Hey!

I'm slowly trying to get my 'obscure' workstations running BOINC fully so here's the first!

I have a mid 2010 iMac with an AMD Radeon HD 6570M/5700 Series chipset (512meg). I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (x64). I checked up and it seems to be supported, yet I'm getting the usual 'No Useable GPU' error in the event log.

I did have some issues with this card but have since reinstalled the drivers from the ATI site and now all is reported fine in jockey.

I don't know if I've missed any setup guides for Ubuntu so apologies if I've missed an obvious step ;-)

Heres the event logs:

Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Starting BOINC client version 7.0.27 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Libraries: libcurl/7.22.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.3.4 libidn/1.23 librtmp/2.3
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Data directory: /var/lib/boinc-client
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Processor: 4 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 680 @ 3.60GHz [Family 6 Model 37 Stepping 5]
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Processor: 4.00 MB cache
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | 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 rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes lahf_lm ida arat dtherm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | OS: Linux: 3.5.0-28-generic
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Memory: 15.67 GB physical, 15.99 GB virtual
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Disk: 1.78 TB total, 1.57 TB free
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Local time is UTC +1 hours
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | VirtualBox version: 4.2.12r84980
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | No usable GPUs found
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Config: GUI RPC allowed from:
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | A new version of BOINC is available. <a href=http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php>Download it.</a>
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | SETI@home | URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID 6979793; resource share 100
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | No general preferences found - using defaults
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Reading preferences override file
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Preferences:
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | max memory usage when active: 8020.48MB
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | max memory usage when idle: 14436.87MB
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | max disk usage: 10.00GB
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | don't use GPU while active
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | suspend work if non-BOINC CPU load exceeds 25 %
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | (to change preferences, visit the web site of an attached project, or select Preferences in the Manager)
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:23 BST | | Not using a proxy
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:24 BST | SETI@home | Restarting task 03mr13ab.22623.17245.9.11.170_0 using setiathome_enhanced version 603 in slot 3
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:24 BST | SETI@home | Restarting task 03mr13ac.13862.284253.9.11.54_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 603 in slot 0
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:24 BST | SETI@home | Restarting task 03mr13aa.31096.885.15.11.174_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 2
Sun 05 May 2013 15:29:24 BST | SETI@home | Restarting task 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.27_0 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 1
Sun 05 May 2013 15:44:17 BST | SETI@home | Computation for task 03mr13ab.22623.17245.9.11.170_0 finished
Sun 05 May 2013 15:44:17 BST | SETI@home | Starting task 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.22_0 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 3
Sun 05 May 2013 15:44:19 BST | SETI@home | Started upload of 03mr13ab.22623.17245.9.11.170_0_0
Sun 05 May 2013 15:44:24 BST | SETI@home | Finished upload of 03mr13ab.22623.17245.9.11.170_0_0
Sun 05 May 2013 15:57:58 BST | SETI@home | Computation for task 03mr13aa.31096.885.15.11.174_1 finished
Sun 05 May 2013 15:57:58 BST | SETI@home | Starting task 03mr13ab.8732.4566.15.11.195_0 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 2
Sun 05 May 2013 15:58:00 BST | SETI@home | Started upload of 03mr13aa.31096.885.15.11.174_1_0
Sun 05 May 2013 15:58:02 BST | SETI@home | Finished upload of 03mr13aa.31096.885.15.11.174_1_0
Sun 05 May 2013 16:00:13 BST | SETI@home | Computation for task 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.27_0 finished
Sun 05 May 2013 16:00:13 BST | SETI@home | Starting task 03mr13ac.27014.12746.15.11.239_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 1
Sun 05 May 2013 16:00:15 BST | SETI@home | Started upload of 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.27_0_0
Sun 05 May 2013 16:00:18 BST | SETI@home | Finished upload of 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.27_0_0
Sun 05 May 2013 16:42:04 BST | SETI@home | Computation for task 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.22_0 finished
Sun 05 May 2013 16:42:04 BST | SETI@home | Starting task 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.4_0 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 3
Sun 05 May 2013 16:42:07 BST | SETI@home | Started upload of 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.22_0_0
Sun 05 May 2013 16:42:11 BST | SETI@home | Finished upload of 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.22_0_0
Sun 05 May 2013 16:57:16 BST | SETI@home | Computation for task 03mr13ab.8732.4566.15.11.195_0 finished
Sun 05 May 2013 16:57:16 BST | SETI@home | Starting task 03mr13ab.8732.4566.15.11.198_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 2
Sun 05 May 2013 16:57:18 BST | SETI@home | Started upload of 03mr13ab.8732.4566.15.11.195_0_0
Sun 05 May 2013 16:57:22 BST | SETI@home | Finished upload of 03mr13ab.8732.4566.15.11.195_0_0
Sun 05 May 2013 17:33:26 BST | | Running CPU benchmarks
Sun 05 May 2013 17:33:26 BST | | Suspending computation - CPU benchmarks in progress
Sun 05 May 2013 17:33:57 BST | | Benchmark results:
Sun 05 May 2013 17:33:57 BST | | Number of CPUs: 4
Sun 05 May 2013 17:33:57 BST | | 3346 floating point MIPS (Whetstone) per CPU
Sun 05 May 2013 17:33:57 BST | | 11000 integer MIPS (Dhrystone) per CPU
Sun 05 May 2013 17:33:58 BST | | Resuming computation
Sun 05 May 2013 17:39:42 BST | SETI@home | Computation for task 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.4_0 finished
Sun 05 May 2013 17:39:42 BST | SETI@home | Starting task 03mr13ab.8732.4566.15.11.210_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 3
Sun 05 May 2013 17:39:44 BST | SETI@home | Started upload of 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.4_0_0
Sun 05 May 2013 17:39:48 BST | SETI@home | Finished upload of 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.4_0_0

If anyone has any hints/tips I'd be very grateful!

Many Thanks

Been playing and noticed something. If I reinstall the client 'sudo apt-get remove boinc-client' then reinstall 'sudo apt-get install boinc-client'. Then use the manager and check the event log, the GPU is picked up! But if i then reboot, it looses the GPU again. Could this be a permission issue?

Heres the event log, after I've reinstalled.

Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Starting BOINC client version 7.0.27 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Libraries: libcurl/7.22.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.3.4 libidn/1.23 librtmp/2.3
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Data directory: /var/lib/boinc-client
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Processor: 4 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 680 @ 3.60GHz [Family 6 Model 37 Stepping 5]
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Processor: 4.00 MB cache
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | 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 rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes lahf_lm ida arat dtherm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | OS: Linux: 3.5.0-28-generic
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Memory: 15.67 GB physical, 15.99 GB virtual
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Disk: 1.78 TB total, 1.57 TB free
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Local time is UTC +1 hours
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | VirtualBox version: 4.2.12r84980
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | ATI GPU 0: Redwood (CAL version 1.4.1741, 512MB, 310MB available, 1040 GFLOPS peak)
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | OpenCL: ATI GPU 0: Redwood (driver version 1124.2, device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1124.2), 512MB, 310MB available)
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Config: GUI RPC allowed from:
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | A new version of BOINC is available. <a href=http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php>Download it.</a>
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | SETI@home | URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID 6979793; resource share 100
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | No general preferences found - using defaults
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Reading preferences override file
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Preferences:
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | max memory usage when active: 8020.48MB
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | max memory usage when idle: 14436.87MB
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | max disk usage: 10.00GB
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | don't use GPU while active
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | suspend work if non-BOINC CPU load exceeds 25 %
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | (to change preferences, visit the web site of an attached project, or select Preferences in the Manager)
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:12 BST | | Not using a proxy
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:13 BST | SETI@home | Restarting task 03mr13ac.27014.12746.15.11.239_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 1
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:13 BST | SETI@home | Restarting task 30ja13af.26498.9880.5.11.10_0 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 3
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:13 BST | SETI@home | Restarting task 03mr13ab.8732.4566.15.11.239_1 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 2
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:13 BST | SETI@home | Restarting task 01fe13ad.12552.5561.10.11.121_2 using setiathome_enhanced version 528 in slot 0
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:13 BST | SETI@home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:13 BST | SETI@home | Requesting new tasks for CPU and ATI
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:14 BST | SETI@home | Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
Sun 05 May 2013 19:25:14 BST | SETI@home | Project has no tasks available

You're running a BOINC from repositories. This installs BOINC as a privileged user, which isn't capable of reaching the drivers for the videocard. By using sudo, you temporarily make the client run as the super-user, which can read the drivers. This is undone when you reboot, then the client is back at being the unprivileged user, which cannot read the drivers.

The only way around is not to use the client from repositories, but the one from Berkeley. This client installs in your user directory, where also all your drivers install to.

To do so, set No New Tasks, run all your work empty, abort what's not done, upload & report. Remove that client, move what's left of BOINC in the /var/lib/boinc-client directory to the /home/boinc/ directory, then go to http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php and download 7.0.65, install that. Check if everything is where it needs to be (directory), else move some stuff to and fro, then start the new client.

---

My thinking was the timing issue [the sleep that was put in the bootscript]... GPU drivers not loaded in time for BOINC to see them. My understanding is that this idiocy of Windows to shield malignancies by blocking access to the GPU if run as a service does not apply Linux. BOINC always runs as daemon aka service.

---

Coelum Non Animum Mutant, Qui Trans Mare Currunt

Thanks ageless

I have run the linux installer but it just creates a BOINC directory. Do I just need to move this to /home/BOINC?

Will the client still start automatically?