Failing to download WUs on Linux

[Peter Leslie Goulden]

My Linux Mint 20 system has been happily downloading and folding work units throughout lock-down and up to about two weeks ago. I know the official advice is to wait patiently but is anyone else having to wait two weeks?! I'm starting to thing there's something wrong with my set up and I'm hoping someone might be able to help me get to the bottom of it.

FAHControl shows status as 'Download' with 0.00% progress and everything other field as 0 or Unknown.

The client log shows the following sequence repeated several times and repeated every few minutes:

Code: Select all

06:59:47:WU00:FS00:Connecting to assign1.foldingathome.org:80
06:59:47:WARNING:WU00:FS00:Failed to get ID from 'assign1.foldingathome.org:80': 10001: Server responded: HTTP_NOT_FOUND
06:59:47:WU00:FS00:Connecting to assign2.foldingathome.org:80
06:59:47:WARNING:WU00:FS00:Failed to get ID from 'assign2.foldingathome.org:80': 10001: Server responded: HTTP_NOT_FOUND
06:59:47:WU00:FS00:Connecting to assign3.foldingathome.org:80
06:59:47:WARNING:WU00:FS00:Failed to get ID from 'assign3.foldingathome.org:80': 10001: Server responded: HTTP_NOT_FOUND
06:59:47:WU00:FS00:Connecting to assign4.foldingathome.org:80
06:59:47:WARNING:WU00:FS00:Failed to get ID from 'assign4.foldingathome.org:80': 10001: Server responded: HTTP_NOT_FOUND
06:59:47:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Exception: Could not get an assignment ID

I'm running the 7.6.13 client. I'm pretty certain the Gufw firewall is not causing a problem because I've tried switching it off and it makes no difference. Similarly, I don't think my router is blocking anything, either, and it's configuration hasn't changed significantly for years. If I paste one of the 'assign...' links into a web browser I see a Folding@home Assignment Server page with a colourful graphic in the middle. This would suggest to me that there are no problems with connection to the server.

I have tried setting up a new Ubuntu virtual machine on the same host with the 7.6.13 client and I get exactly the same result.

I have tried uninstalling all the FAH software, clearing all the config files and setting up with no GPU for now (for simplicity) but still no luck.

Does anybody have any helpful suggestions please?

[ajm]

Well, something seems to be blocking FAH's Internet access.
Any other software that could have such an effect? Malware or ransomware protection, antivirus? Something that prevents any http (non "secure" https) connection?

[Joe_H]

Could you post the first 100-200 lines of the log that show the system, hardware and client configuration information? There are some possible configuration changes in the client-server area that might cause this. These may have been triggered by updates to the server code or the GPUs.txt file that the client downloads automatically about once a month.

If this was a Windows system, some of its automatic updates will reset firewall settings to block HTTP/HTTPS communication by FAHClient as it needs an exception to be treated the same as "recognized" web browsers. Like ajm I also suspect something like that as a possibility. Is your system behind a corporate or institutional firewall. as that could also have changed configuration.

[Peter Leslie Goulden]

Thanks for the suggestion, ajm. I don't have any antivirus or malware protection software at all. In the absence of any such software, which might allow different access permissions depending on the software, I think the fact that a web browser can access the URL suggests that the FAH client ought to be able to as well. The Gufw firewall and the firewall in my modem/router simply discriminate traffic according to simple rules involving IP addresses, ports, traffic type, etc. I've tried switching off Gufw and it makes no difference.

[Peter Leslie Goulden]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Having replied to ajm, I thought I'd better go and double check my modem/router settings to be absolutely sure. I did find something that I had changed a few weeks ago. It shouldn't have had the effect of blocking any HTTP or HTTPS traffic but somehow it must have done because guess what happened when I switched it off! It worked. Consider me officially embarrassed. Thank you, ajm, for prompting me to double check and leading me to the solution. Thank you also to Joe_H, to whom I was about to respond with the requested log file. Apologies for wasting people's time.

[Joe_H]

Which option was this? Since you could access the web addresses through a browser, it sounds like it was functioning very much like the default Windows firewall setting that restricts HTTP/HTTPS connections to "known" browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera and the like.

[Neil-B]

Really good to see you got it sorted - most people wouldn't have checked !! ... if you have time might be useful to have a few more details about the option causing the issue "documented" here so any other folders with same/similar firewall/modem/router may get a hint if they have issues in future

[Peter Leslie Goulden]

Okay, I'll do my best to describe this as clearly as possible.

I have a Fritz!Box 3390, a modem/router that I'd swear by for reliability. It wasn't cheap but it really is worth the money. However, I have recently discovered that the Parental Control functionality is rather lacking, as I will explain.

I had reason to want to stop my teenage children from accessing houseparty.com. I added it to the empty blacklist in the Fritz!Box. I then went to the standard profile and ticked 'Filter web sites'. This exposed the 'Allow HTTPS queries' option, which I also ticked. Finally, I ticked the blacklist, rather than whitelist option before applying the changes.

I'm sure you can see my intention here but the Fritz!Box 3390 has a quirk. 'Allow HTTPS queries' allows all HTTPs queries, even if the sites are in the blacklist! As houseparty.com immediately redirects to an HTTPS page the only way to block it would be to disable 'Allow HTTPS queries'. Since this blocks all HTTPS queries, regardless of whether they are in the blacklist, it isn't really a viable solution if you want other things to work in this day and age. So I left 'Allow HTTP queries' ticked.

So with 'Filter web sites', 'Allow HTTPS queries' and blacklist all selected and a blacklist containing only 'houseparty.com' the FAH Client doesn't get through to the server. With 'Filter web sites' un-checked the FAH Client works. This doesn't make sense to me but I'm happy that I have a solution at least.

Annoyingly, nothing I do will stop houseparty!

[Neil-B]

Thanks for taking the time to give us that ... one never knows when stuff like this will give someone with similar issues enough of a clue to sort out their problem ... every little bit of input helps

[Peter Leslie Goulden]

My pleasure. Least I could do, considering.