v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Moderators: Site Moderators, FAHC Science Team

calxalot
Site Moderator
Posts: 894
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:33 am
Location: San Francisco, CA
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by calxalot »

How do you manually start it?
What user does it run as?
DocJonz
Posts: 243
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:31 pm
Hardware configuration: Folding with: 4x RTX 4070Ti, 1x RTX 3070
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by DocJonz »

calxalot wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2023 8:53 pm How do you manually start it?
What user does it run as?
I start Firefox, enter the url for the webclient (app.foldingathome.org) and when it comes up, I hit Start Folding.
There is only one account/user of the machine, and that's me.
Folding Stats (HFM.NET): DocJonz Folding Farm Stats
toTOW
Site Moderator
Posts: 6309
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 10:38 am
Location: Bordeaux, France
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by toTOW »

I guess the client require sudo or something like this to gain access to the GPU drivers ...

Doesn't the v8 client have a shortcut or some service script to start it properly ?
Image

Folding@Home beta tester since 2002. Folding Forum moderator since July 2008.
Joe_H
Site Admin
Posts: 7871
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:41 pm
Hardware configuration: Mac Pro 2.8 quad 12 GB smp4
MacBook Pro 2.9 i7 8 GB smp2
Location: W. MA

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by Joe_H »

The installer by default starts a fat-client process in the background, check to se what user it is running under. The web client for v8 only starts and stops WU processing, it doesn't stop the background process. The install can inherit a paused on start setting from the v7 config.xml file read at installation and startup times.
Image

iMac 2.8 i7 12 GB smp8, Mac Pro 2.8 quad 12 GB smp6
MacBook Pro 2.9 i7 8 GB smp3
DocJonz
Posts: 243
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:31 pm
Hardware configuration: Folding with: 4x RTX 4070Ti, 1x RTX 3070
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by DocJonz »

GPU drivers (and CUDA/OpenCL) are installed - no issues with those. The problem is the v8 client not detecting them following a machine restart.
If I re-install the v8 client on re-starting the machine (without adding info or changing any Folding settings), it Folds just fine on the GPU.
Note: v7 has never been on this machine.
Folding Stats (HFM.NET): DocJonz Folding Farm Stats
calxalot
Site Moderator
Posts: 894
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:33 am
Location: San Francisco, CA
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by calxalot »

An aside: v8 does not support pause-on-start of v7
calxalot
Site Moderator
Posts: 894
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:33 am
Location: San Francisco, CA
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by calxalot »

That it works on reinstall, but not on restart, indicates to me that the systemd service is not running the fah-client process as the correct user “fah-client”.
calxalot
Site Moderator
Posts: 894
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:33 am
Location: San Francisco, CA
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by calxalot »

Or that some other group is needed for GPU access.
calxalot
Site Moderator
Posts: 894
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:33 am
Location: San Francisco, CA
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by calxalot »

I don’t think v8 inherits the v7 pause state either.

I had to use cpus 0 for a new v8 install to be paused until a wait for configuration was implemented.
calxalot
Site Moderator
Posts: 894
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:33 am
Location: San Francisco, CA
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by calxalot »

You might be having a race condition, where the client starts before another service is ready.

Maybe try
Restart system
Verify GPU is disabled
Run shell commands

Code: Select all

sudo systemctl stop fah-client
sudo systemctl start fah-client
See if GPU works now
DocJonz
Posts: 243
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:31 pm
Hardware configuration: Folding with: 4x RTX 4070Ti, 1x RTX 3070
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by DocJonz »

@calxalot - Thanks. I'll give that a try over the weekend ...
Folding Stats (HFM.NET): DocJonz Folding Farm Stats
toTOW
Site Moderator
Posts: 6309
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 10:38 am
Location: Bordeaux, France
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by toTOW »

calxalot wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 9:42 pm That it works on reinstall, but not on restart, indicates to me that the systemd service is not running the fah-client process as the correct user “fah-client”.
Or the fah-client process is starting too early before everything is correctly initialized ...
Image

Folding@Home beta tester since 2002. Folding Forum moderator since July 2008.
DocJonz
Posts: 243
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:31 pm
Hardware configuration: Folding with: 4x RTX 4070Ti, 1x RTX 3070
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by DocJonz »

calxalot wrote: Thu Jul 13, 2023 10:32 pm You might be having a race condition, where the client starts before another service is ready.

Maybe try
Restart system
Verify GPU is disabled
Run shell commands

Code: Select all

sudo systemctl stop fah-client
sudo systemctl start fah-client
See if GPU works now
I did a general software update today. After, on opening webclient and checking the settings, the GPU part was not enbled (same issue as before).
So, I closed Firefox, then ran your two lines of code, and re-opened the webclient - this time, checking the settings, the GPU part was enabled :D

Next question is, how can I make that fix automatic and permanent?
Folding Stats (HFM.NET): DocJonz Folding Farm Stats
calxalot
Site Moderator
Posts: 894
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:33 am
Location: San Francisco, CA
Contact:

Re: v8.1.18 - frequent re-installs required (Ubuntu 22.04)

Post by calxalot »

You might try editing the service file

Code: Select all

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/fah-client.service
After

Code: Select all

After=network.target
Add

Code: Select all

After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target
I’m not an expert. This suggestion is derived from a v7 service:
viewtopic.php?p=359791#p359791
Post Reply