need to reboot to make the changes have effect.

Problems while running BOINC (Linux)

  • If the web site buttons in the Manager don't work, make sure your $BROWSER environment variable is set.
  • If BOINC produces as error message of the form 
    boinc_client: /lib/libc.so.6: version 'GLIBC_2.2' not found (required by ./boinc_client)

then you need to install a newer version of libc.

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 jobs in progress and start from scratch.

If these troubleshooting steps don't solve your problem:

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.