BOINC FAQ: Questions and Problems with BOINC
From Unofficial BOINC Wiki
[edit] General
This FAQ section will cover questions about problems and what you can do about them.
[edit] I am running BOINC and I am having problems getting the screen saver?
The Screen Saver it a functional part of the Science Application. So there is a possibility that the current Science Application does not have a Screen Saver. Check with the Project's Web Site, FAQ and Forums and see if that they have a Screen Saver.
At this time, of the BOINC Powered Projects in "production" mode, only Predictor@Home does not have a full dynamic Screen Saver.
[edit] How can I get more debug information to troubleshoot a problem?
Use the log_flags.xml file, with various options.
Stop the BOINC Software.
Create a file in the the BOINC Directory (or folder) called 'log_flags.xml' using a text editor.
Add the following two mandatory lines:
<log_flags> </log_flags>
Then between these two lines, add any combination of the following options:
<task/> <file_xfer/> <sched_ops/> <state_debug/> <task_debug/> <file_xfer_debug/> <sched_op_debug/> <http_debug/> <time_debug/> <net_xfer_debug/> <measurement_debug/> <poll_debug/>
Restart the BOINC Client Software, which will start processing with the current Science Application.
Depending on what options you chose, a little or a LOT of debug information will be written to the stdout text file.
- Note:
- This detail is not written to the Messages Tab.
I hope to bring you more detail on exactly when to use which option, but if you review the output, you can easily see what output is generated by each debug option.
If you do not want to log that particular information, then simply stop the BOINC Client Software, remove that option from the file and restart the BOINC Client Software again.
Warning: Some private site/host specific information may be recorded during the debug exercise. You are strongly advised to read through the files generated before posting them to one of the available Forums on the "Questions & Problems" Forum. Some information may be recorded that you do not want the whole world to see.
In addition, you will not make any friends if you post a 500 Kilo-Byte output file. Try and locate the areas where the error occurs, then post the error and perhaps the 10 or so lines above and below the error. Do not discard the file, because you may be asked to email it to one of the developers if necessary.
[edit] What is my Account Number, I can't find it anywhere?
The internal Account Number value is not displayed at the bottom of your "Your Account" Page - "Other" Section.
- Note:
- The Account Number used to be known as "userid".
[edit] I lost my BOINC or project Account ID, can you help?
Go to the Project's Web Site, select the "log in" link and then request your Account ID to be e-Mailed to the address that you supplied when creating your Account. If you have updated your e-Mail address in your preferences, it will be sent to that address instead.
[edit] I've lost my BOINC or project Account ID and changed my e-Mail address, can you please update my account?
In a word, No. Create another Account and try to be more careful!
None of the current Projects will intervene to resurrect your Account. It is possible that in the future this will change, but that is not very likely.
[edit] The client files are not strict XML, why not?
Yes, we know. That's why they call XML eXtensible. To fulfill the needs of all of the science Projects that will be running on the BOINC System additional markers are needed and so, heck, we invented them. We are just using this within the science projects running on the BOINC System, so who else needs a vote.
[edit] I can't post the '<' and '>' from my XML file?
Those characters are interpreted as HTML tags. Replace them with '{' and '}' or '[' and ']' in your posts.
You can also use the string that looks like: < and > to achieve the same effect.
[edit] I can't post a '\' to the forums?
Pretend that you're using UNIX and replace any '\' with a '/'. We all know what you mean.
[edit] I looked on the forums and I see a lot of very hostile posts. Why is that?
I have never understood that myself. But keep in mind that a person that is frustrated and angry is very likely going to be posting messages with negative and hostile content. Contented Participants have nothing to complain about so they usually don't say much. But the ones that have a passion for the effort will be there. And they will try to help you regardless of how long it takes. If the answer you get does not make sense to you, say that nicely and try to identify what you don't understand.
[edit] Why is this FAQ so long?
Well, one reason is that the original author was wordy guy (I saw that) and he loved to explain things. He always said knowledge is useless unless it is spread around. He also thought most FAQ were too short both in the number of questions listed, but also in the content of the answer. To him, answering "No" as he did in some places and then with what seems like a 20-page reply (I saw that too) was just because your already knew the answer was no, but you really was interested in understanding why the answer was "No".
[edit] I have a problem with some of the answers in this FAQ. You folks think you are funny?
Why, did we make you laugh?
[edit] Why am I not getting much credit even though I process a very large number of work units?
It is possible that you have a system specific problem. The first thing to do is to check to see if the errors could be caused by your hardware. Next you have to make sure that there is nothing wrong with the Operating System. I know, you hoped for some help. But truth be told, there are so many things that could be the cause we would need a slightly better definition of the problem.
- Did the problem just start?
- Change whatever you just changed back to the old settings.
- Have you gotten a lot of good Results and after an item of software was installed the bad Results started?
- Try and remove the new software and see if the problem goes away.
- Did you just add hardware?
- Check to make sure you are using the latest software driver.
- Try removing the hardware.
- Try setting your the Work Buffer setting to a lower number of days of work to buffer (cache).
- Did you just update your Operating System?
- Did you just upgrade the BOINC Client Software or a project's Science Application?
- Did you just add a project?
- Did you just start Over-Clocking?
- If you are Over-Clocking, did you just change settings?
- Try changing the settings back to the original setting you were using before. Additionally, you could try setting them back to system "Safe" settings.
[edit] I am seeing an error message that I do not know the meaning of; what should I do?
The first place to start is to check the BOINC Messages that are already documented. If you find nothing there; then try the Project's Web Site where problems and their solutions are discussed; these places include the FAQ, Forums, etc.
If there is not enough information in the BOINC Owner's Manual or in BOINC Messages, then the "Questions & Problems" Forum is the place to go. More specific material on how to post and use the forums is contained in the BOINC Web Site Owner's Manual in the Questions and Problems Page (and the lower levels where we discuss composition of messages).
Gather your information (a list follows) and then select the most likely place for your problem. once there compose your message and provide as much of the information as possible. Don't worry if you are in the wrong place. Most often you will be told where there is a better place to post your question. In almost all of those cases you will get help anyway. The people that "hang-out" at these places are typically very knowledgeable and will help you regardless of it being the "right" place or not.
Don't be embarrassed or afraid of looking silly. Everyone is a novice at something. And the only way to learn is to ask.
Try to be complete about the problem with as much of the following information as possible:
- a full description of the error messages (if any)
- your system hardware configuration
- your system software configuration
- a projects you are participating in
- why you think the system is not working as expected
- what corrective steps you have tried
- what happened when you tried those corrective measures
Be as clear as possible. Be as patient as possible. Rants and tirades, bad language, threats, yelling (all capital letters in your post is considered yelling); are not likely to help your situation. We know, you are frustrated, but to get help you have to do your part. Unfortunately your part is mostly about patience.
if a step is suggested, try it again. Again tell the others on the board what you get as results. You are in a hurry to get back to doing the science. Those that are answering your questions want the same thing. The good news is that most problems can be fixed without too much trouble.
[edit] What do I do if I have a "stuck" Work Unit that was aborted?
In some cases a Work Unit can become "stuck" and not cleared from the Work Tab. In these cases you can try to remove the Work Unit by:
- Suspending all projects except the project with the aborted Work Unit in the Projects Tab.
- Go to the Work Tab and then manually suspend every Work Unit for the project with the aborted Work Unit.
- Click on the aborted Work Unit and then on the resume button so that it will attempt to process the Work Unit and change from "aborted" to "computational error".
- On the Projects Tab, use the "Update" button with the project selected and the Work Unit will report and dissappear.
- Resume all suspended Work Unit's in the Work Tab and all projects on the Projects Tab.
