LHC@home

I installed BOINC and VirtualBox on Debian, and LHC@Home downloaded Virtualbox disk image file for CMS tasks. However, the tasks always end up with Computation error after the task is started for 12 seconds.

https://imgur.com/a/JXJZhTj

BOINC log doesn't provide anything interesting at all:

Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Starting BOINC client version 7.20.5 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] This a development version of BOINC and may not function properly
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Libraries: libcurl/7.88.1 OpenSSL/3.0.15 zlib/1.2.13 brotli/1.0.9 zstd/1.5.4 libidn2/2.3.3 libpsl/0.21.2 (+libidn2/2.3.3) libssh2/1.10.0 nghttp2/1.52.0 librtmp/2.3 OpenLDAP/2.5.13
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Data directory: /var/lib/boinc-client
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] No usable GPUs found
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] libc:  version 2.36
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Host name: debian
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Processor: 8 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4700HQ CPU @ 2.40GHz [Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3]
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm cpuid_fault epb invpcid_single pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid ept_ad fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid xsaveopt dtherm ida arat pln pts md_clear flush_l1d
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] OS: Linux Debian: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) [6.1.0-28-amd64|libc 2.36]
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Memory: 7.64 GB physical, 15.27 GB virtual
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Disk: 1.33 TB total, 984.01 GB free
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Local time is UTC +0 hours
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] VirtualBox version: 7.0.12_Debianr159484
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Config: GUI RPCs allowed from:
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] General prefs: from https://milkyway.cs.rpi.edu/milkyway/ (last modified 17-Dec-2024 14:23:29)
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Host location: none
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] General prefs: using your defaults
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Reading preferences override file
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Preferences:
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---]    max memory usage when active: 3910.05 MB
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---]    max memory usage when idle: 7038.09 MB
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---]    max disk usage: 986.77 GB
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---]    suspend work if non-BOINC CPU load exceeds 75%
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---]    (to change preferences, visit a project web site or select Preferences in the Manager)
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Setting up project and slot directories
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Checking active tasks
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [LHC@home] URL https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/; Computer ID 10866363; resource share 100
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Setting up GUI RPC socket
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Warning: GUI RPC password is empty.  BOINC can be controlled by any user on this computer.  See https://boinc.berkeley.edu/gui_rpc_passwd.php for more information.
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Checking presence of 3 project files
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 [---] Using proxy info from GUI
Dec 28 01:15:05 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:15:05 Initialization completed
Dec 28 01:15:50 debian boinc[13772]: dir_open: Could not open directory 'locale' from '/var/lib/boinc-client'.
Dec 28 01:16:50 debian boinc[13772]: dir_open: Could not open directory 'locale' from '/var/lib/boinc-client'.
Dec 28 01:17:51 debian boinc[13772]: dir_open: Could not open directory 'locale' from '/var/lib/boinc-client'.
Dec 28 01:18:12 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:18:12 [LHC@home] Starting task CMS_131307_1735347140.663249_0
Dec 28 01:18:25 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:18:25 [LHC@home] Computation for task CMS_131307_1735347140.663249_0 finished
Dec 28 01:18:25 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:18:25 [LHC@home] Starting task CMS_131230_1735347138.506089_0
Dec 28 01:18:38 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:18:38 [LHC@home] Computation for task CMS_131230_1735347138.506089_0 finished
Dec 28 01:18:38 debian boinc[13772]: 28-Dec-2024 01:18:38 [LHC@home] Starting task CMS_131302_1735347140.515609_0
Dec 28 01:18:51 debian boinc[13772]: dir_open: Could not open directory 'locale' from '/var/lib/boinc-client'.

I installed BOINC and VirtualBox with the method recommended by Debian:

https://wiki.debian.org/VirtualBox

And added user boinc to group vboxusers, to make sure BOINC was able to interact with VirtualBox.

I have used this computer to run virtual machines myself (with KVM), and I checked lscpu it does support virtualization and is enabled.

Architecture:             x86_64
  CPU op-mode(s):         32-bit, 64-bit
  Address sizes:          39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
  Byte Order:             Little Endian
CPU(s):                   8
  On-line CPU(s) list:    0-7
Vendor ID:                GenuineIntel
  Model name:             Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4700HQ CPU @ 2.40GHz
......
    CPU max MHz:          3400.0000
    CPU min MHz:          800.0000
    BogoMIPS:             4789.41
    Flags:                fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdt
                          scp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2
                           ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm cpuid_fault epb
                           invpcid_single pti ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid ept_ad fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid xsa
                          veopt dtherm ida arat pln pts md_clear flush_l1d
Virtualization features:  
  Virtualization:         VT-x
......

I'm using
BOINC:
7.20.5
VirtualBox:
7.0.12_Debian r159484
Debian:
12.8
Linux:
6.1.119

It's computing now with the suggested changes proposed in https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/forum_thread.php?id=6018&postid=48426 .

Though I would rather use

systemctl edit boinc-client

to create an systemd unit override file, to make sure changes are kept even after an update of BOINC is installed.

Write the following lines in the override file:

[Service]
ProtectSystem=full

Will go back to this thread if it didn't work in the end.[/code]