I just want to share my experience of how I get my GPU working with Primegrid. It may save you from some some few pitfalls I was caught in :-)

Equipment:
- Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3HRev 2.1 motherboard. BIOS version FF
- 16 GByte RAm distributed on four 4 GByte modules
- AMD Phenom II 1100T 6-core processor
- GeForce GTX 460 (1 GByte RAM, 336 Cuda processors)
- Ubuntu 10.10 64 bit.
- BOINC installed from packet manager (Synaptic)

Do the following:
- Update all your program from update manager, inclusive any kernel updates. If requested, reboot.
- Download latest NVIDIA driver, version 270.26 Beta from NVIDIA. Keep away from the 260.xx versions. It fails on Cullen/Wodall Sieve (cuda23)
and maybe other cida applications.

You should now be ready for doing some magic :-)

With this start setup BOINC manager is automatically started when computer is turned on. This is comparable to service mode on Windows machines. On windows
BOINC isn't able to use your GPU for CUDA processing in service mode. However, it is possible on Linux if the NVIDIA driver is loaded before the BOINC application. Default
this isn't true. So a little modification is necessary.

Before you do the actual tricks to change this automated startup, take a look at runlevels.

My Ubuntu do start in runlevel 2, which I do believ is standard on Ubuntu. You find your runlevel by typing "runlevel" on a command line. Your response will be like "N 2", where 2 is your runlevel. Knowing this, you are now prepared.

Steps (Do it as root. You switch to root by typing "sudo su" in a terminal window.):

1) rename /etc/rc2.d/S20b.oinc-client to /etc/rc2.d/S99boinc-client (2 reflects runlevel. This will load BOINC very late in boot process)

2) Enter asci mode by typing "telinit 1" in your terminal window. You will then switch to non graphics mode. Enter root mode if you are not there already

3) Enter the directory where your downloaded the NVIDIA driver using cd's.

4) Install the driver by typing "sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-270.26.run" (Or the version you downloaded). This installation has to be done in none graphical mode.

5) Reboot. Just type "reboot" and press Enter.

If all went well, you should return to graphical mode with new driver and may log in as normal. Your BOINC client should automatically start enabling GPU processing. If you later on update your kernel version, it may be necessary to repeat step 2) to 5) above.

Good luck :-)

Bent Vangli


PS! If anybody finds improvements or errors in this description, please comment. :-)[/url]

A couple of other possibilities after a boot or restart in a terminal type sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client restart
will get your gpu going.
If you're like me and keep forgetting to do the restart -

in the file /etc/rc2.d/S20boinc-client change -
case "$1" in
start)
start
;;
To
case "$1" in
start)
start
sleep 30
stop
sleep 1
start
;;

Will do the restart automatically.

As an alternative to your steps 2-4, I offer the following. This worked for me without exiting the window manager or changing runlevel:

sudo apt-get --purge remove xserver-xorg-video-nouveau sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-current-modaliases nvidia-settings

Is it OK to do the boinc-client restart with the manager still running? Or should I stop the manager beforehand and restart after starting the boinc-client?

--Gary

If you're upgrading from an older version of ubuntu, I'd remove any package with "nvidia" in its name with "sudo apt-get --purge remove".

Then install nvidia-current and nvidia-settings; the modaliases one is obsolete now.

Sorry I can't experiment with any of this now due to the challenge

Hi, I know I am in the wrong forum but I am looking for somebody, who might be able to help with Linux Mint 17 (on a USB-Stick), BOINC and “No usable GPUs found” problem.

I am a Window user, but I would like to use some older Windows XP computers with old GPUs with Linux Mint on a USB-Stick for BOINC, that said, it would have to be a step by step help.

Thanks a lot!

Hi, I know I am in the wrong forum but I am looking for somebody, who might be able to help with Linux Mint 17 (on a USB-Stick), BOINC and “No usable GPUs found” problem.

I am a Window user, but I would like to use some older Windows XP computers with old GPUs with Linux Mint on a USB-Stick for BOINC, that said, it would have to be a step by step help.

Thanks a lot!