Hi there,
This has me pulling my hair out. I have tried for weeks to upgrade from 4.43 to 5.xxx with no luck. I have checked all the usual suspects, I am logging on as root, I think all the directories have full write access, I am using the same email and password that work on my windows machines, but I still can't download work. Here is the log from the most recent attempt to connect:

11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM||Starting BOINC client version 5.2.8 for i686-pc-linux-gnu
11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM||libcurl/7.14.0 OpenSSL/0.9.8 zlib/1.2.3
11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM||Data directory: /usr/BOINC
11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM||Processor: 1 AuthenticAMD AMD-K6(tm) 3D+ Processor
11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM||Memory: 250.11 MB physical, 499.68 MB virtual
11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM||Disk: 3.47 GB total, 1.28 GB free
11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Computer ID: not assigned yet; location: ; project prefs: default
11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM||No general preferences found - using BOINC defaults
11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM||Remote control allowed
11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Sending scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi
11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Reason: Requested by user
11/28/2005 7:15:00 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Requesting 8640 seconds of new work
11/28/2005 7:20:06 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of 500
11/28/2005 7:20:06 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|No schedulers responded
11/28/2005 7:20:06 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Couldn't connect to URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.Please check URL.
11/28/2005 7:20:06 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Resetting project
11/28/2005 7:20:06 PM||request_reschedule_cpus: exit_tasks
11/28/2005 7:20:06 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Detaching from project
11/28/2005 9:23:53 PM||Fetching config info from http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/get_project_config.php
11/28/2005 9:23:55 PM||Missing account key
11/28/2005 9:24:11 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Master file download succeeded
11/28/2005 9:24:11 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Sending scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi
11/28/2005 9:24:11 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Reason: Requested by user
11/28/2005 9:24:11 PM|http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/|Requesting 8640 seconds of new work

As you can see, I have internet access since it downloads the master file. I have tried manually installing the account_setiathome.berkeley.edu.xml file from another machine, but I still get the request failed errors. There is no firewall on this machine, and all my other machines work from the same router/switch.

Any ideas?

A possible solution may be to visit seti@home website and set up a user name and password there. I've seen some situations where something goes wrong and the password doesn't get saved properly causing problems attaching, or staying attached, to the project. Once you set up your name/password try attaching using that name/password.
Hope that helps.

A possible solution may be to visit seti@home website and set up a user name and password there. I've seen some situations where something goes wrong and the password doesn't get saved properly causing problems attaching, or staying attached, to the project. Once you set up your name/password try attaching using that name/password.
Hope that helps.

Been there, done that. I've changed email addresses and passwords twice, but it never made a difference. I've even tried setting up a new account, but no luck.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

More data....
I am able to connect to other projects, such as rosetta@home on my linux machine using 5.2.8. I am also able to connect to seti@home from other machines using this account. Somehow the combination of 5.xxx, my linux machine, and setiathome don't seem to go together.

More data....
I am able to connect to other projects, such as rosetta@home on my linux machine using 5.2.8. I am also able to connect to seti@home from other machines using this account. Somehow the combination of 5.xxx, my linux machine, and setiathome don't seem to go together.

This may be something basic you've already looked at, but it's the only thing that's popping into my mind at the moment. Does the directory, and related subdirectories, where you have boinc installed, and files residing in them have proper permissions for the user or service that's running boinc to read and write to them?

More data....
I am able to connect to other projects, such as rosetta@home on my linux machine using 5.2.8. I am also able to connect to seti@home from other machines using this account. Somehow the combination of 5.xxx, my linux machine, and setiathome don't seem to go together.

This may be something basic you've already looked at, but it's the only thing that's popping into my mind at the moment. Does the directory, and related subdirectories, where you have boinc installed, and files residing in them have proper permissions for the user or service that's running boinc to read and write to them?

I've set full permissions for all files and subdirectories. Plus, boinc works with rosetta@home, so it doesn't seem to be a permission thing. Good thought, though.

I had simliar problems with some machines.

Can you try to add your account key in the fieled <authenticator>
off the file account_setiathome.berkeley.edu.xml and start the boinc_client without the -attach_project options.

If you don't have this file, you can use this :

<account>
    <master_url>http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/</master_url>
    <authenticator>$ACCOUNT_KEY</authenticator>
    <project_name>SETI@home</project_name>
<project_preferences>
</project_preferences>
</account>

---

I had simliar problems with some machines.

Can you try to add your account key in the fieled <authenticator>
off the file account_setiathome.berkeley.edu.xml and start the boinc_client without the -attach_project options.

If you don't have this file, you can use this :

<account>
    <master_url>http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/</master_url>
    <authenticator>$ACCOUNT_KEY</authenticator>
    <project_name>SETI@home</project_name>
<project_preferences>
</project_preferences>
</account>

Another good thought, but no luck. I copied the lines directly from my windows machine and restarted boinc. Here are the seti errors:

11/29/2005 1:32:00 PM|SETI@home|Fetching master file
11/29/2005 1:32:05 PM|SETI@home|Master file download succeeded
11/29/2005 1:32:10 PM|SETI@home|Sending scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi
11/29/2005 1:32:10 PM|SETI@home|Reason: Requested by user
11/29/2005 1:32:10 PM|SETI@home|Requesting 345600 seconds of new work
11/29/2005 1:37:13 PM|SETI@home|Scheduler request to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi failed with a return value of 500
11/29/2005 1:37:13 PM|SETI@home|No schedulers responded

Again, my windows machine connects fine on the same network, and my linux machine is connecting fine to rosetta@home, but still can't connect to seti.
ARRRGGGG!!!!

This has me pulling my hair out.

I think we're all going bald together here, you have me pulling the last few folicles out myself now.

Now reaching my "grasping at straws" mode. Just for the sake of arguement, what happens if you try to contact the scheduler using just your regular browser?
I see you're getting the infamous 500 error here and there. If you enter the scheduler's URL, http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi into your browser, you should see something like this:

<scheduler_reply>
<scheduler_version>503</scheduler_version>
<request_delay>606.000000</request_delay>
<message priority="low">Incomplete request received. </message>
</scheduler_reply>
<HTML><HEAD><META HTTP-EQUIV=Refresh CONTENT="0;URL=../"></HEAD><BODY>

You seem to be viewing this page in a WWW browser.  Visit the <a href="../">main page</a>.

</BODY></HTML>

If nothing else just to see if your Linux box is seeing the same thing mine is from the same perspective.

Good news. I have installed the latest update to BOINC, 5.2.13. Without any further effort it downloaded Seti workunits and is now cruising away. So, somewhere between 5.2.8 and 5.2.13 a bug has been fixed that was causing problems with SETI downloads.

Thanks for all the help and advice.