As the subject says, when starting BOINC up. It takes several tries to get BIONC to start. Once in a while it does connect but, it just sits there. E@H is the first outside project I added since SETI@HOME server issues let my house heating unit cool down.... :)

Adding a project does not change whether BOINC Manager can make contact with the underlying client, or not.

Check your system, what did update around that time? Firewall, anti-virus? Anything else that may be blocking BOINC Manager? Anything installed that may be taking over BOINC Manager's communication port (TCP 31416)?

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It is also to be noted that Einstein tasks have a very long and memory-intensive startup (or restart) phase, during which the BOINC core client is unresponsive. I often see both the 'cannot connect to localhost' warning, and a gap in the time sequence of message log entries, if I try to start the manager too soon after a client restart, and there are Einstein tasks in the current mix.

In short, if the problem is only observed at startup, it's nothing to worry about - go and have a cup of tea, and things will be fine when you get back.