Missing driver just, keeps trying to get tasks.

[Peter_Hucker]

I recently had a computer hard disk fail. I put a new one in and reinstalled windows, but forgot the AMD driver for my GPU. It appeared working, and worked with Boinc, so nothing prompted me to put the proper driver on. Then I tried folding and it just kept asking for work, in the log it said nothing appropriate available, which I thought was the server out of work for my card.

Could Folding please have a message saying the driver is no good? It detected it correctly as Hawaii, so I thought everything was fine. It must know the driver is wrong as it doesn't attempt to download work.

[muziqaz]

There is only so much software can do with careless users.
Can users take more responsibility with their hardware and stop expecting software solve their issues
I mean driver installation is the most basic and founding principal when setting up the system.
You can't expect too many users to be able to reinstall windows on their own and then forget to install all the drivers and just go straight for high compute tasks

[Peter_Hucker]

Nowadays drivers install themselves, long gone are the days of going through a motherboard CD. Windows 11 does it for you. It had put on its own driver. I don't have to supply tyres for my new car.

And the software must know what's up, yet it gives a bland message stating something irrelevant (no suitable tasks). It's like my car saying it needs brake fluid when the petrol is low.

Anyway..... not the problem, Folding still won't work on that machine with the AMD driver, is Hawaii not supported? It's one step up from Tahiti which is running great on two cards on another machine.

[muziqaz]

Nowadays drivers install themselves, long gone are the days of going through a motherboard CD. Windows 11 does it for you. It had put on its own driver. I don't have to supply tyres for my new car.

And the software must know what's up, yet it gives a bland message stating something irrelevant (no suitable tasks). It's like my car saying it needs brake fluid when the petrol is low.

Anyway..... not the problem, Folding still won't work on that machine with the AMD driver, is Hawaii not supported? It's one step up from Tahiti which is running great on two cards on another machine.

Not getting work is not "not working"
Windows provided drivers are cancer, and can never be trusted, as they are pure castration of the actual drivers

[Joe_H]

Nowadays drivers install themselves, long gone are the days of going through a motherboard CD. Windows 11 does it for you. It had put on its own driver. I don't have to supply tyres for my new car.

Windows will install a video driver only, and not include the necessary OpenCL support packages. You will need to download from AMD and install their driver.

And the software must know what's up, yet it gives a bland message stating something irrelevant (no suitable tasks). It's like my car saying it needs brake fluid when the petrol is low.

That is quite clear, the Assignment Server did not find anything suitable for your hardware and folding configuration.

Anyway..... not the problem, Folding still won't work on that machine with the AMD driver, is Hawaii not supported? It's one step up from Tahiti which is running great on two cards on another machine.

Actually possibly part of the problem. The Hawaii based GPUs are a dozen years old based on an architecture that is getting end of life support from AMD. Only some of the current GPU projects are suitable for assignment to that old of a GPU, so at times there may not be any work available.

Essentially you had a stable configuration, after the hard drive failure it will take getting the correct drivers installed and Windows will not do everything for you. Some of the hardware and software detection by the client depends on proper installation of drivers. It may take reinstallation or additional system restarts for everything to be detected.

[Peter_Hucker]

Windows will install a video driver only, and not include the necessary OpenCL support packages. You will need to download from AMD and install their driver.

I should be prompted. Don't expect every user to have IT knowledge.

That is quite clear, the Assignment Server did not find anything suitable for your hardware and folding configuration.

And yet it's displayed as a Hawaii. Why not "Hawaii (no driver)" or "undetected card"?

Actually possibly part of the problem. The Hawaii based GPUs are a dozen years old based on an architecture that is getting end of life support from AMD. Only some of the current GPU projects are suitable for assignment to that old of a GPU, so at times there may not be any work available.

Yet there is tonnes for very similar (same driver!) and slightly older Tahiti?

[Joe_H]

The client can't be coded to detect and suggest fixes for every corner case. If you have a spare $100k to give them to hire a second full time developer, then that could happen. Or someone might look at the open source code for the client and suggest additional code.

Hawaii and Tahiti are from two different generations of GPU chips by AMD. They mostly have similar capabilities, but are not an exact match. That has led to issues at times. Not all AMD cards are enabled for the same projects.

[muziqaz]

Windows will install a video driver only, and not include the necessary OpenCL support packages. You will need to download from AMD and install their driver.

I should be prompted. Don't expect every user to have IT knowledge.

We don't. You are not every user. FAH donors are not every user.

That is quite clear, the Assignment Server did not find anything suitable for your hardware and folding configuration.

And yet it's displayed as a Hawaii. Why not "Hawaii (no driver)" or "undetected card"?

Even without the driver you were not receiving work, which means even without the driver it was working, just there was no work available for that GPU. If there were really no driver, FAH wouldn't try downloading work for it. It would tell you that it is not supported, or opencl is not supported.

Actually possibly part of the problem. The Hawaii based GPUs are a dozen years old based on an architecture that is getting end of life support from AMD. Only some of the current GPU projects are suitable for assignment to that old of a GPU, so at times there may not be any work available.

Yet there is tonnes for very similar (same driver!) and slightly older Tahiti?

Hawaii and Tahiti are codenames for GPU families. Those families had different performance bracket products. If you want more precise answer, please provide more precise question or more info. Screenshot of System Info section within FAHClient would be the first step.

[Peter_Hucker]

Windows will install a video driver only, and not include the necessary OpenCL support packages. You will need to download from AMD and install their driver.

I should be prompted. Don't expect every user to have IT knowledge.

We don't. You are not every user. FAH donors are not every user.

I'm not talking about me. I'm a techy. Most people are not. Just like you shouldn't have to know how an engine works to drive a car.

That is quite clear, the Assignment Server did not find anything suitable for your hardware and folding configuration.

And yet it's displayed as a Hawaii. Why not "Hawaii (no driver)" or "undetected card"?

Even without the driver you were not receiving work, which means even without the driver it was working, just there was no work available for that GPU. If there were really no driver, FAH wouldn't try downloading work for it. It would tell you that it is not supported, or opencl is not supported.

Ok, different to what Joe said, if you're right, then I don't need to install the driver, and the automatic MS one was ok (it was with Boinc which uses OpenCL too).

Actually possibly part of the problem. The Hawaii based GPUs are a dozen years old based on an architecture that is getting end of life support from AMD. Only some of the current GPU projects are suitable for assignment to that old of a GPU, so at times there may not be any work available.

Yet there is tonnes for very similar (same driver!) and slightly older Tahiti?

Hawaii and Tahiti are codenames for GPU families. Those families had different performance bracket products. If you want more precise answer, please provide more precise question or more info. Screenshot of System Info section within FAHClient would be the first step.

Looking at techpowerup, Hawaii is more advanced - supports higher levels of OpenCL etc. The only other difference is Tahiti had more DP, Hawaii is more SP.

Not sure if everyone can see this: https://v8-4.foldingathome.org/oY3EkDnV ... 78/details

[Peter_Hucker]

The client can't be coded to detect and suggest fixes for every corner case. If you have a spare $100k to give them to hire a second full time developer, then that could happen. Or someone might look at the open source code for the client and suggest additional code.

Hawaii and Tahiti are from two different generations of GPU chips by AMD. They mostly have similar capabilities, but are not an exact match. That has led to issues at times. Not all AMD cards are enabled for the same projects.

Any way I or you can see how many tasks for each type of GPU in the queue so I can confirm it's just a lack of work? There was continuous work a year ago when I last used that machine on folding.

[muziqaz]

Delete your link, for starters.
Second, since you are so reluctant to show us what is "wrong" with your GPUs, I am just assuming that MS drivers work. You said FAHclient was trying to download a WU, which means it got recognised by client. I will end this here, since I have no info. This thread is going nowhere. You are trying to fold on ancient hardware. Don't expect it to work as if it is latest and greatest. The best thing people can do is to know when to retire their hardware and not waste their own or other people's time as well as electricity

[Peter_Hucker]

Delete your link, for starters.
Second, since you are so reluctant to show us what is "wrong" with your GPUs, I am just assuming that MS drivers work. You said FAHclient was trying to download a WU, which means it got recognised by client. I will end this here, since I have no info. This thread is going nowhere. You are trying to fold on ancient hardware. Don't expect it to work as if it is latest and greatest. The best thing people can do is to know when to retire their hardware and not waste their own or other people's time as well as electricity

I posted the link because that's what you requested, and I pointed out I'm unsure if it's publicly accessible. If you can't see it, say so and I'll make a screenshot.

My hardware is the best performance per purchase price (electricity isn't a problem). I have 4 more tahitis I can refurbish and get going, and then I'm going to buy something else, which may be a couple of years newer. I'm not the sort of [insulting word] who buys the latest overpriced stuff. I buy second cars too.

[Joe_H]

Looking at techpowerup, Hawaii is more advanced - supports higher levels of OpenCL etc. The only other difference is Tahiti had more DP, Hawaii is more SP.

Not sure if everyone can see this: https://v8-4.foldingathome.org/oY3EkDnV ... 78/details

Yes, Hawaii is GCN 2nd gen and Tahiti is GCN 1st gen, but AMD created GPUs using both for several overlapping years. Both support OpenCL 2.1, they just mention OpenCL 1.2 as that is what the original drivers for Tahiti supported. But there are other differences that have shown up with folding.

You would have to do a screenshot, no one else can access your Web Control connection without your username and passphrase.

Any way I or you can see how many tasks for each type of GPU in the queue so I can confirm it's just a lack of work? There was continuous work a year ago when I last used that machine on folding.

The most I can see is the summary information on the Server Stats page - https://apps.foldingathome.org/serverstats. It lists WU totals for the various folding cores, A8 and A9 are CPU jobs, the FE core is a benchmarking test core mostly used to test new GPUs, and the rest are GPU WUs. I have lost track of which cores and projects they have found issues with using various series of AMD GPUs. One of the later RDNA series is blocked from another set of projects because they perform very poorly on them.

[muziqaz]

Delete your link, for starters.
Second, since you are so reluctant to show us what is "wrong" with your GPUs, I am just assuming that MS drivers work. You said FAHclient was trying to download a WU, which means it got recognised by client. I will end this here, since I have no info. This thread is going nowhere. You are trying to fold on ancient hardware. Don't expect it to work as if it is latest and greatest. The best thing people can do is to know when to retire their hardware and not waste their own or other people's time as well as electricity

I posted the link because that's what you requested, and I pointed out I'm unsure if it's publicly accessible. If you can't see it, say so and I'll make a screenshot.

My hardware is the best performance per purchase price (electricity isn't a problem). I have 4 more tahitis I can refurbish and get going, and then I'm going to buy something else, which may be a couple of years newer. I'm not the sort of [insulting word] who buys the latest overpriced stuff. I buy second cars too.

your link might have sensitive info and it is suited for your account only, it doesn't load for anyone else. Screenshots are always the best way to show what is wrong with your system

[Peter_Hucker]

your link might have sensitive info and it is suited for your account only, it doesn't load for anyone else. Screenshots are always the best way to show what is wrong with your system

Can't see anything sensitive in here, I don't mind if you know what CPU I have. Which you can see in a screenshot anyway