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Message boards : Graphics cards (GPUs) : GT240 Doesn't Run

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Message 21856 - Posted: 20 Aug 2011 | 9:10:31 UTC
Last modified: 20 Aug 2011 | 9:12:39 UTC

This isn't a GPU Grid issue per-se, but a GPU issue (it happens in Einstein@Home too). Recently, my GT240 started acting up; I set the preference to "run when GPU is not in use (1 minute delay)," and I see it starting and stopping.

I wait overnight, and when I check in the morning, it's not running.

I didn't change BOINC or my drivers recently, although a while ago, I down-graded my drivers since the latest ones caused my PC to be extremely choppy while BOINC is running. (The old ones ran fine with my GPU at 100% while I'm doing other stuff.)

What might the problem be? How can I diagnose and fix it?

Note: if I set my GPU settings to "Run GPU always," this makes the GPU start again. But it majorly chops my PC.

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Message 21857 - Posted: 20 Aug 2011 | 9:17:43 UTC - in response to Message 21856.
Last modified: 20 Aug 2011 | 19:59:43 UTC

Use MSI Afterburner to check the temperatures and frequencies, make sure it's not overheating, and not downclocking.
It's often a good idea to give the GPU a clean, usually improves temperatures.

NVidia drivers can be a pain to work with, especially chopping and changing them. I suggest you do a full uninstall and use a tool such as driver sweeper to completely remove the drivers. Go back to one of the earliest drivers that will work.

The performance of your system when running tasks depends on the task type, some will make the system laggy and some will not. At GPUGrid, setting Boinc to not run when the system is in use is usually a bad setup; the GPU picks up at the last checkpoint. The first checkpoint can be some way into a task, so regular use will mean you take a long time to move from zero.

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Message 21864 - Posted: 21 Aug 2011 | 9:31:32 UTC - in response to Message 21857.
Last modified: 21 Aug 2011 | 9:33:52 UTC

I'm not even sure what I would look for in terms of frequencies or downclocking. If my system is unusable, then I have no choice except to run the GPU only when the PC is not in use. If it depends on the task, I don't think that this will be solvable.

But I'm skeptical, because I was running GPUGRID for months without any of these problems. I tried all the old drivers, and none of them work without chopping anymore.

What's strange is that if I set GPU usage to always, my PC works fine. But once it goes into the state of very low GPU usage, that's when it really chops up.

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Message 21866 - Posted: 21 Aug 2011 | 14:46:41 UTC - in response to Message 21864.
Last modified: 21 Aug 2011 | 15:41:03 UTC

Got it. The clock speed is downgrading from 549 to 135. How do I prevent this? This is not because of temperature; the temperature holds steady at 90C.

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Message 21867 - Posted: 21 Aug 2011 | 15:58:06 UTC - in response to Message 21866.

You cannot prevent this on Win XP; NVidia removed the Prefer Maximum Performance setting from their Control Panel interface, so you are stuck with Adaptive.
This problem was present prior to CUDA 4, so upgrading to 266.58 from 260.99 could make no difference WRT the CUDA version. That said the downclocking is not as bad on the more recent drivers (including those that support CUDA4). So try a more recent driver. I'm using 280.26 on a 2003-x64 server (same driver as XP) and I have not experienced any downclocking since installing the card 3days ago.
Restarting is sometimes a temporary fix to this problem, but it does not always work.

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Message 21868 - Posted: 21 Aug 2011 | 15:59:49 UTC - in response to Message 21867.

Okay, I'll try that. I had also set the texture filtering quality to "high performance"; not sure if that will do anything, but it's worth a shot, I guess.

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Message 21877 - Posted: 23 Aug 2011 | 3:05:45 UTC - in response to Message 21868.

None of the versions worked for me; they all downclock. I guess I'm stuck. I'll try Riva Tuner when I get a chance. Thanks for all your help!

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Message 21882 - Posted: 23 Aug 2011 | 18:25:57 UTC - in response to Message 21877.

Let us know how you get on; if the low level settings stick using Riva, or you find another work around to force the clocks to stick at their max performance.
The announcement today 'that CC1.1 and CC1.2 cards will not be supported by the forthcoming application' means any potential success you manage will be short lived here, your GT240 being CC1.2, but hopefully it will still be useful at other GPU projects such as Einstein.

GL

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Message 21884 - Posted: 24 Aug 2011 | 1:35:52 UTC - in response to Message 21882.

The solution was, very strangely, to change my PC power settings to "always on" and disable my screensaver. This is documented on my SuperUser question here.

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Message boards : Graphics cards (GPUs) : GT240 Doesn't Run

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