I had been occasionally seeing a little window attached to the BOINC icon about a password failure. when I finally had time to open BOINC manager I found the following message trail
7/9/2010 1:57:28 PM||Starting BOINC client version 5.2.12 for windows_intelx86
7/9/2010 1:57:28 PM||libcurl/7.14.0 OpenSSL/0.9.8 zlib/1.2.3
7/9/2010 1:57:28 PM||Data directory: C:\Program Files\BOINC
7/9/2010 1:57:29 PM||Processor: 1 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.70GHz
7/9/2010 1:57:29 PM||Memory: 511.01 MB physical, 1.22 GB virtual
7/9/2010 1:57:29 PM||Disk: 18.61 GB total, 3.66 GB free
7/9/2010 1:57:29 PM|SETI@home|Computer ID: 1810878; location: work; project prefs: default
7/9/2010 1:57:29 PM||General prefs: from SETI@home (last modified 2005-11-28 09:03:44)
7/9/2010 1:57:29 PM||General prefs: no separate prefs for work; using your defaults
7/9/2010 1:57:29 PM||Remote control not allowed; using loopback address

I checked the Windows firewall and added BOINC to the exceptions list but still get the same response. do you think this will clear up when I restart my computer or is there something else I should do? I have been able to log on to seti@home.
thanks,
Deming

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BOINC 5.2.12 is quite ancient. If you think it's time to get into the next era, try updating to 6.10.56 which is the latest available (non-development).

The password problem you see is caused by BOINC Manager not being able to contact the client. This can be solved by putting your own password in the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file in your BOINC directory - while when you do so add only a word, do not hit Enter at the end of the line - then in BOINC Manager going through Advanced->select computer and filling in localhost for the first option, the password you set for the second and clicking OK.

It can also be solved by rebooting the computer.

And if neither of those fixes it, by repair installing your present BOINC. But really, it's better to upgrade to the latest available since there have been many many updates since 5.2

One thing though, BOINC 6 uses separated BOINC program and Data directories. You may want to finish all present work before installing BOINC 6, in case the data migration goes wrong.

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the other thing that concerns me is references I have seen to Direct X as I don't think my ITS department condones its residence on our work computers.

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DirectX is a Microsoft graphics, network and sound driver library set, easily said. Without it Windows wouldn't work, nor will your graphics card do much. So it'll be on your system all the time, and if your IT department updates their computers regularly through Windows Update, one of the latest DirectX 9.0c, 10 or 11 will be on them already.

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brain fart - I was thinking of Active-X :-P

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OK, I've installed BOINC 6.10.58 twice now and I'm still getting the incorrect password balloon and when I open BOINC it has no project and is disconnected. when I try to attach to a project it tries to connect to localhost and then gives me the message that I have provided an incorrect password. what next? thanks.

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BOINC Manager->Advanced view->Advanced->Select Computer->leave both boxes empty and click OK. Does that fix this?

If it doesn't, exit BOINC completely (Boincmgr.exe and boinc.exe, check in Windows task manager). Navigate to your BOINC Data directory (default for Windows XP at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\BOINC\ .. it may be hidden), find the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file and delete it. Now start BOINC (Start->Programs->BOINC Manager). Does that fix the problem?

If that doesn't fix it either, check in your Windows firewall that Boinc.exe adn Boincmgr.exe are in the Exceptions to pass through the firewall. If they are, check that their paths to the BOINC program directory are correct. Both Boinc.exe and Boincmgr.exe are running from the same directory, aren't they?

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BOINC Manager->Advanced view->Advanced->Select Computer->leave both boxes empty and click OK. Does that fix this?

If it doesn't, exit BOINC completely (Boincmgr.exe and boinc.exe, check in Windows task manager). Navigate to your BOINC Data directory (default for Windows XP at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\BOINC\ .. it may be hidden), find the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file and delete it. Now start BOINC (Start->Programs->BOINC Manager). Does that fix the problem?

If that doesn't fix it either, check in your Windows firewall that Boinc.exe adn Boincmgr.exe are in the Exceptions to pass through the firewall. If they are, check that their paths to the BOINC program directory are correct. Both Boinc.exe and Boincmgr.exe are running from the same directory, aren't they?

BOINC.exe has to be allowed as a server for port 31416. BOINCMgr.exe has to be allowed to call out on port 31416. For local control only, this would be to and from the local host only. For a LAN, it would be for machines on the LAN.

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