I installed BOINC about 22/12/2005 and have been trying to connect to SETI@Home ever since and have not succeeded yet. I have had about six goes at trying to solve the problem and spent a couple of hours or so struggling each time. I am now very disillusioned and this is my last attempt before giving up and deleting the lot.

I was a classic SETI@Home particpant and have converted my account. I am running BOINC Manager 5.2.13 on Windows ME. Trying to attach to the project gives me:

22/01/2006 09:26:54||Fetching config info from http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/get_project_config.php
22/01/2006 09:27:12|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Master file download succeeded
22/01/2006 09:27:12|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Sending scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi
22/01/2006 09:27:12|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Reason: Requested by user
22/01/2006 09:27:12|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Requesting 8640 seconds of new work
22/01/2006 09:29:48|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of 500
22/01/2006 09:29:48|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|No schedulers responded
22/01/2006 09:29:48|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Couldn't connect to URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.Please check URL.
22/01/2006 09:29:48|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Resetting project
22/01/2006 09:29:48||request_reschedule_cpus: exit_tasks
22/01/2006 09:29:48|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Detaching from project


When I try to attch to project, I enter the URL and it prompts me for my account details. I enter those and after a couple of minutes of "Communicating with project Please wait..." get:

"Failed to attach to project
Click Finish to close.
Messages from server:"

with an empty box beneath "Messages from server:". That adds these lines to the message log:

22/01/2006 09:32:40||Fetching config info from http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/get_project_config.php
22/01/2006 09:33:33|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Master file download succeeded
22/01/2006 09:33:33|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Sending scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi
22/01/2006 09:33:33|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Reason: Requested by user
22/01/2006 09:33:33|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Requesting 8640 seconds of new work

and after a minute or so these are added:

22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of 500
22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|No schedulers responded
22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Couldn't connect to URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.Please check URL.
22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Resetting project
22/01/2006 09:36:07||request_reschedule_cpus: exit_tasks
22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Detaching from project


I have joined Einstein@Home to test BOINC and that has been working happily for 26 days. SO I tried some others, for example LHC@Home - running for 8 days. It is just SETI@Home that is failing.

I have tried the project URL from the email:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu
the one on the web site:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu.
and in the format on the example on the "attach to project" dialog box:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

I have tried 'Create new account' and 'Use existing account'.

I have tried using my password and using the account key.

I can log in to my account's page on the SETI web site so I do know the account password.

I have tried finding the solution in the BOINC Wiki without success.

I have also tried: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

I have tried before and after doing "File, connect to computer, localhost".

I have tried on at least these dates: 22/12/05, 24/12/05, 25/12/05, 18/01/06, 19/01/06, 21/01/06, 22/01/06, 23/01/06 and 24/01/06.

This is my main computer and I don't have any other internet access problems that I am aware of.

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22/01/2006 09:29:48|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of 500
22/01/2006 09:29:48|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|No schedulers responded
22/01/2006 09:29:48|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Couldn't connect to URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.Please check URL.

this is telling you Berkeley is down.

22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of 500
22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|No schedulers responded
22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Couldn't connect to URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.Please check URL.
project is still down.

Seems you are not letting the machine do its own thing, stop turning it off and let it try to reconnect by itself. It should be telling you that it will retry in XXX time. Let it!

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22/01/2006 09:29:48|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of 500
22/01/2006 09:29:48|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|No schedulers responded
22/01/2006 09:29:48|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Couldn't connect to URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.Please check URL.

this is telling you Berkeley is down.

And that is the error I got on 22/12/05, 24/12/05, 25/12/05, 18/01/06, 19/01/06, 21/01/06, 22/01/06, 23/01/06 and 24/01/06. For the last couple of those the servers were all showing green.

22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of 500
22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|No schedulers responded
22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Couldn't connect to URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.Please check URL.
project is still down.

Seems you are not letting the machine do its own thing, stop turning it off and let it try to reconnect by itself. It should be telling you that it will retry in XXX time. Let it!

I am not turning it off (turning *what* off?). I just sit and wait and it detaches from the project all of its own accord.

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As the other projects are working fine, this would rule out firewall interference... The most common cause of these problems. The other, is that the server is physically out of action, Berkeley have had problems with campus outages recently, though I think that this has been resolved. The other thing I would try is to check that URL that you entered into the BOINC manager for stray spaces before and after the string. BOINC will baulk at these and therefore will try to connect to an invalid URL (Non-existant). This also applies to the account key field.

Hope this helps...

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As the other projects are working fine, this would rule out firewall interference... The most common cause of these problems. The other, is that the server is physically out of action, Berkeley have had problems with campus outages recently, though I think that this has been resolved. The other thing I would try is to check that URL that you entered into the BOINC manager for stray spaces before and after the string. BOINC will baulk at these and therefore will try to connect to an invalid URL (Non-existant). This also applies to the account key field.

Hope this helps...

Stray spaces, <EOL>, <TAB>, etc. problems I am aware of and - thanks to the differing advice - I have tried:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu.
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

All give the same result. In the last three days I must have tried at least 20 times, possibly up to 50 times. Every time same effect.

"Communicating with project Please wait..."
"Failed to attach to project Click Finish to close. Messages from server:"
and a log finishing with:
"22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Detaching from project"

It would not be so bad if it did not automatically detach from the project. I think it was LHC@Home that sat there quite happily for days retrying every so often until it got some data to process, so I know it is not something I am doing.

Given that each failure takes a few minutes my frustration is getting very high (I have spent about 10 hours faffing about with this over the weekend.)

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As the other projects are working fine, this would rule out firewall interference... The most common cause of these problems. The other, is that the server is physically out of action, Berkeley have had problems with campus outages recently, though I think that this has been resolved. The other thing I would try is to check that URL that you entered into the BOINC manager for stray spaces before and after the string. BOINC will baulk at these and therefore will try to connect to an invalid URL (Non-existant). This also applies to the account key field.

Hope this helps...

Stray spaces, <EOL>, <TAB>, etc. problems I am aware of and - thanks to the differing advice - I have tried:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu.
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

All give the same result. In the last three days I must have tried at least 20 times, possibly up to 50 times. Every time same effect.

"Communicating with project Please wait..."
"Failed to attach to project Click Finish to close. Messages from server:"
and a log finishing with:
"22/01/2006 09:36:07|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Detaching from project"

It would not be so bad if it did not automatically detach from the project. I think it was LHC@Home that sat there quite happily for days retrying every so often until it got some data to process, so I know it is not something I am doing.

Given that each failure takes a few minutes my frustration is getting very high (I have spent about 10 hours faffing about with this over the weekend.)

Well... They are the most common answers I've seen posted here that are relevant to the problems you've been having, I'm just sorry I couldn't have been any more help. If I think of anything else, I'll get it on here as soon as.

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Well... They are the most common answers I've seen posted here that are relevant to the problems you've been having, I'm just sorry I couldn't have been any more help. If I think of anything else, I'll get it on here as soon as.

Curiosity. I've been trying to post a long reply and failing. Can I post a short reply?

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Curiosity. I've been trying to post a long reply and failing. Can I post a short reply?

That's interesting ... now I'll try a long reply (after this message)...

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long reply ...

Hah! There's a limit to the message length I can post. Please go here:

http://www.sandj.demon.co.uk/seti.html

to see the description of the problem I'm having attaching to the project.

(Gosh, there's a maximum message length for the forum. What is it?)

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Well... They are the most common answers I've seen posted here that are relevant to the problems you've been having, I'm just sorry I couldn't have been any more help. If I think of anything else, I'll get it on here as soon as.

Thank you for your help.

Extra info: I am on ADSL using a Demon account and a Thomson Speedtouch 330 modem. (There must be thousands of UK ASDL connected PCs using SpeedTouch 330s.) I am on a home network using WinGate for NAT (and have been for some years without trouble).

More clues:

Test Services Preparation:
------------------------------
scheduler galileo Running
feeder galileo Running

Test A: do everything properly
------------------------------
Attach to project
Project URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
Use existing account: lister@sandj.demon.co.uk
Password: <correct p/w>

result: "Communicating with project" for a minute or so then "Failed to attach to project" and was detached automatically.

Test B: invalid server
------------------------------
Attach to project
Project URL: http://WIBBLEathome.berkeley.edu/

result: "Project not found"
conclusion: [http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/] WAS found in test A.

Test C: invalid account
------------------------------
Attach to project
Project URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
Use existing account: WIBBLE@sandj.demon.co.uk
Password: <sometext>

result: "Account not found"
conclusion: account lister@sandj.demon.co.uk WAS found in test A.

Test D: invalid password
------------------------------
Attach to project
Project URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
Use existing account: lister@sandj.demon.co.uk
Password: <WRONG p/w>

result: "Account not found"
conclusion 1: it is not possible to differenciate between an invalid account name error and an invalid password error. Unhelpful, but good security.
conclusion 2: account lister@sandj.demon.co.uk WAS found in test A and with the correct password.

Test E: pretend it's a new account
------------------------------
Attach to project
Project URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
Create new account: lister@sandj.demon.co.uk
Password: <correct p/w>

result: "Communicating with project" for a minute or so then "Failed to attach to project" and was detached automatically.
conclusion: Something is not managing to fetch/read/process the account details.

Test F: create a new account
------------------------------
Attach to project
Project URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
Create new account: bored@sandj.demon.co.uk
Password: <some p/w>

result: "Communicating with project" for a minute or so then "Failed to attach to project" and was detached automatically.
conclusion: Something is not managing to fetch/read/process the account details.

Test Services Doublecheck:
------------------------------
scheduler galileo Running
feeder galileo Running

The bit that is so niggly is the entry in the messages:

24/01/2006 23:22:01|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Detaching from project

which means I have to reattach rather than it keeping trying.

[The above is the text I had to upload to my web site because I could not post it to the forum from home. Now trying to post this long message from work to see if I can...]

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More information:

In C:\\Program Files\\BOINC these files get created:

sched_request_setiathome.berkeley.edu.xml
master_setiathome.berkeley.edu.xml
sched_reply_setiathome.berkeley.edu.xml

where the last one is zero bytes.

More information: a full log of all the messages from starting Boinc Manager.

I used the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs to 'fix the installation' of BOINC. On restarting Boinc Manager and trying to attach to SETI@Home:

26/01/2006 08:18:58||Starting BOINC client version 5.2.13 for windows_intelx86
26/01/2006 08:18:58||libcurl/7.14.0 OpenSSL/0.9.8 zlib/1.2.3
26/01/2006 08:18:58||Data directory: C:\\PROGRAM FILES\\BOINC
26/01/2006 08:18:58||Processor: 1 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.00GHz
26/01/2006 08:18:58||Memory: 254.95 MB physical, 1.75 GB virtual
26/01/2006 08:18:58||Disk: 38.28 GB total, 2.29 GB free
26/01/2006 08:18:58|Einstein@Home|Computer ID: 495152; location: home; project prefs: default
26/01/2006 08:18:58|LHC@home|Computer ID: 92481; location: home; project prefs: default
26/01/2006 08:18:58||General prefs: from LHC@home (last modified 2006-01-18 23:24:14)
26/01/2006 08:18:58||General prefs: no separate prefs for home; using your defaults
26/01/2006 08:18:59||Remote control not allowed; using loopback address
26/01/2006 08:18:59|Einstein@Home|Resuming computation for result r1_1216.5__1501_S4R2a_2 using albert version 437
26/01/2006 08:19:41||Fetching config info from http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/get_project_config.php
26/01/2006 08:20:19|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Master file download succeeded
26/01/2006 08:20:19|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Sending scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi
26/01/2006 08:20:19|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Reason: Requested by user
26/01/2006 08:20:19|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Requesting 8640 seconds of new work
26/01/2006 08:23:02|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of 500
26/01/2006 08:23:02|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|No schedulers responded
26/01/2006 08:23:02|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Couldn't connect to URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.Please check URL.
26/01/2006 08:23:02|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Resetting project
26/01/2006 08:23:02||request_reschedule_cpus: exit_tasks
26/01/2006 08:23:02|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Detaching from project

Einstein @ home is running ok. I have set LHC@Home to not download work.

Has anybody got any ideas what else I can try?

Have you read Wander's posting? It looks to me that you have the same problem (that Status 500 error) as he had ...

Have you read Wander's posting? It looks to me that you have the same problem (that Status 500 error) as he had ...

That directs me to a M$ site that talks about changing the MTU but it

"APPLIES TO
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional"

and I'm running Windows ME. Registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\tcpip\\parameters

does not exist.

Incidentally,

>ping localhost

Pinging simon.sandj [127.0.0.1] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 127.0.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\\Program Files\\BOINC>ping setiathome.berkeley.edu

Pinging setiathome.SSL.berkeley.edu [128.32.18.152] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 128.32.18.152:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

Incidentally,

C:\\Program Files\\BOINC>tracert setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu

Tracing route to galileo.ssl.berkeley.edu [128.32.18.173]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 * *^C
C:\\Program Files\\BOINC>tracert setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu

Tracing route to setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu [128.32.18.151]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 * * * Request timed out.
5^C
C:\\Program Files\\BOINC>

Incidentally, I am on a local network. Does this help:

C:\\Program Files\\BOINC>ping -f -l 1492 server

Pinging Server [192.168.253.201] with 1492 bytes of data:

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Ping statistics for 192.168.253.201:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\\Program Files\\BOINC>ping -f -l 1454 server

Pinging Server [192.168.253.201] with 1454 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.253.201: bytes=1454 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.253.201: bytes=1454 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.253.201: bytes=1454 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.253.201: bytes=1454 time<10ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 192.168.253.201:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

Incidentally, I am on a local network. Does this help:

C:\\Program Files\\BOINC>ping -f -l 1492 server
Pinging Server [192.168.253.201] with 1492 bytes of data:
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.
Ping statistics for 192.168.253.201:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\\Program Files\\BOINC>ping -f -l 1454 server
Pinging Server [192.168.253.201] with 1454 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.253.201: bytes=1454 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.253.201: bytes=1454 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.253.201: bytes=1454 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.253.201: bytes=1454 time<10ms TTL=128
Ping statistics for 192.168.253.201:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

Maybe TCP Optimizer can help you find the best settings for tuning and optimizing your Internet connection.

Have you read Wander's posting? It looks to me that you have the same problem (that Status 500 error) as he had ...

That directs me to a M$ site that talks about changing the MTU but it

"APPLIES TO
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional"

and I'm running Windows ME. Registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\tcpip\\parameters

does not exist.

Hi SandJ,

The registry entries for older OS's like WinME are a little different, but fortunately, the TCP/IP implementation hasn't suffered many changes over the years. Therefore there are corresponding parameters in your OS. The following artcile at MS knowledge base should provide you with the information you need to port the solution from XP to ME. Take a look, and let us know if any of this helps, ok?

Regards,
Wander

PS: For the record, the TCP/IP settings for Win95-based systems sits on HKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\VxD\\MSTCP

---

Hi SandJ,

The registry entries for older OS's like WinME are a little different, but fortunately, the TCP/IP implementation hasn't suffered many changes over the years. Therefore there are corresponding parameters in your OS. The following artcile at MS knowledge base should provide you with the information you need to port the solution from XP to ME. Take a look, and let us know if any of this helps, ok?

Regards,
Wander

PS: For the record, the TCP/IP settings for Win95-based systems sits on HKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\VxD\\MSTCP

Ooh, that was helpful. Thank you for taking the trouble to find that for me.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\VxD\\MSTCP
PMTUBlackHoleDetect from 0 to 1
PMTUDiscovery left at 1

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\Class\\NetTrans\\0001
MaxMTU from 1500 to 1472 to 1500 to 548 to 8548 to 2548.

I tried all those and although I could make it less that 1500, I could not make it more at 1500. I tried various settings down to 400 and it made no difference.

Meanwhile, my troubles with the forum made someone suggest WinGate might be the problem: it was. Solution follows ...