Posts by Alan Jordan

1) Message boards : GPUs : GPU not recognised after Ubuntu Linux Upgrade (Message 57481)
Posted 9 Nov 2014 by Alan Jordan
Post:
I recently upgraded from 64 Bit Ubuntu Linux 14.04 to 14.10, and as a consequence BOINC Manager 7.2.42 (x64) no longer recognises that I have an nVidia Geforce GTX770 GPU installed, and hence no GPU Tasks run; everything was fine before the Upgrade. Note that:-

1. The 'Additional Drivers' option under the System Settings 'Software & Updates' option shows I am using the recommended NVIDIA binary driver version 331.89 from nvidia-331 (proprietary, tested).
2. The Ubuntu 14.10 'Details' option under System Settings shows the GPU is present.
3. BOINc's recommended check for a GPU by running the Command "lspci | grep VGA" reports "01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK104 [GeForce GTX 770] (rev a1)", so this suggests a GPU is present.

I am using Linux Kernel 3.13.0.37-generic. I note that Ubuntu have twice attempted to upgrade this to a newer Kernel, but to date this has failed.

Any ideas?
2) Message boards : Questions and problems : BOINC 6.12.26 and CUDA Task Problem (Message 37764)
Posted 11 May 2011 by Alan Jordan
Post:
Einstein@Home CUDA Tasks aborting - I've probably used the wrong term here. Specifically these Tasks did not end because I manually aborted them, nor were they an 'abort because not started before deadline'.

Typically I would see such Tasks stuck in a form of Loop where the Elapsed Time indication would start at a some value, increase for a few seconds, then change back to the first value, and repeat continuously. Sometimes such Tasks would suddenly 'breakout' of the Loop and complete normally; more often I would find that they had failed after some time in the Loop with a 'Calculation Error'. I would say that under BOINC 6.10.59 about 40% of my Einstein@Home CUDA Tasks ended that way!

The reason I asked this question was that I have seen such Tasks behaving the same way under BOINC 6.12.26, but now they stop after a few minutes showing 'Waiting for GPU Memory'. Given the inconsistency of my GPU Memory problem (my PC has just run for 5 hours in my normal configuration without problems), I wondered whether the lack of GPU Memory was a situation that BOINC 6.10.59 couldn't handle correctly, so that Tasks failed with a 'Calculation Error', but BOINC 6.12.26 does?

More GPU Memory - I appreciate the point about taking longer before failing. I have no intention of buying the 'latest newest newfanglest GPU' for which there are no Linux drivers. Its just that even a fairly low spec. Graphics Card these days would have 1GB of GPU Memory, whereas my existing Nvidia 9600GT only has 512 MB.

Alan Jordan.
3) Message boards : Questions and problems : BOINC 6.12.26 and CUDA Task Problem (Message 37760)
Posted 11 May 2011 by Alan Jordan
Post:
Many thanks for your very helpful comments and suggestion. I have tried restarting my PC several times, and it appears that my traditional combination of having Firefox and Thunderbird running in separate Ubuntu Workspaces, usually on the right-hand of my two Monitors, OFTEN, but NOT consistently, causes the problem. This inconsistency prompts two thoughts:-

1. Could this explain why some Einstein@Home Tasks labelled 'BRP3cuda32nv270' aborted under the old BOINC 6.10.59, whereas others completed OK?

2. Would more GPU Memory help? I am planning to replace my Desktop PC in the reasonably near future, and it is likely that the new PC would have a Graphics Adapter with more GPU Memory.

Alan Jordan.

PS - apologies to the Moderator for the 'typo' in the version number of BOINC!
4) Message boards : Questions and problems : BOINC 6.12.26 and CUDA Task Problem (Message 37755)
Posted 11 May 2011 by Alan Jordan
Post:
I recently installed BOINC 6.12.26 following advice after problems with the standard Ubuntu Linux 11.04 version BOINC 6.10.59 (see my Thread 'BOINC Manager wastes available resources'). Unfortunately, I'm a Novice when it comes to the more technical aspects of Linux, and in installing BOINC 6.12.26 I managed to loose my previous Task configuration, and had to re-link to all my Projects, and download new Tasks. To date the problem configuration described in my previous Thread has yet to occur, so I am not sure whether BOINC 6.12.26 would handle this or not.

So far I would say that the Task Scheduling in BOINC 6.12.26 is improved. HOWEVER, there appears to be an issue with Einstein@Home Tasks labelled 'BRP3cuda32nv270', which want to run on my NVidia 9600GT GPU, using '0.2 CPUs + 1 NVIDIA GPUs'. Currently I have 5 such Tasks queued 'Waiting to run', ALL showing 'Waiting for GPU Memory'; I have not seen the latter Message before, so I assume this is a new feature of BOINC 6.12.26). Periodically the 'Waiting for GPU Memory' Messages disappear, and the queued Tasks attempt to run, but ALL fail after a few seconds, and return to the 'Waiting for GPU Memory' status. Checking the Event Log there are Messages that the Tasks exited with Zero Status and no Finished File, and that if this happens repeatedly you may need to Reset the Project.

I have seen such Messages before with such Einstein@Home Tasks, and on past experience resetting the Project has NO effect! HOWEVER, on past experience with BOINC 6.10.59, I would expect 2 or 3 of these Tasks to eventually complete normally, and 3 or 2 of these Tasks to eventually abort; for ALL 5 such Tasks to remain queued is unprecedented in my experience. Since I have made no other changes to my Ubuntu Linux configuration, I can only assume that this is a problem with BOINC 6.12.26; any suggestions?

Alan Jordan.
5) Message boards : Questions and problems : BOINC Manager wastes available Resources (Message 37742)
Posted 10 May 2011 by Alan Jordan
Post:
Many thanks! Am now running 6.12.26, and will see how I get on with this.

Alan Jordan.
6) Message boards : Questions and problems : BOINC Manager wastes available Resources (Message 37740)
Posted 10 May 2011 by Alan Jordan
Post:
I should have mentioned, I am running BOINC Manager Version 6.10.59 under 32-Bit Ubuntu Linux 11.04, on a Desktop with an Intel Core2 Quad CPU (Q9550), with 8GB of RAM. I have no other issues with BOINC Manager.

Alan Jordan.
7) Message boards : Questions and problems : BOINC Manager wastes available Resources (Message 37735)
Posted 10 May 2011 by Alan Jordan
Post:
I have recently become aware of a problem whereby BOINC Manger wastes available Idle CPU (and GPU) Resources, which occurs when:-

(a) There is a long running Task, usually from Climateprediction.net, which has been assigned 'High Priority'.
(b) There is a Multiple CPU Task in the schedule, usually from Milkyway@Home. In practice, since the ONLY such Tasks that I have seen require 4 CPUs, such Tasks effectively BLOCK any lower priority Tasks from running.

As single CPU Tasks with higher Priority than the Multiple CPU Task are completed, they are NOT replaced by other single CPU Tasks, which are BLOCKED by the waiting Multiple CPU Task, so that progressively more and more of the available Idle CPU (and GPU) Resources are NOT utilised. Eventually, the situation is reached whereby ONLY the long term 'High Priority' Task is left running on one CPU, and ALL the remaining available Idle CPU (and GPU) Resources are NOT utilised! This situation will remain for many days, or tens of days, until the long term 'High Priority' Task completes, when the Multiple CPU Task will run, usually completing fairly quickly, when things will return to normal unless the circumstances repeat themselves.

Whilst BOINC Manger handles this situation without difficulty, there is no doubt that it represents a complete waste of available Idle CPU (and GPU) Resources. I assume that eventually there will be a new version of BOINC Manager which handles this situation more efficiently, but at present the only solution that I can see is for manual intervention by the User. Is any one aware of, and/or working on this problem?

Alan Jordan.




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