Trying to live with a modem causes all sorts of bugs, at least for me (running XP, BOINC 3.19).

Even though my dialer is set to require manual activation, even though my BOINC preferences are set to require confirmation before dialing it dials anyway. No way to stop it other than disconnecting from the network.

Secondly, the ISP here takes a couple minutes to connect. By that time BOINC has decided it can't connect and disconnects the phone line. So it never does make a connection! I have to dial in before I uncheck the Disconnect from the Network box. If I let it dial in it will disconnect before the connection is made.

So now, to send in my units or get new ones (when available) I have to manually dial in then uncheck the "Disconnect from Network" box. Now it sends in units. But don't try to do something else on the connection as when it is done it will hang it up even if the connection is getting your email or trying to connect to the BOINC/SETI site. So I had to uncheck the "Disconnect when Done" preference, that option should only apply when it does the dialing in the first place and then only if no other service is using the connection. Because of this I can't surf the net and leave BOINC/SETI connected to the network as if it does send in a unit I am then disconnected.

The only way to use a modem, with this ISP anyway, is to get off the internet or email and then manually dial in, let BOINC do what is needed and disconnect then reconnect to the internet or email etc.

Classic Seti handled modem connections just fine, so did add on programs like Seti Driver but BOINC makes modem operation very awkward and highly frustrating. I have a constant on connection at my winter location but there's none available where I am until October. I'll need, until then, to remember to go through all the steps in the right order. My wife decided "No way -- If you want me to do SETI you send in the units."

Did the Beta testers have these problems? If so, why weren't they fixed.

Rick

Most of the beta testers have always on connections so dial up did not get the attention it deserved. It will be worked on sometime.

John Keck
BOINCing since 2002/12/08

"Did the Beta testers have these problems?"
________________

Yes. The majority of the problems currently being reported were also reported by beta.

There were a large number of the beta team using dial up. It was never deemed very important by the Dev team. As John so succinctly put it, "It will be worked on sometime".

________________
"If so, why weren't they fixed."
________________

Good question. Many a beta tester is scratching his/her head on this one.

I use dialup, & my preferences are set "Yes" to Confirm Before Connecting, which it doesn't do, and "Yes" to Disconnect When Done, which it also thankfully doesn't do. But, I thought that Confirm Before Connecting just referred to BOINC uploading or downloading, AFTER you were already online.

But you're saying that BOINC actually tries to dial your modem & sign you on, password & all? This is disturbing.....I have to type in my ISP password to go online - you're saying that with your ISP, BOINC has access to this? Heffed, does yours do this too?

Throughout beta & now with live, I have used the Disable Network Access choice as a workaround, with no problems (I uncheck it after going online & check it before signing off - even when I forget to Disable it doesn't try to dial my modem), but I am thinking of switching ISP so now I'm worried that I will have this new set of problems!

Cathy

Hi Cathy.

> I use dialup, & my preferences are set "Yes" to Confirm Before Connecting,
> which it doesn't do, and "Yes" to Disconnect When Done, which it also
> thankfully doesn't do. But, I thought that Confirm Before Connecting just
> referred to BOINC uploading or downloading, AFTER you were already online.

Mine disregards "confirm before connnecting", and always has. "Disconnect when done" does work, but only if it's actually BOINC that opened the connection. Which is how I think it's intended.

> But you're saying that BOINC actually tries to dial your modem & sign you
> on, password & all? This is disturbing.....I have to type in my ISP
> password to go online - you're saying that with your ISP, BOINC has access to
> this? Heffed, does yours do this too?

Yes and no... Yes, BOINC will dial the modem and sign me on. No, BOINC doesn't have access to the password, etc... but Windows does if you tell it not to ask you for the password.

So why not tell it not to remember my password? Well, I've found that many other programs don't like the dial up connection password box open insessantly. They seem to be "waiting" for it.

> Throughout beta & now with live, I have used the Disable Network Access
> choice as a workaround, with no problems (I uncheck it after going online
> & check it before signing off - even when I forget to Disable it doesn't
> try to dial my modem), but I am thinking of switching ISP so now I'm worried
> that I will have this new set of problems!

Yes, the "disable network access" is indeed a workaround. However, we shouldn't need workarounds. ;) And of course, the "D.N.A." setting isn't remembered if you reboot the system... So as far as workarounds go, it's weak at best. ;) You need to remember to turn it back on if you want work, and you need to turn it back off if you reboot. (increased babysitting factor all around)

> Mine disregards "confirm before connnecting", and always has. "Disconnect when
> done" does work, but only if it's actually BOINC that opened the
> connection. Which is how I think it's intended.

Tnx, Heffed - I couldn't get back on here for a while - thread got buried. It's "interesting" that 3 people with the same BOINC settings get entirely different results - once everything does work as intended it would depend on the user's modem/internet settings.

> Yes and no... Yes, BOINC will dial the modem and sign me on. No, BOINC doesn't
> have access to the password, etc... but Windows does if you tell it not to ask
> you for the password.

Ok, that makes sense. I could probably figure all this out if I got an ISP where it wasn't set up automatically like it is now, but I think there should be some document like "How to Configure Modem Settings with BOINC" - maybe there already is, but the Readme now consists of 1 line of text & I can't find Paul's stuff anymore.

> Yes, the "disable network access" is indeed a workaround. However, we
> shouldn't need workarounds. ;) And of course, the "D.N.A." setting isn't
> remembered if you reboot the system... So as far as workarounds go, it's weak
> at best. ;) You need to remember to turn it back on if you want work, and you
> need to turn it back off if you reboot. (increased babysitting factor all
> around)

Agreed. Too much diaper-changing :)