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Fourth Horseman · 07:50 PM

Did some searching both here and on the SETI BOINC forums with little luck. On my dual G4 system I consistantly get the following error messages while running SETI:

Can't rename state file: Error -1
Couldn't write state file: system rename
Task ... exited with zero status but no 'finished' file
If this happens repeatedly you may need to reset the project.

Well, I've tried resetting the project. I've even tried completely removing SETI and BOINC from my system and re-installing. It's happened ever since moving up to 5.4.9, regardless of whether I use the optimized version from the MacNN site here or the standard version from the BOINC web site.

I saw one thread here where a gentleman was running OS X 10.2.8 and believed that to be his problem. I'm running 10.4.7, the CLI version of BOINC, on a dual 1.42 GHz G4 with 2 GB of RAM. I should note that I do not see this problem on my MacBook or my P4 Windows system.

Any ideas?

reader50 · Jul 23, 2006, 03:52 AM

The file in question most likely has been incorrectly set to restrictive permissions. Find the file, and chmod it to 777 in Terminal. Or Get Info -> Ownership & Permissions -> Details -> Give everyone Read & Write.

Fourth Horseman · Jul 23, 2006, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by reader50

The file in question most likely has been incorrectly set to restrictive permissions. Find the file, and chmod it to 777 in Terminal. Or Get Info -> Ownership & Permissions -> Details -> Give everyone Read & Write.

That possibility occurred to me, and I did a recursive chmod on my boinc directory to give owner and group both read and write perms. I'll try just setting it to 777 and see if that helps. Odd that it'd do it after a complete re-install, though, don't you think? Anyway, I'll give this a try and let you know if it makes any difference. Thanks for the help!

Fourth Horseman · Jul 23, 2006, 08:00 PM

Sorry to report no change with all files in my BOINC directory set to 777. Still getting the same error.

Knightrider · Jul 24, 2006, 05:01 AM

Have you tried repairing 'Permissions' with 'Disk Utillity' from the Mac OS install disk drop down menu?

Check that your router (If you use one) has ports open for Boinc, which needs the following:  BOINC Manager and Screen saver needs to be able to open outbound connections to either 1043 or 31416.  BOINC needs to open an inbound connection to either 1043 or 31416, and an outbound connection to port 80 for downloads and uploads of workunits, results, and science packages. 
BOINC may also need port 43. CPDN Trickle's may need https on port 443.

Read the file 'stderrdae.txt' to see if there is any additional info. Its in the BOINC folder.

K.

mikkyo · Jul 24, 2006, 05:32 AM

Out of disk space?

Knightrider · Jul 24, 2006, 06:40 AM

Originally Posted by mikkyo

Out of disk space?

A possibility. FH check the settings on the projects preferences web page. You may have them set to high or low.

K.

Fourth Horseman · Jul 24, 2006, 03:09 PM

Thanks for the replies, folks. I have run disk utility to check perms. I run that a couple of times a month on my MacOS X machines as part of routine maintenance. It's definitely not a disk space issue, the drive BOINC is using has 45 gB free at the moment.

The firewall issue is interesting. I'll try opening up the ports recommended by Knightrider. Although the error message sure sounds like it's relating to writing a local file on the drive. Also, two other computers running on the LAN behind the same firewall are not reporting any problems. Nor did this computer report any problems before moving up to 5.4.9. Still, it's worth a shot and I will open up the suggested ports and see if it makes any difference. I've also checked my project preferences and set the disk space setting to something a little more practical. Maximum space usable was set to 100gB! Although none of my systems' BOINC directories where over 10 mB in size.

Finally, I could not find the file stderrdae.txt. Is that only generated if you use the GUI BOINC manager? I run just the command line BOINC client.

Thanks again for the help guys, I really appreciate it.

Knightrider · Jul 24, 2006, 09:27 PM

OK - last shot.

Check your system to see if there is a stray 'Lock' file out side of the BOINC folder. Remove it if there is.

Compare how BOINC is set up on the 'can't rename' computer to how its set up on one of your comps running without a problem.

Its been a while since I ran the cli version, so I'm not sure, but as I recall it should have a err(or) txt file. Presumably it has some txt file that is a copy of what it writes to the Terminal window.

K.

Fourth Horseman · Jul 26, 2006, 01:52 AM

No joy on any of the above. I'm going to give up and just live with it. It seems to be reporting results ok, so I guess it's not a show stopper. Here's hoping there's an Core 2 Duo Mac Pro in my future sometime soon and I can retire this dual G4 seeing as how SETI BOINC runs flawlessly on my Core Duo MacBook.

Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate your efforts.