V8.5.5 client under Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon is not working under certain circumstances

[Kendram]

The V 8.5.5. client under my Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon system works only with secure boot disabled and NVIDIA Corporation Device 2d19 in Standby Mode. When I activate Secure Boot and/or performance mode of the graphic card, folding will stop until I disable them and restart the system and the client.

The recommended driver for the graphic card is installed (V 580.126.09).

[PaulTV]

Secure boot usually prevents the Nvidia drivers from being loaded, unitil the signing key is added to the secure boot database. This is documented on various websites like https://packetrealm.io/posts/nvidia-driver-secureboot/ This is unrelated to the Folding at Home client.

Regarding the performance mode, does the nvidia~smi command work when that mode is enabled?

[Kendram]

Thank you for the explanation. I followed the instruction and Secure Boot is now working correctly with the Folding@home client.

Yes, the nvidia-smi ommand works when performance mode is enabled (but the Folding@home client is not working).

[PaulTV]

I assume the performance mode you're trying to use is the software setting in the nvidia driver? I read a bit about it, and it seems it only helps to prevent power saving under lower loads, not when it's really being stressed. Fah is one of the applications which really puts the card under stress, so I would not see an advantage for using perf mode while folding. Are you using it to prevent stuttering in particular games?

I would not see why it wouldn't work though. The first two hundred lines or so of the fah client log (after it is started with the gpu in perf mode) might give a clue, could you post that?

[Kendram]

Yes, I started the performance mode from the symbol of the driver in the task bar. I am also playing games with the graphic card. I got no stuttering issues so far.

I could not find log.txt of the fah-client in the file system, so I am posting the log from the web interface:

Code: Select all

 Errors
Warnings
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07:42:42:I1: Version: 8.5.5
07:42:42:I1: Author: Joseph Coffland <joseph@cauldrondevelopment.com>
07:42:42:I1: Org: foldingathome.org
07:42:42:I1: Copyright: 2023-2025, foldingathome.org
07:42:42:I1: Homepage: https://foldingathome.org/
07:42:42:I1: License: GPL-3.0-or-later
07:42:42:I1: URL: https://v8-5.foldingathome.org/
07:42:42:I1: Date: Dec 2 2025
07:42:42:I1: Time: 14:58:19
07:42:42:I1: Revision: 2c6fbaa45e4ee4854195a9f0d4b86300975b6543
07:42:42:I1: Branch: master
07:42:42:I1: Compiler: GNU 12.5.0
07:42:42:I1: Options: -Wsuggest-override -faligned-new -std=c++17 -fsigned-char -O3 -fPIC
07:42:42:I1: -fstack-protector-strong
07:42:42:I1: Platform: linux 4.19.0-27-cloud-amd64
07:42:42:I1: Bits: 64
07:42:42:I1: Mode: Release
07:42:42:I1: Args: --config=/etc/fah-client/config.xml
07:42:42:I1: --log=/var/log/fah-client/log.txt
07:42:42:I1: --log-rotate-dir=/var/log/fah-client/
07:42:42:I1: Config: /etc/fah-client/config.xml
07:42:42:I1:****************************** CBang ******************************
07:42:42:I1: Version: 1.7.2
07:42:42:I1: Author: Joseph Coffland <joseph@cauldrondevelopment.com>
07:42:42:I1: Org: Cauldron Development
07:42:42:I1: Copyright: Cauldron Development, 2003-2025
07:42:42:I1: Homepage: https://cauldrondevelopment.com/
07:42:42:I1: License: LGPL-2.1-or-later
07:42:42:I1: Date: Dec 3 2025
07:42:42:I1: Time: 11:44:04
07:42:42:I1: Revision: 83a4be55c1b21d5383650f51a7887fd9c25b836c
07:42:42:I1: Branch: master
07:42:42:I1: Compiler: GNU 12.5.0
07:42:42:I1: Options: -Wsuggest-override -faligned-new -std=c++17 -fsigned-char -O3 -fPIC
07:42:42:I1: -fstack-protector-strong
07:42:42:I1: Platform: linux 4.19.0-27-cloud-amd64
07:42:42:I1: Bits: 64
07:42:42:I1: Mode: Release
07:42:42:I1:***************************** System ******************************
07:42:42:I1: CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 260 w/ Radeon 780M Graphics
07:42:42:I1: CPU ID: AuthenticAMD Family 25 Model 117 Stepping 2
07:42:42:I1: CPUs: 16
07:42:42:I1: Memory: 30.66GiB
07:42:42:I1:Free Memory: 28.60GiB
07:42:42:I1: OS Version: 6.17
07:42:42:I1:Has Battery: true
07:42:42:I1: On Battery: false
07:42:42:I1: Hostname: thomas-Nitro-ANV16-42
07:42:42:I1: UTC Offset: 2
07:42:42:I1: PID: 1195
07:42:42:I1: CWD: /var/lib/fah-client
07:42:42:I1: Exec: /usr/bin/fah-client
07:42:42:I1:*******************************************************************
07:42:42:I2:<config/>
07:42:42:I1:Opening Database
07:42:42:I1:F@H ID = jUp_3vbUxaVtzSgaBnCha1KOVNWVIeAhwfWEG3PyJ1s
07:42:42:I3:Loading default resource group
07:42:42:I2:Listening for HTTP on 127.0.0.1:7396
07:42:42:I3:WU157:Loading work unit 157 with ID cU5M_zupjIdkw4nlmjlfyXX4fKKK9Bm6w-fCigx0aFQ
07:42:42:I3:WU158:Loading work unit 158 with ID Mc06mZ8utnxZfnE8RCuV5ep27otNb6zXa-jMcouWGuo
07:42:42:I3:Loaded 2 wus.
07:42:42:I2:Loading gpus.json
07:42:42:I3:gpus = {
07:42:42:I3: "gpu:01:00:00": {"vendor": 4318, "device": 11545, "type": "nvidia", "supported": false, "description": "GB206M [GeForce RTX 5060 Max-Q / Mobile]"},
07:42:42:I3: "gpu:100:00:00": {"vendor": 4098, "device": 6400, "type": "amd", "supported": false, "description": "Phoenix/Hawk Point [Radeon 760M/780M]"}
07:42:42:I3:}
07:42:43:W :CON1:DNS lookup failed for api.foldingathome.org
07:42:43:E :OUT1:Failed response: CONNECT
07:42:43:W :WU157:Visualization size exceeded at frame 22, no more frames will be loaded
07:42:58:I2:OUT2:> GET /machine/jUp_3vbUxaVtzSgaBnCha1KOVNWVIeAhwfWEG3PyJ1s HTTP/1.1
07:42:59:I2:OUT2:< HTTP/1.1 200 HTTP_OK
07:42:59:I2:OUT3:> GET /ws/client HTTP/1.1
07:43:00:I2:OUT3:< HTTP/1.1 101 HTTP_SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS
07:43:00:I1:Logging into node account
07:43:00:I2:REQ4:< GET /api/websocket HTTP/1.1
07:44:31:I2:REQ5:< GET /api/websocket HTTP/1.1
07:44:32:I2:REQ6:< GET /api/websocket HTTP/1.1
07:45:57:I2:REQ7:< GET /api/websocket HTTP/1.1
07:51:50:I2:REQ8:< GET /api/websocket HTTP/1.1

[PaulTV]

Ah, okay. If you don't notice a difference during gaming, I would recommend to not enable performance mode (regardless of fah). The purpose seems to be this: if the game doesn't stress the GPU for more than say 30%, the gpu may lower the performance (clocks), lowering the FPS / causing choppyness in the game. Performance mode should prevent that, at the cost of increasing overall power usage (as it will also increase power usage when idle).

From that log: "vendor": 4318, "device": 11545, "type": "nvidia", "supported": false, "description": "GB206M [GeForce RTX 5060 Max-Q / Mobile]
The GPU is properly identified and known in the gpus.json file, but it's marked as unsupported. If you start the FAH client with the gpu in balanced mode, I expect that to be true. The log doesn't give a clue what triggers the gpu being unsupported in performance mode, though. I'll test a bit with one of my rigs to see if I can replicate the issue. It's a desktop rather than a laptop, and running Fedora instead of Mint, but that should not matter.

[PaulTV]

Hmmm... I installed fahclient on a laptop instead.

Razer Blade 15 with 3080 Ti mobile
Fedora 43 (Gnome)
NVidia driver 595.58.03 (gaming)
FAHclient 8.5.6

I set performance mode in the NVidia settings, under PowerMizer, Performance Mode Maximum Performance mode (instead of normal). That does change the performance state (output from nvidia-smi -q -d performance) from p8 to p0. The client doesn't have any issues with that though - either way the GPU is seen as supported. I don't know if the difference in behavior can be explained by difference in distro, drivers, fahclient or hardware.

You could try switching to the latest version of the nvidia drivers, or beta version of fahclient (https://foldingathome.org/beta/). Otherwise I'm kinda stumped, to be honest

[Kendram]

Thank you for your help so far. I don't do a lot of high-end gaming, so, as you already mentioned, the performance mode shouldn't matter for me. I only thought it would help me with folding faster.

As you also suggested, I will switch to the latest available graphic driver (590.48.01) and beta fah-client (8.5.6) to see if this helps to resolve the issue.

[Kendram]

I installed beta client 8.5.6. switched to driver 590.48.01, put performance mode (driver symbol in task bar) on and restarted. After restarting, the client is seen to be stuck in "Wating for GPU detection" again. The log shows "GPU "supported": false" too.

Code: Select all

12:07:16:I1:*********************** Folding@home Client ***********************
12:07:16:I1: Version: 8.5.6
12:07:16:I1: Author: Joseph Coffland <joseph@cauldrondevelopment.com>
12:07:16:I1: Org: foldingathome.org
12:07:16:I1: Copyright: 2023-2025, foldingathome.org
12:07:16:I1: Homepage: https://foldingathome.org/
12:07:16:I1: License: GPL-3.0-or-later
12:07:16:I1: URL: https://v8-5.foldingathome.org/
12:07:16:I1: Date: Jan 13 2026
12:07:16:I1: Time: 13:31:23
12:07:16:I1: Revision: dd8ee2fa9849c91ea4b4327188695b50319cba84
12:07:16:I1: Branch: master
12:07:16:I1: Compiler: GNU 12.5.0
12:07:16:I1: Options: -Wsuggest-override -faligned-new -std=c++17 -fsigned-char -O3 -fPIC
12:07:16:I1: -fstack-protector-strong
12:07:16:I1: Platform: linux 4.19.0-27-cloud-amd64
12:07:16:I1: Bits: 64
12:07:16:I1: Mode: Release
12:07:16:I1: Args: --config=/etc/fah-client/config.xml
12:07:16:I1: --log=/var/log/fah-client/log.txt
12:07:16:I1: --log-rotate-dir=/var/log/fah-client/
12:07:16:I1: Config: /etc/fah-client/config.xml
12:07:16:I1:****************************** CBang ******************************
12:07:16:I1: Version: 1.7.2
12:07:16:I1: Author: Joseph Coffland <joseph@cauldrondevelopment.com>
12:07:16:I1: Org: Cauldron Development
12:07:16:I1: Copyright: Cauldron Development, 2003-2025
12:07:16:I1: Homepage: https://cauldrondevelopment.com/
12:07:16:I1: License: LGPL-2.1-or-later
12:07:16:I1: Date: Jan 2 2026
12:07:16:I1: Time: 13:30:42
12:07:16:I1: Revision: 20224041bbf5e5f1ed6a3e4cd1a9e10dd08b1f1d
12:07:16:I1: Branch: master
12:07:16:I1: Compiler: GNU 12.5.0
12:07:16:I1: Options: -Wsuggest-override -faligned-new -std=c++17 -fsigned-char -O3 -fPIC
12:07:16:I1: -fstack-protector-strong
12:07:16:I1: Platform: linux 4.19.0-27-cloud-amd64
12:07:16:I1: Bits: 64
12:07:16:I1: Mode: Release
12:07:16:I1:***************************** System ******************************
12:07:16:I1: CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 260 w/ Radeon 780M Graphics
12:07:16:I1: CPU ID: AuthenticAMD Family 25 Model 117 Stepping 2
12:07:16:I1: CPUs: 16
12:07:16:I1: Memory: 30.66GiB
12:07:16:I1:Free Memory: 28.34GiB
12:07:16:I1: OS Version: 6.17
12:07:16:I1:Has Battery: true
12:07:16:I1: On Battery: false
12:07:16:I1: Hostname: thomas-Nitro-ANV16-42
12:07:16:I1: UTC Offset: 2
12:07:16:I1: PID: 1275
12:07:16:I1: CWD: /var/lib/fah-client
12:07:16:I1: Exec: /usr/bin/fah-client
12:07:16:I1:*******************************************************************
12:07:16:I2:<config/>
12:07:16:I1:Opening Database
12:07:16:I1:F@H ID = jUp_3vbUxaVtzSgaBnCha1KOVNWVIeAhwfWEG3PyJ1s
12:07:16:I3:Loading default resource group
12:07:16:I2:Listening for HTTP on 127.0.0.1:7396
12:07:16:I3:WU158:Loading work unit 158 with ID Mc06mZ8utnxZfnE8RCuV5ep27otNb6zXa-jMcouWGuo
12:07:16:I3:WU160:Loading work unit 160 with ID p99isc9cj4_0mFElGUwcR0yKotE3pSz2vfr7xHiBfwc
12:07:16:I3:Loaded 2 wus.
12:07:16:I2:Loading gpus.json
12:07:16:I3:gpus = {
12:07:16:I3: "gpu:01:00:00": {"vendor": 4318, "device": 11545, "type": "nvidia", "supported": false, "description": "GB206M [GeForce RTX 5060 Max-Q / Mobile]"},
12:07:16:I3: "gpu:100:00:00": {"vendor": 4098, "device": 6400, "type": "amd", "supported": false, "description": "Phoenix/Hawk Point [Radeon 760M/780M]"}
12:07:16:I3:}
12:07:16:W :CON1:DNS lookup failed for api.foldingathome.org
12:07:16:E :OUT1:Failed response: CONNECT
12:07:31:I2:OUT2:> GET /machine/jUp_3vbUxaVtzSgaBnCha1KOVNWVIeAhwfWEG3PyJ1s HTTP/1.1
12:07:32:I2:REQ3:< GET /api/websocket HTTP/1.1
12:07:32:I2:OUT2:< HTTP/1.1 200 HTTP_OK
12:07:32:I2:OUT4:> GET /ws/client HTTP/1.1
12:07:33:I2:OUT4:< HTTP/1.1 101 HTTP_SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS
12:07:33:I1:Logging into node account
12:08:07:I2:REQ5:< GET /api/websocket HTTP/1.1
12:08:07:I2:REQ6:< GET /api/websocket HTTP/1.1
12:12:44:I2:REQ7:< GET /api/websocket HTTP/1.1
12:12:44:I2:REQ8:< GET /api/websocket HTTP/1.1
12:14:22:I2:REQ9:< GET /api/websocket HTTP/1.1

Except for the case that there should be a newer graphic driver which I don't know of I am also clueless.

[PaulTV]

The latest driver is 595.58.03 (released March 24), when I check nvidia.com driver download. I don't think it'll help much though.

[Kendram]

The latest driver is 595.58.03 (released March 24), when I check nvidia.com driver download. I don't think it'll help much though.

Yes, the driver is in a "run"-file and Gemini is discouraging me from using it.