Upgraded all my machines to BOINC 7.4.42 this morning. Two are running Windows Version 7 and one is running Windows 8.1. All versions have the recommended updates installed. This evening, I noticed that the Windows 8.1 machine had shut down BOINC, exited it completely. The machines with Windows 7 were chugging along with no problems. Started BOINC on the Windows 8.1 machine with no problem. A few hours later, when I checked, BOINC had shut itself down again. Couldn't find any error messages in the log files. Does anyone have any idea if BOINC 7.4.42 has a problem running under Windows 8.1? Oh, uninstalled BOINC 7.4.42 and reinstalled BOINC 7.2.42 and the machine has been running for at least 5 hours without BOINC shutting itself down.

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Did you try a reboot after BOINC 7.4.42 installation?

Also check for errors in Windows Event Viewer

I prefer to use MyEventViewer
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/my_event_viewer.html

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 

Did you try a reboot after BOINC 7.4.42 installation?

Also check for errors in Windows Event Viewer

I prefer to use MyEventViewer
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/my_event_viewer.html

Thanks for the suggestions, BilBg. Yes, always reboot when I install any application. Also the logs I was referring to was the Windows Event Logs. Nothing referring to BOINC was in any of the them. And BOINC 7.2.42 still chugging as normal. Let the machine run on while I caught a few hours sleep.

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What does it say in stderrdae.txt in the BOINC data directory (default at C:\Programdata\BOINC)?
Have you tried a repair installation, in case it had permissions problems?
Was there any clue in the output of Event Log in stdoutdae.txt, also in the data directory?

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What does it say in stderrdae.txt in the BOINC data directory (default at C:\Programdata\BOINC)?
Have you tried a repair installation, in case it had permissions problems?
Was there any clue in the output of Event Log in stdoutdae.txt, also in the data directory?

There was nothing out of kilter in the stderrdae.txt file. Did a repair and still the same result of shutting down on its own. By the way, the two Windows 7 machines are still chugging right along with the BOINC 7.4.42 upgrade. Neither one has shut down like the Windows 8.1 machine.

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I've been running 7.4.42 on my Windows 8.1 machine without issue. Do you see anything listed in the Windows Event Viewer, either under Applications or System?

I've been running 7.4.42 on my Windows 8.1 machine without issue. Do you see anything listed in the Windows Event Viewer, either under Applications or System?

Negative. Nothing out of the ordinary in either of the two files you mentioned. As a matter of fact, those were the first two logs I checked when I noticed 7.4.42 shutting down on its own.

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There was nothing out of kilter in the stderrdae.txt file.

And what about in stdoutdae.txt?
What does it say there at around a time of shut down?
Does it say "[---] Exiting" or is there a line showing an error?

With BOINC 7.4.42 it's now very easy to set debug flags.
In BOINC Manager->View->Advanced view->Advanced->Event Log Diagnostic Flags.. check <task_debug> and click OK. This saves these entries automatically to cc_config.xml and instructs BOINC to use it.

Also, in your online global computing preferences, what does it say for Suspend when no mouse/keyboard input in last N minutes?

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There was nothing out of kilter in the stderrdae.txt file.

And what about in stdoutdae.txt?
What does it say there at around a time of shut down?
Does it say "[---] Exiting" or is there a line showing an error?

With BOINC 7.4.42 it's now very easy to set debug flags.
In BOINC Manager->View->Advanced view->Advanced->Event Log Diagnostic Flags.. check <task_debug> and click OK. This saves these entries automatically to cc_config.xml and instructs BOINC to use it.

Also, in your online global computing preferences, what does it say for Suspend when no mouse/keyboard input in last N minutes?

There are the normal entries in the stdoutdae.txt file. Nowhere does it say "[---]Exiting" or is there a line showing an error. All it shows is what the application finds about the computer and tasks being downloaded and uploaded upon completion. In the global computing preferences, the "Suspend when no mouse ..... doesn't have an entry.

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Sounds to me like something external is killing BOINC cold-heartedly. The --- Exiting line will always show (without debug line) when BOINC is given the normal exit command. It won't show when something or someone kills the boinc.exe process, as then BOINC cannot gracefully shut down, exit the applications, release the memory etc.

So I don't think it was something 7.4.42 was doing on its own. Not with the information given so far.
Which anti-virus and other anti-malware packages do you have installed and are these allowed to scan in real time?
Do you have both the BOINC data directory and the BOINC programs directories excluded from being scanned by all these packages?
Has any of these programs possibly logged it kills boinc.exe?

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There are the normal entries in the stdoutdae.txt file. Nowhere does it say "[---]Exiting" or is there a line showing an error.

Then this is Not normal - if BOINC do an Exit it will say so:

26-Mar-2015 09:37:56 [SETI@home] Message from server: This computer has reached a limit on tasks in progress
[03/26/15 09:41:55] TRACE [2052]: ***** Console Event Detected *****

[03/26/15 09:41:55] TRACE [2052]: Event: CTRL-LOGOFF Event

26-Mar-2015 09:41:55 [---] Exit requested by user
26-Mar-2015 09:42:17 [---] Starting BOINC client version 6.10.58 for windows_intelx86

***

If the computer hangs (during game, BOINC was in 'Snooze') and I need to press Reset - then there is NO note of the Exit:

26-Mar-2015 13:12:28 [WUProp@Home] Not reporting or requesting tasks
26-Mar-2015 13:12:29 [WUProp@Home] Scheduler request completed
26-Mar-2015 13:34:59 [---] Starting BOINC client version 6.10.58 for windows_intelx86

***

Something seems to kill BOINC or it crashes.
Check also Antivirus logs.


P.S.
It's best to post the exact lines from the files then to explain what they say.

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 

Sounds to me like something external is killing BOINC cold-heartedly. The --- Exiting line will always show (without debug line) when BOINC is given the normal exit command. It won't show when something or someone kills the boinc.exe process, as then BOINC cannot gracefully shut down, exit the applications, release the memory etc.

So I don't think it was something 7.4.42 was doing on its own. Not with the information given so far.
Which anti-virus and other anti-malware packages do you have installed and are these allowed to scan in real time?
Do you have both the BOINC data directory and the BOINC programs directories excluded from being scanned by all these packages?
Has any of these programs possibly logged it kills boinc.exe?

Using Avast Anti-Virus and have both the BOINC program and data directories excluded. Been looking at other applications that might be killing BOINC. I think I've found the problem. Started checking permissions of the directories and found that \programdata was listed as being "read-only" and "hidden". Don't know what changed the permission for that directory, but I've given administrator rights to \programdata. Also I use IObit Malware Fighter and included both \program\boinc and \programdata in the exclude list. Thanks for the suggestions everyone gave.

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found that \programdata was listed as being "read-only" and "hidden". Don't know what changed the permission for that directory

Nothing 'changed the permission', Windows protects ProgramData from dumb users by making it "hidden". Also if you try to make/remove (sub)directory Windows will (I can't check but I think it will) ask "do you really want this" if UAC enabled.
If you go in any of sub-directories you can freely make changes (I think)

Permissions on ProgramData do not matter for BOINC - instead check \ProgramData\BOINC

This is the first time I hear about IObit Malware Fighter
Since they claim "Detect and Remove Infections and New Hidden Threats" it may be too aggressive.
BOINC downloads .exe files from Internet and then starts them - unaware AV products may think this is Trojan
Can you configure your AV products to Ask before any 'disinfection' action?

included both \program\boinc and \programdata in the exclude list

Do you mean the entire ProgramData or \ProgramData\BOINC

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 

found that \programdata was listed as being "read-only" and "hidden".

Additionally information, all directories and subdirectories in Windows are Read-Only. This applies only to the actual directory, not to any files therein.

All Windows folders are always marked read-only. This does not mean that they are read-only. The Windows folder read-only flag can never be changed by the user, all Windows folders will always be flagged as read-only.

Windows uses the folder read-only flag for internal purposes. Improper Windows permissions may stop access to a folder but a user with proper permissions can always write into a folder regardless of the setting of the folder read-only flag.

The folder read-only flag setting serves only one purpose, it is there to allow a user to mark all the files inside the folder as read-only or not read-only all at one time.

It is possible for a programmer to change the folder read-only flag to "not read-only" but absolutely nothing is gained by doing this.

From a technical point of view it's true, a folder "object" is read-only to the user. A folder is a Windows object, much like an ordinary file, that is a collection of data containing information about the folder. The folder object is managed by the Windows file system and only Windows has permission to change any of that folder object data.

(Source)

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