A few days ago this computer\'s wonderful Windows caused an unexpected reboot, and I found it had lost all of the work I was doing (4 projects). All have re-loaded successfully except Climate. Each time I connect, it wants to re-download some enormous files including globe.tga plus the work unit. Because of the size difference, the work unit finishes downloading before globe, and then it reports a download error for the work unit, and the message that I have had my daily quota of 1 unit. The next day is the same, and the next. Any ideas how to break this pattern?

What version of the BOINC client software are you running? Now may be a good time to upgrade to the 5.2.x version, it is not quite ready for release but is close. If I recall correctly there was a change that reduces the chance of having this particular problem.

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BOINC WIKI

BOINCing since 2002/12/8

I am still using 4.25, and am loth to change to 5 till it\'s on general release.

Progress Report. Now that 24 hours has elapsed, I was allowed to download a new work unit. So what did it want to download? 31 megabytes of sulphur files as well. I cannot download all of that in the time allowed on my dial-up Wanadoo. So I had to disallow internet connection after a while. On resuming, the sulphur files continued to dowmload where they had left off, but the computer reported in red that the work unit had failed with a download error, and I must wait for another day to get a new one. Why this error when the work unit had not even started to download?

Looking at your list of models, you are using BOINC 4.45, not 4.25

Perhaps if you do go back to 4.25 you may have better luck. 4.25 works for me, but by the time sulphur was being handed out, I\'d upgraded from dialup to adsl.

I also had no problems downloading hadsm versions 4.12 and 4.13, both of which used the large globe.tga file.

BOINC 4.25 available <a href=\"http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/\">here.</a>

I cannot download all of that in the time allowed on my dial-up Wanadoo. So I had to disallow internet connection after a while. On resuming, the sulphur files continued to dowmload where they had left off, but the computer reported in red that the work unit had failed with a download error, and I must wait for another day to get a new one.

v4.45 contains a bug in the networking code. The wu file itself is quite small, but the associated files are large (exe\'s, tga\'s, zip\'s). If a download of any of the associated files is interrupted (disable n/w access, modem line drop, computer freeze etc.) the wu immediately errors out. In order to get a wu running successfully, all of the files have to download uninterrupted.

This problem frustrated me for a long time as well, especially since I had very unreliable modem connectivity.

You have basically two options.
a.) Revert to an earlier version or to v5.2.x, as already mentioned.
b.) Implement the v4.45b patch available here BOINC 4.45b. This version is mostly known for it\'s extended benchmark timeout fix, however it also contains the fix to the network problem described above.

Using either of these two options you will be able to extend the 31MB download over multiple sessions.

I recommend the following approach to the upgrade.
Start BOINC when disconnected. [1]
Disable BOINC network access. [1]
Reset the CPDN project. [2]
Exit BOINC. [3]
Upgrade / downgrade to a fixed version.
Start BOINC.
Establish your internet connection.
Enable BOINC network access. [4]


[1] You do not want to start downloading anything until the appropriate time.

[2] This clears any pending incomplete associated file downloads. If you do not reset the project, any leftover large files will still be downloaded and if you don\'t have a successful wu ready to crunch, these large files will be deleted and you will have to re-download them again in 24hours time. Save yourself some wasted bandwidth.

[3] Stop the service if BOINC is running as a service.

[4] If you have reached your quota of CPDN wu\'s, a message to that effect will be displayed and nothing will be downloaded. You can then reconnect after the necessary waiting interval.

If anything isn\'t clear, please post a follow-up.

Good Luck!

Les Bayliss - Thanks for pointing out my error on the BOINC version number - it was 5:20 am when I posted and I was getting very tired and frustrated.
Ralic - Ah, success at last. I followed your advice, and downloaded the 4.45b patch. Noted that the band down the left of the display containing the buttons is now much wider, except on the statistics tab. Resetting the project removed a lot of files, but not the old results folders - presumably it is OK to manually delete these?
Then I went online and allowed new work. No sulphur this time, just a slab model. The internet connection was good and fast, and I thought it was going to finish all in one go. But good ole Wanadoo died after 55 mins, then again after another 35 (with 6 KB to go!), and it finished on re-try with no download errors. The work unit is now on the work tab, waiting its turn. Whoopee!
Thank you for the advice, and thanks also to the person who devised this patch.

Glad it\'s working OK.
There are notes on the old files <a href=\"http://www.climateprediction.net/board/viewtopic.php?t=2951\"> here.</a>
Their fate is up to you.

Thanks ralic. I had this problem too. I\'ve just downloaded BOINC 5.2.2 and attached to CPDN. I\'ll see how that goes.

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