Rosetta@Home has been running with no difficulties on my old iMac (Darwin 10.7.0), but for the past couple of days all work units have been failing with "error while computing." Detail from a failed task shows:

Stderr output

<core_client_version>7.12.0</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<message>
process got signal 11</message>
<stderr_txt>

</stderr_txt>
]]>

Suggestions for solving this would be appreciated.

Can you not run the latest version of Boinc?

I know nothing about Darwin, but do you have the latest updates for the OS?
(I don't think the BOINC version usually matters for this type of problem).

---

No, can't install the latest BOINC app. After downloading the latest version, the BOINC installer.app has a line through it indicating it's not compatible. The latest BOINC Manager that works on this computer is 7.12.0.

Nor can I run the latest Mac OS; the version that's installed is no longer upgradable.

I don't know if this is related or not, but work units wouldn't finish after I changed the URL to add the https. All was working fine prior to this.

No, can't install the latest BOINC app. After downloading the latest version, the BOINC installer.app has a line through it indicating it's not compatible. The latest BOINC Manager that works on this computer is 7.12.0.

Nor can I run the latest Mac OS; the version that's installed is no longer upgradable.

I don't know if this is related or not, but work units wouldn't finish after I changed the URL to add the https. All was working fine prior to this.

You're on Lion still, assuming that means the machine you are running is from before 2010. Guessing that you're on an Core2Duo based iMac? Is it at least Mountain Lion compatible or are you on one of the original 32bit Intel iMacs?

/edit I see the chip you have is 64bit.

The OS is Snow Leopard running on a 2007 iMac. You're right about the processor: it has a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. I have 4 GB RAM installed.

To reiterate, this old machine was crunching Rosetta with no problems until a few days ago.

Funny that the last version of OSX to support Rosetta is also no longer supporting Rosetta.

Anyway, let's start at the basics. Have you tried turning it off and on again? If that doesn't work perhaps the old school uninstall of BOINC and then a fresh re-install might work. I haven't use SL in ages but I did stick with it for several OSX generations because of the Rosetta support, it was a great OS at the time. I think I skipped Lion, ML, and finally upgraded once Yosemite hit.

Thank you for your suggestions. I quit and then restarted the BOINC Manager, but that made no change in the ability to process work units without error. I then uninstalled/reinstalled BOINC, but the problem persists: all tasks result in a computation error.

What does the error message ("process got signal 11") mean? Surely, this must be a helpful clue to aid project administrators in trouble-shooting.

Try resetting the project. Check out this thread from 2007.

https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/forum_thread.php?id=3702

Thanks for that link. The problem certainly seems the same, but resetting the project didn't correct it for me.

Seriously, when was the last time you rebooted?

Check this: https://boinc.mundayweb.com/wiki/index.php?title=Process_got_signal_11

Might have some funky memory, but a restart also might solve it.

A reboot was the first thing I tried when work units started failing. Last reboot was about four hours ago.

What does the error message ("process got signal 11") mean? Surely, this must be a helpful clue to aid project administrators in trouble-shooting.

Not much, it just means a programme tried to access memory that it shouldn't have tried to access.

---

Grant
Darwin NT

A reboot was the first thing I tried when work units started failing. Last reboot was about four hours ago.

OK. I've found that 80% of my "magic IT repair skills" typically consist of turning stuff off and on again. 8-)

In this case (and based on the link I posted) it seemed like some RAM issue, and often a reboot puts bandaids on the situation if not a complete fix. Especially since you are on a older machine with a smaller amount of memory. Is the issue still happening?

Prior to this problem, I never looked at the specific Rosetta app that was being used by the iMac, but now I see that Rosetta version 4.20 was created for the Mac OS on 1 May 2020 and that it's for Mac OS 10.11 or later. So, this latest version was created about the time I started to notice problems and, since my iMac is running OS 10.6, maybe that explains the recent failure of work units.

It's probably time for me to see if the iMac can crunch for World Community Grid instead of Rosetta@Home.

I'm very grateful to all who responded to my post. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Prior to this problem, I never looked at the specific Rosetta app that was being used by the iMac, but now I see that Rosetta version 4.20 was created for the Mac OS on 1 May 2020 and that it's for Mac OS 10.11 or later. So, this latest version was created about the time I started to notice problems and, since my iMac is running OS 10.6, maybe that explains the recent failure of work units.

It's probably time for me to see if the iMac can crunch for World Community Grid instead of Rosetta@Home.

I'm very grateful to all who responded to my post. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Since 4.20 seems to be the root of your issue, might I suggest joining Ralph? It's the Rosetta Alpha project, used to test new versions of the Rosetta app prior to wide release. It's not a constant work project, as it's only active when testing new versions (For example right now there's nothing going on over there) but adding it might help get support for your machine. Granted, people in your situation are a small (and only growing smaller) % of users but it can't hurt.

Click on "Add job" and add https://ralph.bakerlab.org

If you don't get any work for awhile don't sweat it, as mentioned they only release WU's when testing new app versions. Could be weeks before they start testing again. Also don't be shocked if the WU's you do get fail as, well, that's software testing. I just leave it running along with Rosetta, occasionally it will grab some test WU's when they are available.

Thank you for your suggestions. I quit and then restarted the BOINC Manager, but that made no change in the ability to process work units without error. I then uninstalled/reinstalled BOINC, but the problem persists: all tasks result in a computation error.

What does the error message ("process got signal 11") mean? Surely, this must be a helpful clue to aid project administrators in trouble-shooting.

Under Linux, signal 11 means that the program tried to execute something that was not marked as executable code. The project administrators should use the dump to determine where the program got the address of what it was trying to execute, and then trace backwards from there.