Since installing the latest (5.10.13) client on my WinXP Pro system, it no longer will run as a service (when not logged in as a user). I have been running Boinc clients as services since it was first offered but now it only processes if I'm logged in. I disconnected and reconnected without success. I uninistalled and reinstalled, taking care to set it as a service with the Admin account info. It then ran as a service for a few days. Then the service would stop again. I can go into the services and start it but it stops again within a minute or two.

I have checked all the settings, tried setting it as a System-level service, and setting it back to Administrator (with proper login info), yet it stops even after all the disconnects and uninstalls.

Anyone have any clues?

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Hmmm...

This is a new one for me. Is there any clues in the Windows event logs when the service terminates?

Alinator

The BOINC service terminated with the following error:
%%4294967148

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SERVICE_NAME: BOINC
TYPE : 10 WIN32_OWN_PROCESS
STATE : 1 STOPPED
(NOT_STOPPABLE,NOT_PAUSABLE,IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
WIN32_EXIT_CODE : -148 (0xffffff6c)
SERVICE_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
CHECKPOINT : 0x0
WAIT_HINT : 0x0

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Hmmm...

I hadn't forgotten about you, it just I'm still scratching my head about this. I haven't been able to track down anything useful about the messages you reported. One question I have is will BOINC run normally if you start it from the Start menu as an application?

The only thing I can suggest at this point is to give rolling back to the previous version and see what happens. In this particular case it's probably better to uninstall the current version, and then reinstall your previous one.

Assuming that goes all right, try DL'ing a new copy of the installer and then you could give it another try after uninstalling the old version first, just to rule that out as a problem.

HTH,

Alinator

yes. the app runs as an app while i'm logged in as myself (with admin equivalence) or as administrator. that's how i'm continuing to process wu.

uninstalling the current and installing the previous isn't something i've tried yet. i did uninistall the current, download a fresh copy of the current and reinstall without it fixing anything.

i'm not sure i still have a previous version on tap to try installing. i know they pull it from the d/l section when the new version is made available, so that's a non-starter.

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OK, well at least your not dead in the water. In the mean time I've put it on my list of unexplained BOINC mysteries to explore, so if I find out anything I'll post back about it.

Alinator

yes. the app runs as an app while i'm logged in as myself (with admin equivalence) or as administrator. that's how i'm continuing to process wu.

uninstalling the current and installing the previous isn't something i've tried yet. i did uninistall the current, download a fresh copy of the current and reinstall without it fixing anything.

i'm not sure i still have a previous version on tap to try installing. i know they pull it from the d/l section when the new version is made available, so that's a non-starter.

All the old versions can be found here http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/?C=M;O=D

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Sir Arthur C Clarke 1917-2008

thanks! there are also newer versions than the main page says are "prime time". i'm currently trying 5.10.17 and so far it's looking good. the Boinc service has remained started all day since i did an uninstall, a registry cleanup, and a complete re-install with the supra-new version.

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Spoke too soon. The last install ran as a service until the next CPU reboot. Now it's acting as before. If you start it, it stops again.

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Spoke too soon. The last install ran as a service until the next CPU reboot. Now it's acting as before. If you start it, it stops again.

Couple of minor things to check that may help isolate the cause:

- The only dependancy of the Boinc Service I see is RPC ... Is the RPC service Running? ( Some security stuff may have disabled or blocked this.)

- Is the Boinc service set to run as a local user ? if so is the password correct? have you tried to change it so the boinc service logs on as the 'Local System' instead?

- Is firewall allowing local traffic on rpc / boinc related ports? What kind of firewall are you running?

If it still happens after checking these things, then at least these have been eliminated.

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.

- The only dependancy of the Boinc Service I see is RPC ... Is the RPC service Running? ( Some security stuff may have disabled or blocked this.)

RPC is running

- Is the Boinc service set to run as a local user ? if so is the password correct?

yes. admin. yes. triple checked it and even reset the admin pw prior to the last install.

have you tried to change it so the boinc service logs on as the 'Local System' instead?

yes. before the last round of installs. did it again prior to replying. starts okay but, as with using the admin account, within a minute it stops again.

- Is firewall allowing local traffic on rpc / boinc related ports? What kind of firewall are you running?

in reverse order:
zonealarm.

nothing changed prior to and after the 5.10.13 update when all this started. i went through and purged all references to applications and let it re-learn what was okay and not without success. is there a specific internal port for which i should define an exception?

as part of this trouble shooting effort, i stopped zonealarm, started the Boinc service and it still shut back down within a minute (as is the case with zonealarm running).

If it still happens after checking these things, then at least these have been eliminated.

understood.

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nothing changed prior to and after the 5.10.13 update when all this started. i went through and purged all references to applications and let it re-learn what was okay and not without success. is there a specific internal port for which i should define an exception?

Well during normal (not connected to berkeley) operation, my machine running boinc as a service shows:
boinc.exe LocalPort 31416, Remote host 127.0.0.1(local), Remote port 3483(this is connection to boinc manager***)
boinc.exe LocalPort 31416, Remote host 127.0.0.1(local), Remote Port 2669( this is connection to boincview***)
*boincmgr.exe LocalPort 3483, Remote Host 127.0.0.1(local), Remote Port 31416
**boincview to local machine, and 1 remote machine, local ports 2770&2669, -----remote ports both 31416

*only when boinc manager is running, connected to local service
** only when boincview is running, (connected to two machines boinc services
---- boincview local ports seem arbitrary
If you can eliminate the possibility of blockage of these with netstat or 'who's connected' then we can move onto check berkeley connections if you like...


[Edit: checking ports during service startup now ....None... have marked random ports as *** .... I think if you have the basic connection to boinc manager, then we can eliminate TCP comms problem causing the service to shut down..]

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.

Next Idea is: If you run Boinc manager normally using boinc manager, suspend all activity (processing and network), then exit.... then run the boinc service does it still stop the service ?

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.

If it's any help, I've seen the BOINC service stop precisely twice since I upgraded to v5.10.13. The first time was so long ago (July) that it's disappeared from stdoutdae.old, but the second one (10 August) is still available.

The box affected was my Vista Business Xeon. It runs on a home LAN behind an ADSL firewall router. It is monitored remotely by BOINCView running on an XP box upstairs (that's how I noticed the problem). Neither of the other two boxes running v5.10.13 as a service on this LAN (XP Home, W2K server) have suffered the problem.

The way I identified it in stdoutdae.old is that it's the only instance of 'To pause/resume tasks hit CTRL-C, to exit hit CTRL-BREAK' not immediately preceeded by 'Exit requested by user'.

I got an event log entry for 'The BOINC service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s).'. The details are:

- System 
  - Provider 
   [ Name]  Service Control Manager 
   [ Guid]  {555908D1-A6D7-4695-8E1E-26931D2012F4} 
   [ EventSourceName]  Service Control Manager 
  - EventID 7034 
   [ Qualifiers]  49152 
   Version 0 
   Level 2 
   Task 0 
   Opcode 0 
   Keywords 0x80000000000000 
  - TimeCreated 
   [ SystemTime]  2007-08-10T13:09:26.000Z 
   EventRecordID 23374 
   Correlation 
  - Execution 
   [ ProcessID]  0 
   [ ThreadID]  0 
   Channel System 
   Computer xxxxxxxx 
   Security 
- EventData 
  param1 BOINC 
  param2 1 

Not very helpful. It broke about a minute after a completed 'No work from project' scheduler request - probably round about the time the next attempt would have been due. It re-started without problems when I noticed and did a manual service start, about 80 minutes later, and it's been running ever since - though I have restarted the service manually rather more often than usual, during the transition to MB and work on the 'splitter bug'.

[Edit - the service is currently set to log on with the system account, and is allowed to interact with the desktop]

HTH.

hmmm, which creates two questions: Are windows updates applied (there are many hotfixes due to unexpected service terminations [EventID 7034])?, and is the boinc executable damaged ?.

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.

hmmm, which creates two questions: Are windows updates applied (there are many hotfixes due to unexpected service terminations [EventID 7034])?, and is the boinc executable damaged ?.

In my case, 10 August would have been before hotfix day, so the system would have been fully up to date. Being Vista, I have Windows Update set to 'download and notify, but don't install', and I also have the 'wait for service' timer hack applied, so I shouldn't suffer from unexpected system shutdowns - this is the box I run CPDN on, so I don't want to risk the Vista fast shut-down 'feature'.

I do note that Vista puts a huge number of 'servicing' events into the log in this mode, when patches are available/downloaded but not yet installed.

Well, Vista differences are a mystery to me, I plan to stick with XP Pro wSP2 for as long as I can, well maybe x64. Since MS bought sysinternals/winternals one of my major sources of internal jiggery pokery has gone a little awry. I know it's still there but not the same as when it was a third party.

With this service problem I am angling towards identifying whether Boinc is exiting either upon commencement of processing, commencement of network activity, or some random period after service startup(with those disabled). starting the service with processing and network disabled should isolate it to service startup, meaning that I think something fishy is going on with a security program or some such... [ of course if it doesn't restart under these conditions then, enabling network restarts it the tcp stack may have been played with (by malware or security) and can be reset, or boinc is borking during processing....]

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.

Well, Vista differences are a mystery to me, I plan to stick with XP Pro wSP2 for as long as I can, well maybe x64. Since MS bought sysinternals/winternals one of my major sources of internal jiggery pokery has gone a little awry. I know it's still there but not the same as when it was a third party.

With this service problem I am angling towards identifying whether Boinc is exiting either upon commencement of processing, commencement of network activity, or some random period after service startup(with those disabled). starting the service with processing and network disabled should isolate it to service startup, meaning that I think something fishy is going on with a security program or some such... [ of course if it doesn't restart under these conditions then, enabling network restarts it the tcp stack may have been played with (by malware or security) and can be reset, or boinc is borking during processing....]

Ouch.....that sounds like a rather tangled web to unravel. Good luck!!!

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Ouch.....that sounds like a rather tangled web to unravel. Good luck!!!

LOL thanks :), process of elimination should rule out everything that is working (the hard way). Usually half way through that is when someone has a brainstorm like 'oh .. I installed this [insert random ad-ware] last week... '. I'm hoping that happens before a Hijackthis log has to be analysed, or the TCP stack reset .... but with service problems usually a windows reinstall is easier ... come to think of it I haven't asked if the page file has been flushed or the hard disk checked ...doh :D [In any case with service problems I'd be backing up data now ]

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.