I recently upgraded the machines in the physics lab at a local college to use 5.8.11, and while I think they are now crunching correctly I cannot get the screensaver to display.

These machines were previously crunching for the BBC climate model. When I upgraded them I added them to Einstein & Pirates. They run Windows XP with a Shared installation.

One complication is that there is software on each system to lock the C: drive image against long term changes. Any changes made are only temporary; the machine reverts back to the previously locked configuration whenever it reboots.

This makes me suspect that these machines were actually not doing much useful computing for the BCC project. It reminds me of the movie "Groundhog Day".

Each machine also has a D: drive (D is for data) which is not locked. Students can store the results of their labs or other things there, though there is no guarantee it will stay there. I therefore installed BOINC on this drive, at D:/Program Files/BOINC. I made it the default screensaver and set it to launch at boot.

(There is a password someone can give to the lock software to unlock it for changes. Then we can make changes, and then we give the command again to lock it. I copied the account.xml file for the BBC project over even though there is no new work there.)

When it comes time for the screensaver to start I see the briefest flash of the starsphere, but then it quits. But you can use "show graphics" from BOINC Manager just fine.

I know that the installation would also put an executable in C:WINNT to run the screensaver graphics, even though the main installation is on the D: disk. And changes to the C: drive should be allowed, just not maintained after the reboot. So I wonder if the disk locking software is really an issue or a diversion?

Anybody in this crew have ideas or experience with this kind of problem? I'd really like to see the whole lab showing the screensaver when the machines are not in use.

____________
-- Eric Myers

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." -- William Butler Yeats

Will it run with any other screen saver, like a Windows standard one (non-3D)?

Can you run one of the machines with a cc_config.xml file with the scrsave_debug flag on and post the log of that here?
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Jord.

The BOINC FAQ Service.

I am curious why you wouldn't be running it as a service installation in a lab setting (or am I misunderstanding what you mean by shared)? It is easy enough to edit the service properties so that the log on is a local system account and the screensaver is allowed to interact with the desktop. Are adminstator level changes such as editing services also locked out on these machines?

Also, do you know the name of the locking software?

Are adminstator level changes such as editing services also locked out on these machines?

Also, do you know the name of the locking software?

I seem to recall problems in older client versions with non-service installs in labs (something with 'runaway connecting' machines when different users logged in if I recall correctly???), but I am not sure if that has been fixed in the 5.8.xx series?

I can certainly understand that he would be nervous if someone was playing with the services. I will say that I have never had problems with service installs across several machines and clients. The only issue that I am aware of is a problem with the program BigFix (and I would assume other such monitoring software such as Altiris, etc.) where, if BOINC is installed as a service before the BigFix service is installed, BigFix will not run properly. I think that the opposite order of installs creates no problem, though.

Given your non-admin user status, it sounds like the password to the locking software is likely the best option.

I seem to recall problems in older client versions with non-service installs in labs (something with 'runaway connecting' machines when different users logged in if I recall correctly???), but I am not sure if that has been fixed in the 5.8.xx series?

Will it run with any other screen saver, like a Windows standard one (non-3D)?

Can you run one of the machines with a cc_config.xml file with the scrsave_debug flag on and post the log of that here?

One strange thing I saw was two choices for BOINC in the list of screensavers. But this was only on some of the machines, and I only found one screensaver executable boinc.scr, in C:\Windows, as expected.

Also, do you know the name of the locking software?

This is the slowest help thread ever. ;-)

Do we have to wait for the output another week?
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Jord.

The BOINC FAQ Service.

This is the slowest help thread ever. ;-)

Do we have to wait for the output another week?

Stainless Cutlass wrote:

This is the slowest help thread ever. ;-)

Do we have to wait for the output another week?

Maybe, maybe longer. How long will it take me to get file attachments working again?

I was able to collect some more information about the problem this week. First of all, the DriveShield software doesn't seem to be the culprit. I was able to get one of the boxes unlocked, and it still didn't work. When the screensaver did kick in, it showed the graphics for maybe 1/3 of a second or less and then immediately kicked out again.

It also turns out that the screensaver does in fact work on two machines in the lab. I was also able to get DriveShield unlocked on one of those. The screensaver worked fine with or without being locked. So I conclude that DriveShield is not the problem.

I looked at the Registry on one of the "broken" machines and it looked fine.

I installed a cc_config.xml file with the scrsave_debug flag set to 1, and that created some extra output which demonstrates what's going on. I could highlight the messages, but I could not copy & paste them to notepad. Perhaps that is something to report to the alpha list. Instead I found stdoutdae.txt and cut out this little bit:

I could highlight the messages, but I could not copy & paste them to notepad.

Eric, the log is truncated in the code representation upstairs. If you still have them, could you give me the complete part of the stdoutdae.txt?
____________
Jord.

The BOINC FAQ Service.

Ctrl-v and right click are disabled but the command buttons on the left side of that window should work.

I have some more information about the problem. I collected this last week but didn't have time to share it until now. As I mentioned, two of the machines work, while the others don't. The are all marked IBM Think Centre [sic] and have Pentium 4 processors. The big difference seems to be the graphics cards.

The machines which do not work all have

The machines which do not work all have

Intel 82865G Graphics controller
96 MB
1024x768 32bit mode

One machine which works has

Intel 82915G/GV/910GL Express chipset
128 MB
1024x768 @ 32bits

while the other has

Intel 82945G Express chipset
128 MB
1280x1024

It would appear that when you install the Windows drivers, there's no OpenGL support. These drivers add OpenGL1.3 support.

Bad news. The guy who runs the lab has not shown up today, so there's no way to unlock the boxes to install the drivers to test that idea.

(I tried installing the driver on one machine anyway. At the end of the installation it asks if I want to reboot. With the DriveShield software locked it will forget the new drivers after the reboot, so there's no point.)

So this long help thread will, unfortunately, go on a little longer.

____________
-- Eric Myers

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." -- William Butler Yeats

Oh well. We got time in abundance. :-)
____________
Jord.

The BOINC FAQ Service.

I'm happy to report that I was finally able to update the drivers on one of the machines, as Ageless suggested, and this fixed the problem. Thanks to everybody who helped out.

____________
-- Eric Myers

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." -- William Butler Yeats

Yay!
____________
Jord.

The BOINC FAQ Service.