Core update always failing, no way to participate

[dengeral]

Hi,

We try to participate using MacOS X Yosemite computers, but we constantly get the following error:

23:06:06:WU00:FS00:Downloading core from h t t p : / / w e b . s t a n f o r d . e d u / ~ p a n d e / O S X / A M D 6 4 / C o r e _ a 4 . f a h
23:06:06:WU00:FS00:Connecting to web.stanford.edu:80
23:06:08:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Exception: Failed to read stream

There no connection issue on the computer, since I have been able to download the assignment and also the above file from a browser.
I cannot understand what's wrong with your software, but I reproduce on two computers over 3. I have try latest 7.3 and 7.4.4, no success.
Can you provides some advice to either make it work, or make use of the file I have been able to download, to skip that step ?

Thanks.

dengeral

[dengeral]

Well, replying to myself, I have found a workaround.
I have copied the /Library/Application Support/FAHClient/cores folder from a working computer to one that is trying to download, and immediately the process starts the next step.
Of course, if you do not have a working computer nearby, you are screwed.
Hope someone will have more insight on this issue.

[ChristianVirtual]

Could you please try once from a terminal to wget on the same url ? You can trash the file afterwards. Just hope to get a better error message. My mac is already sleeping and I don't want to wake him up.

[Joe_H]

Generally, "failed to read stream" messages point to issues with firewall or anti-malware settings blocking data transfer using other than recognized web browsers. The FAHClient process needs the same access as a browser using the HTTP protocol over ports 80 and/or 8080. Is the firewall activated on these Yosemite systems. or is there other anti-malware software installed?

My systems are still at 10.9.5, so can not test at this time to see if a change in default security provided by the OS version 10.10 could be the culprit. However yours is the first report I have seen from someone running Yosemite with this sort of problem.

[bruce]

I don't have a Mac, so I can't try the exact same download from the same client, but it worked for me:

Code: Select all

17:07:33:FS00:Unpaused
17:07:33:WU02:FS00:Downloading core from http://web.stanford.edu/~pande/Win32/AMD64/Core_a4.fah
17:07:33:WU02:FS00:Connecting to web.stanford.edu:80
17:07:33:WU02:FS00:FahCore a4: Downloading 2.89MiB
17:07:39:WU02:FS00:FahCore a4: 47.61%
17:07:44:WU02:FS00:FahCore a4: Download complete
17:07:44:WU02:FS00:Valid core signature
17:07:44:WU02:FS00:Unpacked 9.59MiB to cores/web.stanford.edu/~pande/Win32/AMD64/Core_a4.fah/FahCore_a4.exe
17:07:44:WU02:FS00:Starting

so if there was a problem with the server, it has been fixed. What was the result of the wget?

[dengeral]

As I said earlier, I have a working machine on the same network, and I have been able to download from a browser on the failing machines.
So, no, there is no firewalling in place that prevent access like a browser. Moreover, appart of that download, using the workaround mentionned above, these machine are now participating fully. Which means they download jobs, and upload results without issue. Only the download of the core is an issue. This looks to me like a issue in the apps.