Can't seem to fold, am on MacOS Mojave with an eGPU

[Saeven]

Hi everyone; wanted to chip in to help w/covid. Downloaded the FAHControl package, am on Mojave.

Seems the system won't fold on CPU, I keep seeing this error in logs:

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04:13:08:WU00:FS00:Downloading core from http://cores.foldingathome.org/v7/osx/64bit/avx/Core_a7.fah
04:13:08:WU00:FS00:Connecting to cores.foldingathome.org:80
04:13:08:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Exception: Failed reading core package header.

Separately, was hopeful to connect my eGPU, system_profiler output:

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Radeon RX Vega 64:
Chipset Model: Radeon RX Vega 64
Type: External GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 8 GB
Vendor: AMD (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x687f
Revision ID: 0x00c1
Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported
gMux Version: 5.0.0
Metal: Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily2 v1

Possible to use this eGPU?

Thanks for helping out a folding newcomer!

[Joe_H]

GPU folding is not supported on the macOS. Long history to that statement, that I and others have posted on before.

You may be able to fold on your Mac booted into Windows or Linux, there have not been many reports from persons who have used eGPU's.

[Saeven]

Thanks Joe!

[asm]

Saeven:

Just an FYI - I am also on macOS 10.14.6 and the CPU folding has been working for me for the past couple of weeks.

I have not seen the error you reported - just the one about "No WUs available for this configuration" (because there are so many people!).

Is it possible your network configuration is blocking something?

Or maybe it can't do the initial "core" download because the FAH servers are overloaded?

[Nathan_P]

Its not able to download the core due to overload on the servers. just leave it running if you can and it should eventually get the core

[Hayertjez]

Is there a way to be notified when there is GPU support? Cause I am on MacOS with an eGPU as well.

[Nathan_P]

Is there a way to be notified when there is GPU support? Cause I am on MacOS with an eGPU as well.

My understanding is that there is an issue within MacOS and its drivers that has basically broken OpenCL. I believe that this needs Apple to fix it so until that is fixed nothing is going to happen

[Joe_H]

Apple eventually after a couple years fixed its OpenCL implementation, but by then was using almost no F@h usable GPU's in the systems they sold. Most systems sold were using the Intel iGPU. Recent changes in the availability of eGPU support and usable dedicated GPU's may result in a reevaluation, but against that is Apple's deprecation of OpenCL in favor of Metal. So there is concern OpenCL support will be limited or disappearing in the near future.

I keep mentioning OpenCL, that is because currently to simplify support and development it is used for both AMD and nVidia GPU's. They can use a common codebase to create folding cores to run on both, and also on Windows and Linux.

[Saeven]

I've left the client open for some time, and am still getting

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12:47:18:WU00:FS00:Downloading core from http://cores.foldingathome.org/v7/osx/64bit/avx/Core_a7.fah
12:47:18:WU00:FS00:Connecting to cores.foldingathome.org:80
12:47:19:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Exception: Failed reading core package header.

If I visit that link directly, I'm able to download without issue. Is there a way to store that file somewhere to lend it some help?

[Joe_H]

I don't know of any way to do that, not sure what the client does to unpack that .fah file and install it in the right location.

In the past when I ran into problems with the core download site I was able to copy it from another working Mac I had, but that also required dropping int Terminal and fixing up permissions from the command line before it could be used.

One other thought, the problem is most likely from the site being overloaded, but are you running any anti-malware app or firewall? If so, that might need exceptions put in place to allow FAHClient to download and upload using HTTP(S) over ports 8080 and 80. In addition you may need to exclude the data/work folder from scanning.

[Saeven]

Thanks for helping again! No firewall in place. Clicking the link directly downloads no problems 5/5 times. Server response is good.

[Joe_H]

Only mentioned it as a possibility because some anti-malware apps or firewalls have whitelists of "known" browsers such as Safari, Firefox, and so on. Basically FAHClient is acting like a browser to do the downloads and uploads, but if it is not on one of those lists it gets blocked.

[Nathan_P]

In theory, if you have managed to down load the core try copying it into the following directory.

users>*your username*>appdata>roaming>FAHClient>cores>cores.foldingathome.org>win32>AMD64>Nvidia>Fermi>core21.fah.

It may work, it p[probably won't

[Joe_H]

I looked at what gets downloaded from the link, it is identified as a "document". The client expands that into a folder with an executable inside after it downloads the file, so doesn't work to just copy to that location. If I knew what was used to pack it up, then it might be possible to unpack and then move the file into place.