Stuck in last gear

Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
Moderator
Joined: 9 Feb 05
Posts: 5850
Credit: 110090032858
RAC: 23984451

Bobby Conger wrote:I decided

Bobby Conger wrote:
I decided to remove and re-install the software, however, I cannot get a project to work on.

I don't know why you would do that and I don't know how to solve your new problem.  I don't use Windows at all and have no experience with what happens during a re-install under Windows.  The thing that worries me is your use of the word "remove".  Normally with BOINC, if you re-install it, it uses the information from your previous installation to 'know' what your projects are and the authentication details to reconnect to them.  Sounds like you could have 'removed' (ie. deleted) essential information that would have allowed BOINC to immediately re-connect to your previous projects.  Did you actually remove the BOINC data folder?

I notice, you have posted several times about this, including in a thread where someone else was having the same sort of problem.  I've sent a PM to Shawn Kwang, one of the Staff involved with the project, asking him to have a look to see if he can help both of you to get back to crunching again.

In the meantime, you should take a close look at this thread where another volunteer has reported a very similar looking problem to the one you had.  The user described his 'discovery' moment in this particular message but you need to read earlier messages to see how similar his situation was to yours.

He has essentially solved his own problem by discovering that the issue seems to be related to excess heat probably caused by not maintaining proper internal cooling.  You should read the discussion very carefully because what he reports and what others have suggested he do, is probably going to lead you to a solution as well.

Cheers,
Gary.

Anonymous

Gary: Thanks for the

Gary:

Thanks for the information.  I read the posts that you referred me to and I checked the computer.  I don't have a problem with cooling and I have cleaned the fans.  Tried again and I still get no response.  The reason I removed and reinstalled the program is that with Windows, there are times when the programs will pile up and get confused.  I have had this happen many times with Microsoft stuff and when I remove the programs and re-install, it seems to solve the problem.  This time it didn't.  I still have the two stderr.txt files, but they don't seem to help either.  As I said, the website recognizes that I am logged on, but I cannot load a project, new or otherwise.

Thanks for you help

Bobby

Anonymous

Gary: Here is the stderr.txt

Gary:

Here is the stderr.txt that I have now:

putenv 'LAL_DEBUG_LEVEL=3'
2019-09-26 12:09:20.3112 (888) [normal]: This program is published under the GNU General Public License, version 2
2019-09-26 12:09:20.3389 (888) [normal]: For details see http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/license.php
2019-09-26 12:09:20.3575 (888) [normal]: This Einstein@home App was built at: Apr  5 2018 14:15:53


2019-09-26 12:09:20.3787 (888) [normal]: Start of BOINC application 'C:\ProgramData\BOINC\projects\einstein.phys.uwm.edu\einstein_O2AS20-500_1.01_windows_x86_64.exe'.
Activated exception handling...
12:09:20 (888): Can't open init data file - running in standalone mode
2019-09-26 12:09:20.4678 (888) [CRITICAL]: ERROR: no result file has been specified
2019-09-26 12:09:20.4854 (888) [debug]: Flags: LAL_DEBUG, OPTIMIZE, HS_OPTIMIZATION, GC_SSE2_OPT, X64, SSE, SSE2, GNUC X86 GNUX86
2019-09-26 12:09:20.5076 (888) [CRITICAL]: ERROR: error 4 in command-line parsing
2019-09-26 12:09:20.5176 (888) [normal]: done. calling boinc_finish(4).
12:09:20 (888): called boinc_finish
Shawn Kwang
Shawn Kwang
Joined: 3 Nov 15
Posts: 289
Credit: 2774428
RAC: 1198

I am afraid I also do not use

I am afraid I also do not use BOINC on Windows.

If you are uninstalling and re-installing BOINC, you may need to delete the BOINC Data directory. See this page for help finding it: https://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/BOINC_Data_directory

The steps you would need to take are:

1. Uninstall BOINC.
2. Rename the BOINC Data directory. (This is to save an old copy.)
3. Re-install BOINC.

Since I'm so late to the discussion: let me ask Bobby - Can you write your computer's: CPU and RAM? And is it a laptop or desktop computer?

Einstein@Home Project

Anonymous

    Here are the stats on

 

 

Here are the stats on my computer.  It is a desktop:

I'll look for the BOINC data folder and see if I can save things here.




Computer 12771172

IP address: Show IP adHomedress
Domain name: DESKTOP-KA8F1A7
Local standard time: UTC -7 hours
Name: DESKTOP-KA8F1A7
Created: 23 Mar 2019 15:41:48 UTC
Total credit: 229,819
Average credit: 599.36
Cross project credit:
CPU type: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8600 @ 3.33GHz [Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 10]
Number of processors: 2
Coprocessors: ---
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 10 Core x64 Edition, (10.00.17763.00)
BOINC client version: 7.14.2
Memory: 3991.24 MiB
Cache: 6144 KiB
Swap space: 7575.24 MiB
Total disk space: 463.93 GiB
Free disk space: 290.25 GiB
Measured floating point speed: 4003.62 million ops/sec
Measured integer speed: 9048.6 million ops/sec
Average upload rate: 39.72 KiB/sec
Average download rate: 573.79 KiB/sec
Average turnaround time: 1.81 days
Tasks: 5
Number of times client has contacted server: 896
Last time contacted server: 23 Sep 2019 11:28:14 UTC
% of time BOINC client is running: 99.787 %
While BOINC running, % of time host has an Internet connection: 99.9624 %
While BOINC running, % of time work is allowed: 99.9772 %
Task duration correction factor: 2.697623
Location:
GenericHomeWorkSchool

Actions :

 
 
 
Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
Moderator
Joined: 9 Feb 05
Posts: 5850
Credit: 110090032858
RAC: 23984451

Bobby Conger wrote:I still

Bobby Conger wrote:
I still have the two stderr.txt files, but they don't seem to help either.

They can't help because they have nothing to do with the way BOINC communicates with the project servers.  Those stderr.txt files were specific to particular tasks and whether or not those specific tasks were behaving correctly or not.  You have a totally different problem now and to diagnose the different problem you need to answer the different questions being asked.  So let me try again.  When you say "remove" did you actually 'remove' (ie. delete) the previous BOINC data folder before you reinstalled BOINC?  Please tell us step by step what you actually did (if anything) before you reinstalled BOINC.

Bobby Conger wrote:
As I said, the website recognizes that I am logged on, but I cannot load a project, new or otherwise.

Because logging in to the website is just for you to browse stuff on the website or use the message boards.  It's NOT what BOINC uses to authenticate/communicate with the project servers.  Please go to your current BOINC data directory and look to see if you have a file named "account_einstein.phys.uwm.edu.xml".  That file contains sensitive information, including an 'authenticator' string that authenticates BOINC's communications with the servers.  If you removed your old BOINC data directory then you probably removed that file so that may be why BOINC can't communicate.

Can you just please confirm that your current data folder contains that file.  Don't publish its contents.  If you do have that file (and provided it's complete and not missing stuff) the reinstall of BOINC 'over the top' should have used that information to have you automatically 'attached' to the project from the getgo.

Cheers,
Gary.

Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
Moderator
Joined: 9 Feb 05
Posts: 5850
Credit: 110090032858
RAC: 23984451

Bobby Conger

Bobby Conger wrote:

Gary:

Here is the stderr.txt that I have now:

This tells me that your newly reinstalled BOINC is trying to launch the science app but that the app can't start properly because something is screwed up.  My guess (and that's all it is) is that the reinstall of BOINC has created some sort of problem where something is missing at your end that causes the improper launching of the science app.  It is absolutely not normal to see messages like "Can't open init data file - running in standalone mode" and the subsequent errors that follow after that.

If your account file (mentioned in the previous message) actually exists, and if you can open BOINC Manager (advanced view) and communicate with the running client, you could go to the projects tab in BOINC Manager, select the Einstein project and then use the 'Reset Project' button to force BOINC to talk to the project servers and get a fresh set of everything.  Perhaps that might fix whatever is wrong or missing.  If, when you try to force a project reset, there is some sort of error condition or message, please copy and paste the full details of that from what is recorded in the event log of BOINC Manager.  If you perform certain actions along the above lines, please document the steps you take and the event log output that you see.

Because I'm not standing and looking over your shoulder at exactly what you do and because you don't mention everything you did do, it's very difficult to imagine what the problem exactly is. I have no experience with the sort of messages you're now getting so no clue at what might be causing them.  The event log information is much more important here because that might help us understand the conditions that caused the error messages in stderr.txt.

Cheers,
Gary.

Shawn Kwang
Shawn Kwang
Joined: 3 Nov 15
Posts: 289
Credit: 2774428
RAC: 1198

To add to Gary's good

To add to Gary's good suggestions. Some BOINC clients have an event log that can be access from the menu bar. If you have one, please try seeing if there are relevant error messages there.

From : https://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Client_configuration

"Logging flags - The BOINC client writes "log messages" describing what it's doing. These are written to stdout, and to the BOINC Manager's "Event log". There are many types of messages; you can select which types to show.

NOTE: beginning with version 7.4.26, the BOINC Manager has a dialog for editing the logging options. Thie may be easier than editing the config file. Access this dialog by selecting Event Log Diagnostic Flags from the Advanced menu or by pressing CTRL+Shift+F simultaneously on the keyboard in either the Advanced View or the Simple View (Command+Shift+F on a Macintosh.)"

Einstein@Home Project

Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
Moderator
Joined: 9 Feb 05
Posts: 5850
Credit: 110090032858
RAC: 23984451

@ Bobby Conger, When you

@ Bobby Conger,

When you have an active thread going on with several people already having contributed (and probably others following on to see how the issues get resolved) it's not really appropriate to decide that you want personalised support via PMs.  If you need ongoing assistance, you should post your queries in the thread that already exists.  That way, all can contribute and since different people will have different experiences, you will probably get a much better answer.  You also get good peer review of answers that may be flawed in some way.

A further benefit is that others having similar problems are able to find the discussion and perhaps be helped without having to go though the entire process all over again for themselves.

If you really have removed all the previous BOINC configuration, you will need to go through the standard BOINC process of attaching to Einstein (add a project) and getting a new host ID and a new account file (account_einstein.phys.uwm.edu.xml) sent to you as part of the 'add a project' process.

Before you do that, you should do a thorough search for that particular filename on your computer in case you have a backup copy or in case it wasn't actually removed but rather moved to some other location.  I know nothing about Windows but surely there is some simple file search to see if a copy of that file still exists anywhere on your computer.  If so, it would save you having to add the project once again.

Also, if you have any other computer that has previously run Einstein tasks, you will probably have a usable copy of the account file on that computer as well.  It would be worth your while to check, since finding that file would allow you to keep your current host ID and the stats that it has already accumulated.

As I tried to point out in a previous message, this account file has nothing to do with your website login arrangements so if you ultimately do have to 'add the project' once again, you would just continue using your existing forum login, email address and password.

Cheers,
Gary.

Anonymous

I understand about posting

I understand about posting using a different avenue.  I am getting desperate.  I have a program that does a search for files over my entire computer and had had no results with that search engine.  I have run out of options right now and all I have learned is that program that removes traces when I uninstall a program seems to work very wellLaughing.  It looks like I have no choice to remove the computer from BOINC and start from scratch.  I will let you know how it goes.  The two programs I used were "Search Everything" developed by "Copyright © 2019 David Carpenter" voidtools.com.  The other program is called "Reg Organizer" from ChemTable.com.  I apologize for all of the trouble.  I will delete my account and start over.

 

Bobby 

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.