I was having trouble getting Boinc/Seti@Home to autostart when computer is rebooted. Found there is a newer version of Boinc (7.0.64) so downloaded and installed it. Autostart is OK now but ALL downloaded work units result in "Computation Error". My computer has an Intel Core i7 64 bit CPU with 12GB of RAM on board. Several hundred GB of disk storage. Recently started using User Account Control set at the default level. Also recently reinstalled McAfee Security after using a free Anti Virus program for a few months. I think I will look for driver updates then check back.

Well, I didn't find any driver updates but found lots of optional KB... updates for 64 bit Windows and installed those. The updates required rebooting the computer so Boinc also got a fresh start. Still no help though. I also ran PC Pitstop's Driver Alert with no new drivers found. Computation error appears before each work unit hardly gets started just as before.

I'm not familiar with ATI drivers but someone else may be able to help there - there are some recent ones with known problems. But your error messages indicate a different problem:

Here's some of the messages from one of your cpu Astropulse tasks:

Outcome Computation error
Client state Compute error
Exit status -185 (0xffffffffffffff47) ERR_RESULT_START

<message>
couldn't start app: Can't write init file: fopen() failed
</message>

That suggests something (antivirus?) is blocking disk writes. I have not had a problem with McAfee, but you could try excluding the BOINC data directory. That helps with some AV products on their scans, but I'm not sure on disk access issues.

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Another Fred
Support SETI@home when you search the Web with GoodSearch or shop online with GoodShop.

Recently started using User Account Control set at the default level.

Are you sure that BOINC still is allowed to write in its own (data) directory?

Gruß
Gundolf

Recently started using User Account Control set at the default level.

Are you sure that BOINC still is allowed to write in its own (data) directory?

Gruß
Gundolf

Default is what laymen call paranoid level

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

The errors are not drivers related (they happen on all kinds of tasks/apps)
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/result.php?resultid=3204019183
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/results.php?hostid=7118149&offset=0&show_names=0&state=6&appid=

('Can't write init file: fopen() failed' may be AntiVirus or UAC related ('init file' is .xml file (init_data.xml) probably blocked by McAfee))

Do you use BOINC from the same Windows account used to install it?

McAfee is not on the following list but you'll get the idea how to
'Add the BOINC Data directory to the exclusions of my antivirus program':
http://boincwiki.mundayweb.com/index.php?title=Add_the_BOINC_Data_directory_to_the_exclusions_of_my_antivirus_program

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

McAfee is not on the following list but you'll get the idea how to
'Add the BOINC Data directory to the exclusions of my antivirus program':

I can't find a way to do that in my version of McAfee. It may not be the full version -- this one is provided by my internet provider. You can look at the history of actions taken to see if it blocked disk writes. Menu path in my version is go to Navigation Center and select "Reports and History" and choose Security History.

I think it's a Windows thing as others have mentioned...

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Another Fred
Support SETI@home when you search the Web with GoodSearch or shop online with GoodShop.

McAfee is not on the following list but you'll get the idea how to
'Add the BOINC Data directory to the exclusions of my antivirus program':

I can't find a way to do that in my version of McAfee.

See if any of these Articles can give you a hint:
https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB50998
https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB51471
https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB66909

http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=5380943
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/add-trusted-application-mcafee-46105.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5037944_exclude-paths-mcafee-antivirus.html

(some antivirus programs need to be switched to 'Advanced' or 'Expert' mode to show such settings)

I 'never' used McAfee so can't say more ('never' because I used only DOS version ~1990)

---

 


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

McAfee is not on the following list

I think I couldn't find it in the trial version I had downloaded. And never found the time again to try with any of the other packages. Maybe in the future.

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Sunday evening, 10-20-13. I'm back in business with S@H. During my attempts at repair including several of the suggestions offered below, I tried lowering the setting for User Account Control. That didn't help but what did make it all work again was to completely turn off UAC and reboot. I find it strange that any level of UAC would not permit Boinc to write to its own Program Data.
Thank all of you for your assistance. Maybe someone knows the answer to that perplexing question??

Sunday evening, 10-20-13. I'm back in business with S@H. During my attempts at repair including several of the suggestions offered below, I tried lowering the setting for User Account Control. That didn't help but what did make it all work again was to completely turn off UAC and reboot. I find it strange that any level of UAC would not permit Boinc to write to its own Program Data.
Thank all of you for your assistance. Maybe someone knows the answer to that perplexing question??

Good to hear that you've back in business with some cpu tasks. Need to get some for that newly installed gpu to see if it is set up okay. Think it odd that you didn't get any v7 gpu tasks for that gpu when the errors were occurring, but you did get AP for ATI tasks, so preferences must be okay. Check your event log to see if BOINC is asking for gpu work.

You just upgraded from BOINC 6.6.20 to 7.0.64. If you haven't done so, you need to flip the cache settings - they are reversed in BOINC v7. The first number (minimum work buffer) is now the # of days you want on hand and the 2nd number (additional work buffer) will control how often BOINC makes contact.

Can't help on UAC but perhaps someone else can help. The odd thing to me is that BOINC could write - you downloaded tasks after the errors began. It was the SETI applications that could not write.

PS confirmed that I can't exclude the data directory with my version of McAfee (called Internet Security), but you can with McAfee Home and Enterprise. Juswt in case you suspect a problem there - I've never had a need.

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Another Fred
Support SETI@home when you search the Web with GoodSearch or shop online with GoodShop.

I find it strange that any level of UAC would not permit Boinc to write to its own Program Data.

Do you mean with this that you installed BOINC its programs directory and its data directory to C:\Program Files\BOINC\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\BOINC\ ??

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This latest version of S@H is installed in C:\Program Files\Boinc and I assume it is writing its data to C:\Program Data.

I see you got some more cpu work znd you have some validated tasks now, but still no gpu tasks - that is odd. Check your Event Log (Advanced Menu) to see if BOINC is asking for gpu work and what response you got from Scheduler.

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Another Fred
Support SETI@home when you search the Web with GoodSearch or shop online with GoodShop.

I'm not sure what you mean by "gpu tasks" but here are my events log entries since 10:21 PST:

10/21/2013 10:21:28 AM | SETI@home | Started download of 30oc08af.3140.4571.11.12.236.vlar
10/21/2013 10:21:33 AM | SETI@home | Finished download of 30oc08af.3140.4571.11.12.234.vlar
10/21/2013 10:21:33 AM | SETI@home | Finished download of 30oc08af.3140.4571.11.12.236.vlar
10/21/2013 10:21:33 AM | SETI@home | Started download of 30oc08af.3140.4571.11.12.147.vlar
10/21/2013 10:21:33 AM | SETI@home | Started download of 30oc08af.3140.4571.11.12.171.vlar
10/21/2013 10:21:36 AM | SETI@home | Finished download of 30oc08af.3140.4571.11.12.147.vlar
10/21/2013 10:21:36 AM | SETI@home | Finished download of 30oc08af.3140.4571.11.12.171.vlar
10/21/2013 10:21:36 AM | SETI@home | Started download of 30oc08af.3140.4980.11.12.5.vlar
10/21/2013 10:21:38 AM | SETI@home | Finished download of 30oc08af.3140.4980.11.12.5.vlar
10/21/2013 10:24:49 AM | SETI@home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
10/21/2013 10:24:49 AM | SETI@home | Requesting new tasks for CPU
10/21/2013 10:24:51 AM | SETI@home | Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
10/21/2013 10:24:51 AM | SETI@home | No tasks sent
10/21/2013 10:37:56 AM | SETI@home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
10/21/2013 10:37:56 AM | SETI@home | Requesting new tasks for CPU
10/21/2013 10:37:59 AM | SETI@home | Scheduler request completed: got 1 new tasks
10/21/2013 10:38:01 AM | SETI@home | Started download of 30oc08af.3140.7434.11.12.50.vlar
10/21/2013 10:38:03 AM | SETI@home | Finished download of 30oc08af.3140.7434.11.12.50.vlar
10/21/2013 10:53:39 AM | | Suspending network activity - computer is in use

This latest version of S@H is installed in C:\Program Files\Boinc and I assume it is writing its data to C:\Program Data.

What options did you install BOINC with? Particularly, did you install as a service or no? Did you give all users access to run BOINC? Is the user account that you're running under a member of the boinc_admins, or boinc_users local security group?

By default, a user that has local Administrator privileges on Windows Vista and newer runs all applications in a standard user context unless explicitly elevated (or the program is designed to prompt for elevation). Also by default, only the boinc_admins local security group has permission to write to C:\ProgramData\BOINC, but the boinc_users local security group can only read and read+execute from that same location.

My best guess is that the user you're running under isn't a member of the correct security group that allows BOINC to write to it's own data directory.

I'm not sure what you mean by "gpu tasks" but here are my events log entries since 10:21 PST:

10/21/2013 10:24:49 AM | SETI@home | Requesting new tasks for CPU

BOINC is not requesting gpu tasks on that req. Check the first 30 lines or so of your BOINC startup messages (event log) and see if it says an application is unusable. If the S@H v7 gpu application files were corrupted, that's why you got some AP gpu tasks, but have not been assigned a single S@H gpu task. You can reset the project (projects tab) and the applications will be resent. The gpu tasks are labeled differently than the cpu tasks and the gpu will only be used to crunch them. At the present, it has no work to do.

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Another Fred
Support SETI@home when you search the Web with GoodSearch or shop online with GoodShop.

I did not install it as a service in fact I don't even remember that option being offered.
Gave All Users (Everyone) access. In my cast that is me. I am the only user, the Administrator and the Chief MFWIC of this single machine. I formerly adjusted the boinc_users localgroup so that Administrator and myself, Jerry, are the only members in the group. In either case that is me. When I log into Windows, I log in as the Administrator -- it is the only option.
The localgroup boinc_admins has the same two members: Administrators and Jerry although an 's' got on the end of 'Administrator' somehow.
I don't know if this helps but thanks for your input.

I did not install it as a service in fact I don't even remember that option being offered.

If you don't remember seeing it, then you likely didn't install as a service as the default is for that option to be unchecked during install.

Gave All Users (Everyone) access. In my cast that is me. I am the only user, the Administrator and the Chief MFWIC of this single machine. I formerly adjusted the boinc_users localgroup so that Administrator and myself, Jerry, are the only members in the group. In either case that is me. When I log into Windows, I log in as the Administrator -- it is the only option.

The boinc_users security group only has read and read+execute to C:\ProgramData\BOINC. Add those same members to boinc_admins security group and they should be able to write to C:\ProgramData\BOINC.

Note also that even if you log in as the user "Administrator", all apps still run in a standard user context unless it A) prompts for elevation or B) you right-click on the application and explicitly select "Run as Administrator" which elevates the application's context. However, this step shouldn't be necessary if you add all users to the "boinc_admins" local security group. Then you should be able to turn UAC back on (I'm a fan of UAC myself).

The localgroup boinc_admins has the same two members: Administrators and Jerry although an 's' got on the end of 'Administrator' somehow.
I don't know if this helps but thanks for your input.

The 's' at the end of Administrators means that it is the local Administrators security group and not the local Administrator account (i.e. the former is a group, the latter is a user account). This means you nested the Administrators security group within boinc_admins security group, the end result being that any members of the local Administrators group are also members of the boinc_admins group. This is perfectly acceptable in practice.

After you add users to the boinc_admins security group, you must log off and log back into Windows to authenticate the new permissions.

If you've done that already, I personally would be interested in what happens if you turn back on UAC, and run BOINC Manager in an elevated context.

OK, Fred I'll try the reset button in a minute but here's an abbreviated list of the first bunch of lines. (I don't see anything about 'application is unusable'.

10/20/2013 8:14:03 PM | | No config file found - using defaults
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Starting BOINC client version 7.0.64 for windows_x86_64
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Libraries: libcurl/7.25.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.6
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Data directory: C:\ProgramData\BOINC
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Running under account Jerry
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Processor: 8 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz [Family 6 Model 26 Stepping 4]
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | OS: Microsoft Windows 7: Home Premium x64 Edition, Service Pack 1, (06.01.7601.00)
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Memory: 11.99 GB physical, 23.98 GB virtual
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Disk: 166.16 GB total, 77.03 GB free
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Local time is UTC -7 hours
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | CAL: ATI GPU 0: ATI Radeon HD 4600 series (R730) (CAL version 1.4.1734, 512MB, 480MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak)
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 0: ATI Radeon HD 4600 series (R730) (driver version CAL 1.4.1734, device version OpenCL 1.0 AMD-APP (937.2), 512MB, 480MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak)
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Config: GUI RPCs allowed from:
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | XPS435T
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | 198.162.0.2 (This is what I call my older computer for home networking -- rarely turned on and rarely used)
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | SETI@home | URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID nnnnnnn; resource share 100 (Computer ID removed for privacy)
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | SETI@home | General prefs: from SETI@home (last modified 19-Mar-2005 11:50:43)
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | SETI@home | Computer location: home
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | SETI@home | General prefs: no separate prefs for home; using your defaults
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Reading preferences override file
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Preferences:
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | max memory usage when active: 3683.70MB
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | max memory usage when idle: 11051.09MB
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | max disk usage: 5.00GB
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | max CPUs used: 4
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | don't compute while active
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | suspend work if non-BOINC CPU load exceeds 25 %
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | max download rate: 307200 bytes/sec
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | max upload rate: 307200 bytes/sec
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | (to change preferences, visit a project web site or select Preferences in the Manager)
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Can't resolve hostname in remote_hosts.cfg: XPS435T
10/20/2013 8:14:06 PM | | Not using a proxy