New installation on Ubuntu won't start

[Russ_64]

Hello,

I have decide to return to FAH after a long break - I have been concentrating on WCG as that runs on Ubuntu/Linux in a VMware VM.

I installed the v7.5.1 client in a new Ubuntu 18.04 VM and tried to start it up but I just get the error message that it cannot read the Header for Core_a7.fah. I know this has been asked many times but I cannot find a solution that works - I have downloaded the Core_a7.fah (using Firefox) and tried to create the directory structure (/var/lib/fahclient/cores/cores.foldingathome.org/Linux/AMD64/AVX/Core_a7.fah) but nothing works. Here is my log file:

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*********************** Log Started 2019-03-24T16:39:25Z ***********************
16:39:25:************************* Folding@home Client *************************
16:39:25:    Website: https://foldingathome.org/
16:39:25:  Copyright: (c) 2009-2018 foldingathome.org
16:39:25:     Author: Joseph Coffland <joseph@cauldrondevelopment.com>
16:39:25:       Args: --child --lifeline 1742 /etc/fahclient/config.xml --run-as
16:39:25:             fahclient --pid-file=/var/run/fahclient.pid --daemon
16:39:25:     Config: /etc/fahclient/config.xml
16:39:25:******************************** Build ********************************
16:39:25:    Version: 7.5.1
16:39:25:       Date: May 11 2018
16:39:25:       Time: 19:59:04
16:39:25: Repository: Git
16:39:25:   Revision: 4705bf53c635f88b8fe85af7675557e15d491ff0
16:39:25:     Branch: master
16:39:25:   Compiler: GNU 6.3.0 20170516
16:39:25:    Options: -std=gnu++98 -O3 -funroll-loops
16:39:25:   Platform: linux2 4.14.0-3-amd64
16:39:25:       Bits: 64
16:39:25:       Mode: Release
16:39:25:******************************* System ********************************
16:39:25:        CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5645 @ 2.40GHz
16:39:25:     CPU ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 44 Stepping 2
16:39:25:       CPUs: 8
16:39:25:     Memory: 7.70GiB
16:39:25:Free Memory: 6.83GiB
16:39:25:    Threads: POSIX_THREADS
16:39:25: OS Version: 4.15
16:39:25:Has Battery: false
16:39:25: On Battery: false
16:39:25: UTC Offset: 0
16:39:25:        PID: 1744
16:39:25:        CWD: /var/lib/fahclient
16:39:25:         OS: Linux 4.15.0-46-generic x86_64
16:39:25:    OS Arch: AMD64
16:39:25:       GPUs: 0
16:39:25:       CUDA: Not detected: Failed to open dynamic library 'libcuda.so':
16:39:25:             libcuda.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or
16:39:25:             directory
16:39:25:     OpenCL: Not detected: Failed to open dynamic library 'libOpenCL.so':
16:39:25:             libOpenCL.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or
16:39:25:             directory
16:39:25:***********************************************************************
16:39:25:<config>
16:39:25:  <!-- Client Control -->
16:39:25:  <fold-anon v='true'/>
16:39:25:
16:39:25:  <!-- Folding Core -->
16:39:25:  <core-priority v='low'/>
16:39:25:
16:39:25:  <!-- Folding Slot Configuration -->
16:39:25:  <gpu v='false'/>
16:39:25:
16:39:25:  <!-- Network -->
16:39:25:  <proxy v=':8080'/>
16:39:25:
16:39:25:  <!-- Slot Control -->
16:39:25:  <pause-on-battery v='false'/>
16:39:25:  <power v='full'/>
16:39:25:
16:39:25:  <!-- User Information -->
16:39:25:  <passkey v='********************************'/>
16:39:25:  <team v='50711'/>
16:39:25:  <user v='Russ_64'/>
16:39:25:
16:39:25:  <!-- Folding Slots -->
16:39:25:  <slot id='0' type='CPU'>
16:39:25:    <paused v='true'/>
16:39:25:  </slot>
16:39:25:</config>
16:39:25:Switching to user fahclient
16:39:25:Trying to access database...
16:39:25:Successfully acquired database lock
16:39:25:Enabled folding slot 00: PAUSED cpu:8 (by user)
16:50:43:17:127.0.0.1:New Web connection
16:56:10:FS00:Unpaused
16:56:10:WU00:FS00:Downloading core from http://cores.foldingathome.org/Linux/AMD64/Core_a7.fah
16:56:10:WU00:FS00:Connecting to cores.foldingathome.org:80
16:56:10:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Exception: Failed reading core package header.

Any help would be appreciated - thanks.

[bollix47]

Try removing anything after AVX in the path you created ... The client will always create the needed path. Core_a7.fah is a self-extracting compressed file from which the client creates a folder by the same name & then extracts the executable into that folder ... not something you can just execute.

The linux path for the Core_a7 executable on an AVX-capable system looks like (for INFO only ... please let the client create it):

/var/lib/fahclient/cores/cores.foldingathome.org/Linux/AMD64/AVX/Core_a7.fah/FahCore_a7

[toTOW]

Does it work better after a restart of the client and/or the VM ?

Can you access the Internet from the VM ? Do you have some network components that could interfere with transfers (firewall, proxy, ...) ?

[Russ_64]

Thanks for the replies.

I have checked my firewall logs and the connections are all allowed and nothing seems to be blocked. I have created exceptions to prevent AV scanning for FAH.
Still get: ERROR:WU00:FS00:Exception: Failed reading core package header every time it tries to download the core_a7.fah file.

Stumped

[bollix47]

It could be that your cores tree is messed up ... try the following:

Pause the client using fahcontrol

Open a terminal (ctrl - alt - t)
Type:

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sudo nautilus

Navigate to:

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Other Locations > Computer > var > lib > fahclient

Right click on cores and select Move to Trash

Unpause (Fold) the client ... the tree will recreate itself and should download the needed core

An alternative to the above would be to completely remove fahclient and re-install:

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sudo apt --purge remove fahclient

[Russ_64]

Just to update this to hopefully help someone else if needed, I found the solution.

I have a Sophos XG firewall and even though all logs showed connections to FAH servers were allowed, there was something in the default policies that blocked download of the core files. I had to create a FW rule to allow all FAH servers access with no scanning or inspection. Works fine now.

Thanks again to all who replied.

[bruce]

Thanks. You're the only one who has reported that problem (and possibly the only one who uses Sophos XG so far).