NVIDIA GeForce GT 420 not recognized
6 Nov 2011 12:37:17 UTC
Topic 196045
(moderation:
I have a Dell XPS 8300 with an Intel i5 processor and a NVIDIA GeForce GT 420 discreet GPU which I bought last July. The system also has an integrated graphics chip. My monitor runs off the integrated graphics chip. If If I remember correctly, when the computer was new launching BOINC would yield a line regarding my cuda GPU to the effect that a newer driver was needed to use the GPU. After I updated the driver the GPU started crunching for radio frequency (I think) pulsars. The task names always started with p.
I recently had to repair Windows 7 (that's a Dell feature). As soon as I had done so I went to Device Manager > Display adapters and updated the NVIDIA driver to 8.17.12.8562. I went to the NVIDIA web site to get the newest NVIDIA driver, which is 285.62. But when I launch BOINC I get a line which says 'No usable GPUs found'. Does anybody have any ideas? TIA
"Remember, nothing that's good works by itself, just to please you. You have to make the damn thing work." Thomas A. Edison
NVIDIA GeForce GT 420 not recognized
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unless you attach a monitor to your nvidia GPU (or a dummy plug), this is normal behaviour.
RE: unless you attach a
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Not so. My system configuration has not changed since I repaired Windows 7.
"Remember, nothing that's good works by itself, just to please you. You have to make the damn thing work." Thomas A. Edison
RE: I recently had to
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Did you run the Nvidia Installer at all? Updating the drivers via device manager isn't a good idea, and probably won't install Cuda or OpenCL support.
Claggy
RE: RE: I recently had to
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I don't remember running the Nvidia Installer; I think Nvidia was preloaded by Dell. I also can't find that file on the Nvidia site. I downloaded the latest driver from the Nvidia site. So what do I have to do to get my Cuda GPU recognized by the OS?
Steve
"Remember, nothing that's good works by itself, just to please you. You have to make the damn thing work." Thomas A. Edison
FYI: It didn't take much time
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FYI: It didn't take much time digging in the BOINC FAQs to see a statement to the effect that if BOINC is installed in protected mode it won't discover GPUs. I hadn't installed BOINC that way, it's not even an option for 4.12.34(x64), but I sort of remember installing E@H in protected mode. So after aborting the Waiting to start tasks, and letting the last four tasks finish and report, I uninstalled BOINC and reinstalled it. This time when I installed E@H I made certain it was not in protected mode. And when I launched BOINC it immediately recognized my GPU and started downloading BRP3cuda32 tasks.
By the way Claggy, why is it not a good idea to update the drivers via device manager?
Steve
"Remember, nothing that's good works by itself, just to please you. You have to make the damn thing work." Thomas A. Edison
A service installation is
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A service installation is still possible, even with 6.12.34. It's just not called service installation, but protected application execution. It's available under the Advanced button in the third screen in the installer. By default BOINC will not be installed as a service.
As for why it isn't a good idea to install and upgrade videocard drivers through device manager, that's because you're then using drivers that come from Microsoft, which may be stripped of anything to do with OpenGL, OpenCL, CUDA and CAL/Brook+, since these are direct competitors to Microsoft's own DirectX and DirectCompute ideas.
In other words, using those drivers may render your GPU undetectable by BOINC. Therefore, always upgrade the drivers from the GPU manufacturer's web site.
Thank you for the
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Thank you for the clarification, Ageless. I stand corrected that the check box for protected application execution is grayed out on the third screen until you click on the Advanced button. And this I had to do to uncheck the BOINC screen saver box, and this is where I caused the problem by checking the Protected Application box. Case closed.
Steve
"Remember, nothing that's good works by itself, just to please you. You have to make the damn thing work." Thomas A. Edison