Yesterday Boinc started acting weird - every time I start it I get the "Communicating with Boinc clietn..." message and it won't go away. I tried letting it run for an hour and the message will not go away. So I downloaded and installed the latest software and the problem persists. Please advise.

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Have you tried a reboot?

Claggy

More than once. I rebooted to try and eliminate the problem. When that didn't work, I reinstalled the Boinc software and rebooted. No solution. Help!

I uninstalled, then reinstalled and same problem.

Please see this FAQ for options.

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All firewalls are turned off and the problem persists. Please advise.

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You read the FAQ? Did it say anywhere in there that you needed to uninstall/reinstall BOINC or disable your firewall? Since it didn't, then why do you do such things?

By switching off the Windows (Vista) firewall you're not actually switching it off. Windows won't allow that. It'll keep running in the background, because it knows way better than you that disabling it is very bad for your system.

Now then, allowing a program through Windows firewall. I'm using Windows 7, but assume that since it's the 'better' version of Vista, that Vista has somewhat the same options.

Start->Control Panel->System and Security->Windows firewall->Allow a program through Windows Firewall.

Is Boinc.exe in the list?
Is BOINC Manager in the list?

If no on either of them, click Change Settings, then click Allow another program. Wait for the list to appear.

If you want to add BOINC Manager, it should be in this list. Just click it. No need to add anything.

If you want to add boinc.exe, you'll have to Browse for it. Browse to the BOINC programs directory (default at C:\Program Files\BOINC or C:\Program Files(x86)\BOINC .. if you installed BOINC elsewhere, then you should know where) and click boinc.exe, then click Open.

When both boinc.exe and Boinc Manager are in the list but it still doesn't work, click on either of them and click Details. Is the executable in the correct place, the directory you installed BOINC to?

You can try all entries of Boinc.exe and BOINC Manager from this list. Then restart BOINC Manager.

Of course, when you use a different firewall, you will have to allow the programs through there.

You didn't say whether you tried the registry trick detailed in the FAQ. You may want to try that anyway. Are you running BOINC under an account that's allowed to run it? Is this account also allowed to control BOINC? Did you install BOINC with the admin account and then use fast-user-switch to another account?

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I did the uninstall and reinstall before I received your post.

I use Norton Firewall, and all the Boinc exceptions are included, that's why I don't understand the problem.

The problem came out of nowhere - I simply restarted Boinc last week and the problem started.

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Did your Norton receive an update that could cause this?
If BOINC works one day and not the next, I would first check what was installed/updated on that system between the first and next day, not immediately blame BOINC.

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This problem started before the Norton update...

This problem started before the Norton update...

Which Norton update? You didn't say anything about a Norton update before.
Can't Norton have received an update before any update you're talking about? Can it only receive one update a week/month/other precise time?

What happens when you run boinc.exe by hand, then try to start BOINC Manager?
Does boinc.exe even run, when you check in Windows Task Manager?
How have you installed BOINC? With the protected application execution or service checked, or not? Did you install it to the correct directory?

Questions for when you downloaded and installed a newer version of BOINC:
Do you have a 64bit version of Windows, and if so, is it a 64bit version of BOINC that you inadvertently installed into the 32bit program files directory, where it won't work from?

The BOINC Installer will read from the registry what the old installation directory was. If you ran a 32bit version of BOINC before on a 64bit OS, the programs directory for BOINC will be set to C:\Program Files(x86)\BOINC\

When you then install a 64bit version of BOINC into that directory, Windows will not be able to run the programs correctly, as the (x86) directories are reserved for 32bit programs.

To fix this, you will need to uninstall BOINC, reinstall it and in the 3rd screen in the installer click Advanced, then in the next screen change the path for the BOINC programs directory to C:\program Files\BOINC\

Vice versa it's the same thing, if you ran a 64bit version of BOINC before and now run a 32bit version, that you installed into the C:\Program Files\BOINC directory. The Program Files and Program Files(x86) directories on Windows Vista and 7 are protected by Windows. You will need to make sure that 32bit programs install into the correct directory, as well as 64bit programs.

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Norton 4.0 wasn't updated until after the Boinc problem started.

I followed your instructions and uninstalled and reinstalled Boinc (after uninstalling Norton) - all files are (and were) in the proper place.

Boinc still won't finish communicating. What next?

What happens when you run boinc.exe by hand, then try to start BOINC Manager?
Does boinc.exe even run, when you check in Windows Task Manager?
How have you installed BOINC? With the protected application execution or service checked, or not?

And how about answering what I said and asked in http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=6052&nowrap=true#34769?

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First of all - Thank you for your assistance.

When I run Boinc by hand - the same thing happens.

It shows in Task Manager.

I installed it standardly - Protected was not checked.

Thanks again.

Do you have lots of tasks? (Hundreds/thousands?)
In the Tasks tab, what does the top button on the left say: Show active tasks, or Show all tasks?

I always keep "Show All Tasks." I had less than 100 tasks when the problem began.

Why does the problem persist after reinstallation? Or better yet, how do I get it to stop?

The 2 parts of BOINC communicate once per second, during which time, in the mode that you have selected, all of the information needed by the manager for ALL of the tasks has to been passed from the core client to the manager. If this takes too long, the manager gets huffy and stops talking to the core client.
Which is way the other mode, (Show active tasks), was introduced.

Please try it. :)

First of all - Thank you for your assistance.

When I run Boinc by hand - the same thing happens.

It shows in Task Manager.

I installed it standardly - Protected was not checked.

Thanks again.

When you run Boinc.exe by hand, do any tasks start?

Claggy

Claggy - No tasks start because as soon as I launch Boinc I get Communication message that never goes away. The message comes up before any tasks appear in the Boinc Manager.

Please try what? Turning off "Show all tasks"? I can't - Boinc never gets that far. As soon as it is launched I get the Communication message and I can't do anything else.

How do I get Boinc past the Communication message?