[SOLVED] GTX+ empty work assignments

[jeffryfisher]

I just installed a EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ and its latest, most up to date driver (nVidia 340.52). Though I've had success folding other GPUs on other machines, I just can't get this one to download a WU. After deleting FAH V6 and installing V7, and after trying a suggested flag (client-type = advanced) I am still stuck.

What's the secret sauce to get work? I have Windows .NET, but I know nothing about C++ extensions that I saw mentioned during the installation process (and can't find now). I'm in my 4th day of zero progress and out of ideas.

While I'm tempted to complain about lack of work, my reading in the forums suggests that it's the error message that is weak (uninformative), and that I need to look elsewhere to diagnose my problem. Unfortunately, I don't know where to look.

PS: When I add a CPU slot, it runs as CPU:1 and folds core_a4 normally (which is very slow by modern standards).

My complete log from a fresh boot:

Code: Select all

*********************** Log Started 2015-12-11T20:24:08Z ***********************
20:24:08:************************* Folding@home Client *************************
20:24:08:      Website: http://folding.stanford.edu/
20:24:08:    Copyright: (c) 2009-2014 Stanford University
20:24:08:       Author: Joseph Coffland <joseph@cauldrondevelopment.com>
20:24:08:         Args: 
20:24:08:       Config: C:/Documents and Settings/All Users/Application
20:24:08:               Data/FAH/config.xml
20:24:08:******************************** Build ********************************
20:24:08:      Version: 7.4.4
20:24:08:         Date: Mar 4 2014
20:24:08:         Time: 20:26:54
20:24:08:      SVN Rev: 4130
20:24:08:       Branch: fah/trunk/client
20:24:08:     Compiler: Intel(R) C++ MSVC 1500 mode 1200
20:24:08:      Options: /TP /nologo /EHa /Qdiag-disable:4297,4103,1786,279 /Ox -arch:SSE
20:24:08:               /QaxSSE2,SSE3,SSSE3,SSE4.1,SSE4.2 /Qopenmp /Qrestrict /MT /Qmkl
20:24:08:     Platform: win32 XP
20:24:08:         Bits: 32
20:24:08:         Mode: Release
20:24:08:******************************* System ********************************
20:24:08:          CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+
20:24:08:       CPU ID: AuthenticAMD Family 15 Model 107 Stepping 2
20:24:08:         CPUs: 2
20:24:08:       Memory: 3.25GiB
20:24:08:  Free Memory: 2.54GiB
20:24:08:      Threads: WINDOWS_THREADS
20:24:08:   OS Version: 5.1
20:24:08:  Has Battery: false
20:24:08:   On Battery: false
20:24:08:   UTC Offset: -8
20:24:08:          PID: 3004
20:24:08:          CWD: C:/Documents and Settings/All Users/Application Data/FAH
20:24:08:           OS: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3
20:24:08:      OS Arch: X86
20:24:08:         GPUs: 1
20:24:08:        GPU 0: NVIDIA:1 G92 [GeForce 9800 GTX]
20:24:08:         CUDA: 1.1
20:24:08:  CUDA Driver: 6050
20:24:08:Win32 Service: false
20:24:08:***********************************************************************
20:24:08:<config>
20:24:08:  <!-- Network -->
20:24:08:  <proxy v=':8080'/>
20:24:08:
20:24:08:  <!-- Slot Control -->
20:24:08:  <pause-on-battery v='false'/>
20:24:08:  <power v='full'/>
20:24:08:
20:24:08:  <!-- User Information -->
20:24:08:  <passkey v='********************************'/>
20:24:08:  <team v='354'/>
20:24:08:  <user v='JeffryFisher'/>
20:24:08:
20:24:08:  <!-- Folding Slots -->
20:24:08:  <slot id='1' type='GPU'>
20:24:08:    <client-type v='advanced'/>
20:24:08:  </slot>
20:24:08:</config>
20:24:08:Trying to access database...
20:24:12:Successfully acquired database lock
20:24:12:Enabled folding slot 01: READY gpu:0:G92 [GeForce 9800 GTX]
20:24:15:WU00:FS01:Connecting to 171.67.108.45:80
20:24:16:WARNING:WU00:FS01:Failed to get assignment from '171.67.108.45:80': Empty work server assignment
20:24:16:WU00:FS01:Connecting to 171.67.108.204:80
20:24:18:WARNING:WU00:FS01:Failed to get assignment from '171.67.108.204:80': Empty work server assignment
20:24:18:ERROR:WU00:FS01:Exception: Could not get an assignment
20:24:18:WU00:FS01:Connecting to 171.67.108.45:80
20:24:19:WARNING:WU00:FS01:Failed to get assignment from '171.67.108.45:80': Empty work server assignment
20:24:19:WU00:FS01:Connecting to 171.67.108.204:80
20:24:20:WARNING:WU00:FS01:Failed to get assignment from '171.67.108.204:80': Empty work server assignment
20:24:20:ERROR:WU00:FS01:Exception: Could not get an assignment
20:25:18:WU00:FS01:Connecting to 171.67.108.45:80
20:25:18:WARNING:WU00:FS01:Failed to get assignment from '171.67.108.45:80': Empty work server assignment
20:25:18:WU00:FS01:Connecting to 171.67.108.204:80
20:25:18:WARNING:WU00:FS01:Failed to get assignment from '171.67.108.204:80': Empty work server assignment
20:25:18:ERROR:WU00:FS01:Exception: Could not get an assignment

I wish the error messages would say WHY I can't get an assignment.

[7im]

Work unit availability for GPUs this old is limited. There are a few WUs around, but you have to add 2 settings to get them.
client-type set to beta
max-packet-size set to small

These are neither beta nor small work units. Just a settings combination never used that could be co-opted for this solution. (Give less urgent projects to older hardware)

[bollix47]

Give the following options a try for your GPU slot:

client-type=beta
max-packet-size=small

Don't be concerned about using the beta flag if you're not part of the beta team ... in this case the above is an accepted work-around for the earlier GPUs.

[Joe_H]

Your 9800 GTX is a pre-Fermi card that used to be assigned Core_11 projects, those ran out last year in August. Some of these cards can successfully process Core_15 WU's, there are a few projects left using that core. No further projects will be created to use Core_15, so once these are done your card will not be usable for F@H.

To opt in for trying these Core_15 projects, your GPU slot will need to be configured with two options. The first is client-type set to beta, and the second is max-packet-size set to small. No guarantees Core_15 will work on your particular pre-Fermi GPU, hence the need to opt in.

As for your CPU slot, Core_15 usually uses a fairly small amount of CPU time. You can change the core count for your CPU folding slot to 2 if you want to try that. The default of reserving a CPU core is for later GPU folding cores that require a CPU core to process.

[jeffryfisher]

Wow, this is really useful info. Is there any hope that the error messages could become more informative? Maybe point at a trouble-shooting FAQ where this sort of information can be easily found?

Thanks for "secret sauce" settings. Right after entering them (and doing a pause / fold cycle), I got a WU and started