All of my linux machines cannot run anything later than BOINC version 4.19. They all complain with a "Master file fetch failed" error. The linux machines are running Fedora Core 2, 3, or 4.

None of my Windows machines have this problem. They all work fine, no matter what version of BOINC is running.

It would seem to be a firewall/router issue, but that doesn't explain why the Windows machines have no problems, or why version 4.19 works fine on Linux, but that no later versions work.

Here is typical output demonstrating the problem:

./boinc_4.43_i686-pc-linux-gnu -attach_project http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ <ACCOUNTKEY>
2005-12-07 10:55:24 [---] Starting BOINC client version 4.43 for i686-pc-linux-gnu
2005-12-07 10:55:24 [---] Data directory: /BOINCtest
2005-12-07 10:55:24 [http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/] Computer ID: not assigned yet; location: ; project prefs: default
2005-12-07 10:55:24 [---] No general preferences found - using BOINC defaults
2005-12-07 10:55:24 [---] Remote control not allowed; using loopback address
2005-12-07 10:55:24 [---] Insufficient work; requesting more
2005-12-07 10:55:25 [http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/] Master file fetch failed
2005-12-07 10:55:25 [http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/] Master file fetch failed
BOINC couldn't get main page for http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.
Please check the URL and try again.
2005-12-07 10:55:25 [http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/] Resetting project
2005-12-07 10:55:25 [---] request_reschedule_cpus: exit_tasks
2005-12-07 10:55:25 [http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/] Detaching from project

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Berkeley had some problems with the servers and a overloaded internet connections. Connections was droped.
Not shure, if this could be the cause of your problems.

Can you please try this is a alternative procedure to attach to the project :

Change $ACCOUNT_KEY in the file /opt/boinc/account_setiathome.berkeley.edu.xml
in the key you get from email from the seti@home project.
Edit line 3, and do not set any blanks before or after the key.

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

You could also try to install a newer boinc version. For Linux 5.2.13 is recommended, and 4.43 is also available.

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instead of

./boinc_4.43_i686-pc-linux-gnu -attach_project http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ <ACCOUNTKEY>

try

./boinc_4.43_i686-pc-linux-gnu -attach_project setiathome.berkeley.edu <ACCOUNTKEY>

if that does not work, you may have a DNS issue

instead of

./boinc_4.43_i686-pc-linux-gnu -attach_project http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ <ACCOUNTKEY>

try

./boinc_4.43_i686-pc-linux-gnu -attach_project setiathome.berkeley.edu <ACCOUNTKEY>

if that does not work, you may have a DNS issue

That made no difference.
And it can't be a DNS issue since 4.19 works without any problem.

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Berkeley had some problems with the servers and a overloaded internet connections. Connections was droped.
Not shure, if this could be the cause of your problems.

Nope. Anything after version 4.19 can't connect to any projects: SETI, Protein, Einstein, Climate, LHC. And I've been trying now and again for months.

Can you please try this is a alternative procedure to attach to the project :

Change $ACCOUNT_KEY in the file /opt/boinc/account_setiathome.berkeley.edu.xml
in the key you get from email from the seti@home project.
Edit line 3, and do not set any blanks before or after the key.

No, I can't try that since the BOINC client doesn't even get as far as creating the account_setiathome.berkeley.edu.xml file.

You could also try to install a newer boinc version. For Linux 5.2.13 is recommended, and 4.43 is also available.

I've tried all the versions after 4.19 and they all give basically the same error. Here's the output from 5.2.13:

./boinc -attach_project setiathome.berkeley.edu <ACCOUNTKEY>
2005-12-08 13:50:23 [---] Starting BOINC client version 5.2.13 for i686-pc-linux-gnu
2005-12-08 13:50:23 [---] libcurl/7.14.0 OpenSSL/0.9.8 zlib/1.2.3
2005-12-08 13:50:23 [---] Data directory: /BOINCtest2
2005-12-08 13:50:23 [---] Processor: 1 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80GHz
2005-12-08 13:50:23 [---] Memory: 1010.79 MB physical, 2.00 GB virtual
2005-12-08 13:50:23 [---] Disk: 39.86 GB total, 1023.31 MB free
2005-12-08 13:50:23 [http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/] Computer ID: not assigned yet; location: ; project prefs: default
2005-12-08 13:50:23 [---] No general preferences found - using BOINC defaults
2005-12-08 13:50:23 [---] Remote control not allowed; using loopback address
2005-12-08 13:50:25 [http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/] Couldn't access URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.
The project's servers may be down,
in which case please try again later.
2005-12-08 13:50:25 [http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/] Couldn't access URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.
The project's servers may be down,
in which case please try again later.
2005-12-08 13:50:25 [http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/] Resetting project
2005-12-08 13:50:25 [---] request_reschedule_cpus: exit_tasks
2005-12-08 13:50:25 [http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/] Detaching from project

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if it works in 4.19, attach to the project in 4.19, then replace the 4.19 client executable with a later version. once you have the xml file, nothing else is required for a version upgrade.

afterthought... are you using the --attach_project flag every time you run boinc? you only need to use it once to set up your host and associate it with seti.

if it works in 4.19, attach to the project in 4.19, then replace the 4.19 client executable with a later version. once you have the xml file, nothing else is required for a version upgrade.

That is exactly what I had done originally, and all of the new clients - on about a dozen linux boxes - were no longer able to communicate with the servers, so I reverted back to 4.19.

afterthought... are you using the --attach_project flag every time you run boinc? you only need to use it once to set up your host and associate it with seti.

No, I'm not using the --attach_project every time.

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okay that sounds very unusual. i can't personally vouch for 5.2.13 on linux as i'm still running various compiles of 4.19 or 4.66 or similar on all those computers.

is this strictly the Berkeley version or have you also tried the 3rd party clients?

okay that sounds very unusual. i can't personally vouch for 5.2.13 on linux as i'm still running various compiles of 4.19 or 4.66 or similar on all those computers.

is this strictly the Berkeley version or have you also tried the 3rd party clients?

They're all Berkeley versions that I've tried. The only third party client that I've used on any of my machines is a version 4.58 running on SGI IRIX platforms, and that client does not have this problem.

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I know Crunch3r has a 5.x version but most others seem to be 4.x

I will try that on my linux platforms later and see if I encounter any similar results. I really do not know whether or not there were any changes to networking functions in 5.4.13/5.4.14

in the meantime, here is the wiki on the specific error
http://boinc-doc.net/boinc-wiki/index.php?title=Master_file_fetch_failed

I know Crunch3r has a 5.x version but most others seem to be 4.x

I will try that on my linux platforms later and see if I encounter any similar results. I really do not know whether or not there were any changes to networking functions in 5.4.13/5.4.14

in the meantime, here is the wiki on the specific error
http://boinc-doc.net/boinc-wiki/index.php?title=Master_file_fetch_failed

I tried the 5.2.14 client from Crunch3r and it spit out the same errors as the berkeley version 5.2.13 client.

Thanks for the link to wiki entry, but I've already seen it as well as probably every page on the internet regarding this error, and none of them have been any help.

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