Have you checked your permissions on all files and directories? Nothing set to read-only?

Yeah, that's one of the first things I did, but this happened...

I shall now quote myself:

There was some read-only files in the BOINC directory, I removed all the read-only attributes from the files, but that did nothing. When I went back to the properties of the BOINC directory, some read-only attributes came back. 0_o

This still happens now.

Ok, about this whole read-only issue:

To recap and to make sure I'm doing this right, I go to C:Program Files, then I right click the BOINC root folder and hit Properties. The read-only box is gray-checked. I then uncheck the read-only box and hit Apply, I leave the bullet on Apply changes to this folder, subfolders, and files on the dialog box that comes up, and click OK on that dialog box. Then I OK the Properties window. When I go back to do it again, the box is gray-checked...AND IT WON'T GO AWAY!!!

That might be the problem, and then again it might not, because client_state.xml, client_state_next.xml, and client_state_prev.xml are all NOT read-only.

Further fiddling shows that no files in the root directory of BOINC are read only, just the folders in the root directory (locale, projects). There are no files in projects. The folders in locale are also grey-checked read only, but none of the files in those folders are read-only. This can't be the problem, though, this is about the state file.

Hmm...I have a sneaking suspicion Fix-It Utilities is doing it, because that's the only major thing that I've installed in a while, although I did install it after the problem started though. It's also caused some problem is the past with some other Internet-related programs. I don't know. I might uninstall it.

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Try attrib -r "c:\program files\boinc" /S /D in a Dos box (start/programs/accessories/command prompt). Boinc will need to be shut down before you try it.

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Try attrib -r "c:program filesboinc" /S /D in a Dos box (start/programs/accessories/command prompt). Boinc will need to be shut down before you try it.

Changing the attributes through DOS did nothing different than changing it through Windows. Thank you anyway.

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I can never bring myself to entirely trust GUI front ends such as Windows (new fangled rubbish, what was wrong with paper tape, that's what I want to know! :-) )

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2/3/2008 5:52:02 PM||Can't rename current state file to previous state file; Cannot create a file when that file already exists. (0xb7)
2/3/2008 5:52:07 PM||Can't rename state file; Cannot create a file when that file already exists. (0xb7)
2/3/2008 5:52:07 PM||Couldn't write state file
2/3/2008 5:52:07 PM||Make sure directory permissions are set correctly

Make sure you do have your permissions set up correctly, that the account you try to run BOINC with is allowed to write to the BOINC directory and sub-directories and that there are no files in the BOINC directory that have their read-only attributes set.

Before you uninstall try out first.
Set full-access for boinc for all users (full, read, write, owner, execute).
"Can't rename state file; Cannot create a file when that file already exists. (0xb7)" sounds like you have installed with root/admin-rights and now boinc with it's restricted account is not the owner of the files and has therefore no capability/rights to change that.

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I can never bring myself to entirely trust GUI front ends such as Windows (new fangled rubbish, what was wrong with paper tape, that's what I want to know! :-) )

Lol. True. Sadly I know little DOS commands, 'cause I'm too lazy. Had no real need.

If I exit BOINC, set BOINC folder's read-only attribute via attrib command then start BOINC (5.10.40), it doesn't complain at all, just crunches.

Thatbum, did you delete your BOINC folder when you reinstalled? I'm thinking a lockfile or something is causing your problem. If you haven't already done so then uninstall BOINC via Add/Remove Programs, delete the BOINC folder then reinstall.

I'm glad that someone got their problem fixed.

Unfortunately, removing the BOINC folder did nothing. Same old log.

Set full-access for boinc for all users (full, read, write, owner, execute).
"Can't rename state file; Cannot create a file when that file already exists. (0xb7)" sounds like you have installed with root/admin-rights and now boinc with it's restricted account is not the owner of the files and has therefore no capability/rights to change that.

This does not apply, because I have only one account on my computer, and there always was. It's obviously an admin account.

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Check to see which users have read/write permissions on the client_state files by using AccessChk.
It is a commandline tool, so after extracting the zip file, get to a command prompt and navigate to the location where you extracted to. Enter the command accesschk "C:\Program Files\BOINC\client_state*" being sure to use the quotes around the path. You want to make sure your user account has read/write permissions.

In order to check if some process other than boinc.exe is handling the client_state files, download FileMon.

1. stop boinc from running
2. start FileMon
3. click on the magnifying glass in FileMon to stop the monitoring
4. click options and choose Advanced Output
5. click on the filter button and enter C:\Program Files\BOINC\client_state* into the include box
6. click the magnifying glass to start monitoring again
7. start boinc again

FileMon should now only be showing entries for the client_state files and if everything is working properly only boinc.exe and system* should be handling those files and they will be listed as successes.

* sometimes system shows up instead of boinc.exe, but it has the same PID so everything is okay.

I believe you have crashed your win-install with some "good utilities".
Normally you need only a background-av-scanner, a tool like ad-aware and the win-firewall.
Please deinstall all not necessary software like web-utilities, internet-optimizer, reg-manager, Kaspersky Internet Security 7 and hope that will helps. Tools for investigation your problems are ok.
Some tools prevent access to websites like playboy.com or ad.doubleclick.net thru your host-file. How big is your host-file in the win-folder?

OR

Have you a possibility to set up a new and clean pc or have you enough knowledge to set up a dual-boot-scenario?

PS: Which version of XP did you have? I have read anything with Media Center in your signature?

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Hey everyone, great news.

But first, sorry for the hiatus. I had to interact with the real world more frequently than usual, and I was away from my computer...

Second, I did what I said and uninstalled Fix-It, which, by the way, is a legit program suite. It seems to have worked, everything is completely copacetic. It is merrily crunching away as I type this.

Here's the log:


3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Starting BOINC client version 5.10.30 for windows_intelx86
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||log flags: task, file_xfer, sched_ops
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Libraries: libcurl/7.17.1 OpenSSL/0.9.8e zlib/1.2.3
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Data directory: C:Program FilesBOINC
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Processor: 2 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz [x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 4]
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Processor features: fpu tsc pae nx sse sse2 mmx
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||OS: Microsoft Windows XP: Professional Edition, Service Pack 2, (05.01.2600.00)
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Memory: 2.00 GB physical, 3.35 GB virtual
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Disk: 140.60 GB total, 112.45 GB free
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Local time is UTC -8 hours
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM|SETI@home|URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID: not assigned yet; location: (none); project prefs: default
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||General prefs: from http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/ (last modified 08-Aug-2006 19:44:35)
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Host location: none
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||General prefs: using your defaults
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Preferences limit memory usage when active to 1023.19MB
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Preferences limit memory usage when idle to 1841.75MB
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Preferences limit disk usage to 70.30GB
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM||Running CPU benchmarks
3/5/2008 10:23:00 PM|SETI@home|Sending scheduler request: Project initialization. Requesting 1 seconds of work, reporting 0 completed tasks
3/5/2008 10:23:06 PM|SETI@home|Scheduler request succeeded: got 1 new tasks
3/5/2008 10:23:06 PM|SETI@home|New host venue: home
3/5/2008 10:23:08 PM|SETI@home|Started download of setiathome_5.27_windows_intelx86.exe
3/5/2008 10:23:08 PM|SETI@home|Started download of libfftw3f-3-1-1a_upx.dll
3/5/2008 10:23:14 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of libfftw3f-3-1-1a_upx.dll
3/5/2008 10:23:14 PM|SETI@home|Started download of setiathome-5.27_COPYING
3/5/2008 10:23:17 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of setiathome-5.27_COPYING
3/5/2008 10:23:17 PM|SETI@home|Started download of setiathome-5.27_COPYRIGHT
3/5/2008 10:23:18 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of setiathome-5.27_COPYRIGHT
3/5/2008 10:23:18 PM|SETI@home|Started download of setiathome-5.27_README
3/5/2008 10:23:19 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of setiathome-5.27_README
3/5/2008 10:23:19 PM|SETI@home|Started download of seti_527.jpg
3/5/2008 10:23:20 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of seti_527.jpg
3/5/2008 10:23:20 PM|SETI@home|Started download of setiathome-5.27_AUTHORS
3/5/2008 10:23:21 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of setiathome-5.27_AUTHORS
3/5/2008 10:23:21 PM|SETI@home|Started download of 01ap07ad.26546.17250.4.7.109
3/5/2008 10:23:28 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of 01ap07ad.26546.17250.4.7.109
3/5/2008 10:23:28 PM|SETI@home|Started download of arecibo_181.png
3/5/2008 10:23:32 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of arecibo_181.png
3/5/2008 10:23:32 PM|SETI@home|Started download of sah_40.png
3/5/2008 10:23:33 PM||Benchmark results:
3/5/2008 10:23:33 PM|| Number of CPUs: 2
3/5/2008 10:23:33 PM|| 1358 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
3/5/2008 10:23:33 PM|| 1728 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU
3/5/2008 10:23:33 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of sah_40.png
3/5/2008 10:23:33 PM|SETI@home|Started download of sah_banner_290.png
3/5/2008 10:23:37 PM|SETI@home|Sending scheduler request: To fetch work. Requesting 30240 seconds of work, reporting 0 completed tasks
3/5/2008 10:23:42 PM|SETI@home|Scheduler request succeeded: got 1 new tasks
3/5/2008 10:23:43 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of setiathome_5.27_windows_intelx86.exe
3/5/2008 10:23:43 PM|SETI@home|Started download of sah_ss_290.png
3/5/2008 10:23:44 PM|SETI@home|Starting 01ap07ad.26546.17250.4.7.109_1
3/5/2008 10:23:45 PM|SETI@home|Starting task 01ap07ad.26546.17250.4.7.109_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 527
3/5/2008 10:23:46 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of sah_ss_290.png
3/5/2008 10:23:46 PM|SETI@home|Started download of 24fe07ac.26936.11524.8.7.132
3/5/2008 10:23:52 PM|SETI@home|Finished download of 24fe07ac.26936.11524.8.7.132
3/5/2008 10:23:53 PM|SETI@home|Starting 24fe07ac.26936.11524.8.7.132_2
3/5/2008 10:23:53 PM|SETI@home|Starting task 24fe07ac.26936.11524.8.7.132_2 using setiathome_enhanced version 527
3/5/2008 10:23:55 PM||Project communication failed: attempting access to reference site
3/5/2008 10:23:56 PM|SETI@home|Temporarily failed download of sah_banner_290.png: http error
3/5/2008 10:23:56 PM|SETI@home|Backing off 1 min 0 sec on download of sah_banner_290.png
3/5/2008 10:23:57 PM||Access to reference site succeeded - project servers may be temporarily down.

I think this incompatibility with Fix-it should be investigated, 'cause I really liked it. Was too lazy to find what module was blocking BOINC from reading the state file, and I'm too elated at the fact that BOINC is working after such a long time to re-install it.

So yeah. Problem iz teh fixz0red.

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