Folding + AMD GPU + Linux = Impossible?!

NodCommander · March 8, 2020

Hey guys,

I have been tearing my hair out over getting Folding@Home on my Radeon 280X to work on a leftover-rig running any Ubuntu-based distro.

On Linux Mint, I have managed to install the FAHClient and FAHControl successfully, and I can add both a CPU and GPU slot. The CPU folding does work, but the CPU itself is very slow so I do not intend to run it. The GPU slot downloads a WU, but then just sits at "Ready" status and gets no further.

Then I have tried Ubuntu 19, where the FAHClient successfully installs, while FAHControl fails without any meaningful information as to why. Accessing the FAH web interface shows that the Client is successfully running, but I have no options anywhere to add a GPU slot and/or remove the CPU slot. I attempted the terminal command

./FAHClient --configure

and follow through the options given, but no GPU slot appears in the web interface despite that.

I... Would really appreciate help as I am really at a loss on how to proceed here.

Gorgon · March 9, 2020

7 hours ago, NodCommander said:
Hey guys,

I have been tearing my hair out over getting Folding@Home on my Radeon 280X to work on a leftover-rig running any Ubuntu-based distro.

On Linux Mint, I have managed to install the FAHClient and FAHControl successfully, and I can add both a CPU and GPU slot. The CPU folding does work, but the CPU itself is very slow so I do not intend to run it. The GPU slot downloads a WU, but then just sits at "Ready" status and gets no further.

Then I have tried Ubuntu 19, where the FAHClient successfully installs, while FAHControl fails without any meaningful information as to why. Accessing the FAH web interface shows that the Client is successfully running, but I have no options anywhere to add a GPU slot and/or remove the CPU slot. I attempted the terminal command
./FAHClient --configure
and follow through the options given, but no GPU slot appears in the web interface despite that.

I... Would really appreciate help as I am really at a loss on how to proceed here.

FAHControl is built using Python2 which is now deprecated and end of life and not supported in Ubuntu 19. It will, however still work on Ubuntu 18 using some support libraries (see the Linux HOWTO in my sig)

having said all this you you don’t need FAHControl on Linux to fold If you have the Advanced Control app configured on another device running Windows or OS X. To get this to work on the Linux machine you need to configure remote access for your local network (see Remote Control in my sig)

Or you can do it manually on the Linux system with the OpenGL libraries and AMD drivers installed add a GPU slot in /etc/fahclient/config.xml then restart

service FAHClient restart

Gorgon · March 9, 2020

OK,

I got my ass off the couch and went to the computer

Here's a basic config for folding on just the GPU:


<config>

  <!-- HTTP Server -->

  <allow v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24/>

  <!-- Remote Command Server -->
  <command-allow-no-pass v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24'/>
  <!-- Slot Control -->
  <pause-on-battery v='false'/>
  <power v='full'/>

  <!-- User Information -->
  <passkey v='??????????????????????????????????'/>
  <team v='223518'/>
  <user v='???????????'/>

  <!-- Folding Slots -->
  <slot id='0' type='GPU'>
  </slot>

Just stop the FAHClient service, backup the old config just in case, use the one above substituting your user id and passkey then start the FAHClient

On the Linux system you can Telnet to the Folding Client on the loopback address:

telnet 127.0.0.1 36330

then type 'help'. "ppd" "slot-info" "queue-info" are all interesting commands

NodCommander · March 9, 2020

5 hours ago, Gorgon said:
OK,

I got my ass off the couch and went to the computer

Here's a basic config for folding on just the GPU:
<config>

  

  <allow v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24/>

  
  <command-allow-no-pass v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24'/>
  
  <pause-on-battery v='false'/>
  <power v='full'/>

  
  <passkey v='??????????????????????????????????'/>
  <team v='223518'/>
  <user v='???????????'/>

  
  <slot id='0' type='GPU'>
  </slot>
Just stop the FAHClient service, backup the old config just in case, use the one above substituting your user id and passkey then start the FAHClient

On the Linux system you can Telnet to the Folding Client on the loopback address:
telnet 127.0.0.1 36330
then type 'help'. "ppd" "slot-info" "queue-info" are all interesting commands

Hey thanks a ton for the extensive reply!

I had to edit the config you gave me as pasting it in on its own, replacing existing text, caused FAH to refuse to start after stopping it. Now it looks like this

<config>
  <!-- Client Control -->
  <fold-anon v='true'/>

  <!-- Folding Slot Configuration -->
  <gpu v='true'/>

  <!-- Slot Control -->
  <power v='full'/>

  <!-- User Information -->
  <passkey v='passkey'/>
  <user v='user'/>

  <!-- Folding Slots -->
  <slot id='0' type='GPU'/>
  <!-- Remote Command Server -->
  <command-allow-no-pass v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24'/>

</config>

With this config, FAHClient starts and is accessible through the local machine web-UI. It is however still not possible to connect to it via another computer in the same LAN.

On the local machine, it now correctly displays the GPU as the only slots and gets to the "Ready" point, but folding, again, never starts. Instead it just sits there and idles.

NodCommander · March 9, 2020

6 hours ago, Gorgon said:

 <allow v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24/>

Found the error. There should be an apostrophe at the end there, after 24. Now it... Seems to work? I can see the folding machine now from my main rig's FAHControl. It shows as online on the left hand side of the window, though clicking on it shows that it is "Updating" in yellow on the top of the window, as well as "Inactive".

So one more issue seems to remain, then.

Gorgon · March 9, 2020

Try restarting the client again.

Updating in yellow usually means that the client hasn’t fully loaded. I usually see that for a minute or so when remotely rebooting a machine via SSH.

Gorgon · March 9, 2020

It could also be the Firewall on the local machine. Take a look in the remote control post linked in my sig. I believe user TVwazhere had similar issues when his windows remote machine had his local network as something other than a Private network.

Gorgon · March 9, 2020

3 hours ago, NodCommander said:

Found the error. There should be an apostrophe at the end there, after 24. Now it... Seems to work? I can see the folding machine now from my main rig's FAHControl. It shows as online on the left hand side of the window, though clicking on it shows that it is "Updating" in yellow on the top of the window, as well as "Inactive".

I believe you have just commented out the HTTP Server Section

 <!-- HTTP Server -->
  <allow v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24'/>

It should look like the above but that would only be for using the web client remotely

NodCommander · March 9, 2020

5 hours ago, Gorgon said:

Try restarting the client again.

Updating in yellow usually means that the client hasn’t fully loaded. I usually see that for a minute or so when remotely rebooting a machine via SSH.

I had it on for a few hours now, with trying a restart of the client to no avail.

As for the firewall, that is beyond my knowledge as I would consider myself very much a beginner at all things Linux.

Gorgon · March 9, 2020

3 hours ago, NodCommander said:

I had it on for a few hours now, with trying a restart of the client to no avail.

As for the firewall, that is beyond my knowledge as I would consider myself very much a beginner at all things Linux.

The windows firewall on the monitoring system sometimes doesnt open the ports properly

Gorgon · March 9, 2020

4 hours ago, NodCommander said:

I had it on for a few hours now, with trying a restart of the client to no avail.

As for the firewall, that is beyond my knowledge as I would consider myself very much a beginner at all things Linux.

Is it actually folding on the GPU though? You should be able to see this by telnetting in to port 36330 on the Linux system and running slot-info

NodCommander · March 10, 2020

12 hours ago, Gorgon said:

Is it actually folding on the GPU though? You should be able to see this by telnetting in to port 36330 on the Linux system and running slot-info

No, it definitely is not. The local web UI just shows it is stuck on 0.0%.

Gorgon · March 10, 2020

I don’t have much experience getting AMD GPUs to fold under Linux. @Metallus97 @justpoetany ideas?

Can you post some of the log file (located in /var/lib/) in a spoiler?

Gorgon · March 10, 2020

It would appear issues with AMD GPUs are usually due to either OpenCL not being installed properly and/or the fahclient software needing to run as root

https://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=31293

Metallus97 · March 10, 2020

4 hours ago, Gorgon said:

I don’t have much experience getting AMD GPUs to fold under Linux. @Metallus97 @justpoetany ideas?

Can you post some of the log file (located in /var/lib/) in a spoiler?

Yeha... same problem here. Even installing the AMD drivers never goes properly for me...

justpoet · March 12, 2020

I gave up, delayed my linux server rollout by a month for folding month, ran under windows for most of folding month, and then put the hardware back to being the linux server that I deployed. Mine was a bit odd though, being APU.

NodCommander · March 13, 2020

On 3/10/2020 at 2:54 PM, Gorgon said:

I don’t have much experience getting AMD GPUs to fold under Linux. @Metallus97 @justpoetany ideas?

Can you post some of the log file (located in /var/lib/) in a spoiler?

Spoiler

*********************** Log Started 2020-03-13T08:12:27Z ***********************
08:12:27:************************* Folding@home Client *************************
08:12:27:    Website: https://foldingathome.org/
08:12:27: Copyright: (c) 2009-2018 foldingathome.org
08:12:27:     Author: Joseph Coffland <joseph@cauldrondevelopment.com>
08:12:27:       Args: --child --lifeline 1013 /etc/fahclient/config.xml --run-as
08:12:27:             fahclient --pid-file=/var/run/fahclient.pid --daemon
08:12:27:     Config: /etc/fahclient/config.xml
08:12:27:******************************** Build ********************************
08:12:27:    Version: 7.5.1
08:12:27:       Date: May 11 2018
08:12:27:       Time: 19:59:04
08:12:27: Repository: Git
08:12:27:   Revision: 4705bf53c635f88b8fe85af7675557e15d491ff0
08:12:27:     Branch: master
08:12:27:   Compiler: GNU 6.3.0 20170516
08:12:27:    Options: -std=gnu++98 -O3 -funroll-loops
08:12:27:   Platform: linux2 4.14.0-3-amd64
08:12:27:       Bits: 64
08:12:27:       Mode: Release
08:12:27:******************************* System ********************************
08:12:27:        CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G3220 @ 3.00GHz
08:12:27:     CPU ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3
08:12:27:       CPUs: 2
08:12:27:     Memory: 3.77GiB
08:12:27:Free Memory: 3.24GiB
08:12:27:    Threads: POSIX_THREADS
08:12:27: OS Version: 5.3
08:12:27:Has Battery: false
08:12:27: On Battery: false
08:12:27: UTC Offset: 1
08:12:27:        PID: 1015
08:12:27:        CWD: /var/lib/fahclient
08:12:27:         OS: Linux 5.3.0-40-generic x86_64
08:12:27:    OS Arch: AMD64
08:12:27:       GPUs: 1
08:12:27:      GPU 0: Bus:1 Slot:0 Func:0 AMD:5 Tahiti XT [Radeon R9 200/HD 7900/8970]
08:12:27:       CUDA: Not detected: Failed to open dynamic library 'libcuda.so':
08:12:27:             libcuda.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or
08:12:27:             directory
08:12:27:     OpenCL: Not detected: clGetPlatformIDs() returned -1001
08:12:27:***********************************************************************
08:12:27:<config>
08:12:27: 
08:12:27: <fold-anon v='true'/>
08:12:27:
08:12:27: 
08:12:27: <allow v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24'/>
08:12:27:
08:12:27: 
08:12:27: <power v='full'/>
08:12:27:
08:12:27: 
08:12:27: <passkey v='********************************'/>
08:12:27: <user v='NodCom'/>
08:12:27:
08:12:27: 
08:12:27: <slot id='0' type='GPU'/>
08:12:27:</config>
08:12:27:Switching to user fahclient
08:12:27:Trying to access database...
08:12:27:Successfully acquired database lock
08:12:27:Enabled folding slot 00: READY gpu:0:Tahiti XT [Radeon R9 200/HD 7900/8970]
[91m08:12:27:ERROR:No compute devices matched GPU #0 AMD:5 Tahiti XT [Radeon R9 200/HD 7900/8970]. You may need to update your graphics drivers.[0m
08:12:28:WU00:FS00:Starting
[91m08:12:28:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Failed to start core: OpenCL device matching slot 0 not found, try setting 'opencl-index' manually[0m
08:12:29:WU00:FS00:Starting
[91m08:12:29:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Failed to start core: OpenCL device matching slot 0 not found, try setting 'opencl-index' manually[0m
08:13:29:WU00:FS00:Starting
[91m08:13:29:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Failed to start core: OpenCL device matching slot 0 not found, try setting 'opencl-index' manually[0m
08:14:00:8:127.0.0.1:New Web connection
08:14:04:37:127.0.0.1:New Web connection
08:15:07:WU00:FS00:Starting
[91m08:15:07:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Failed to start core: OpenCL device matching slot 0 not found, try setting 'opencl-index' manually[0m
08:17:44:WU00:FS00:Starting
[91m08:17:44:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Failed to start core: OpenCL device matching slot 0 not found, try setting 'opencl-index' manually[0m

Definitely looks to be an OpenCL error then. But, if this has been a known issue for a longer while, why has it not been solved I wonder?

Gorgon · March 13, 2020

5 hours ago, NodCommander said:

Hide contents

*********************** Log Started 2020-03-13T08:12:27Z ***********************
08:12:27:************************* Folding@home Client *************************
08:12:27:    Website: https://foldingathome.org/
08:12:27: Copyright: (c) 2009-2018 foldingathome.org
08:12:27:     Author: Joseph Coffland <joseph@cauldrondevelopment.com>
08:12:27:       Args: --child --lifeline 1013 /etc/fahclient/config.xml --run-as
08:12:27:             fahclient --pid-file=/var/run/fahclient.pid --daemon
08:12:27:     Config: /etc/fahclient/config.xml
08:12:27:******************************** Build ********************************
08:12:27:    Version: 7.5.1
08:12:27:       Date: May 11 2018
08:12:27:       Time: 19:59:04
08:12:27: Repository: Git
08:12:27:   Revision: 4705bf53c635f88b8fe85af7675557e15d491ff0
08:12:27:     Branch: master
08:12:27:   Compiler: GNU 6.3.0 20170516
08:12:27:    Options: -std=gnu++98 -O3 -funroll-loops
08:12:27:   Platform: linux2 4.14.0-3-amd64
08:12:27:       Bits: 64
08:12:27:       Mode: Release
08:12:27:******************************* System ********************************
08:12:27:        CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G3220 @ 3.00GHz
08:12:27:     CPU ID: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3
08:12:27:       CPUs: 2
08:12:27:     Memory: 3.77GiB
08:12:27:Free Memory: 3.24GiB
08:12:27:    Threads: POSIX_THREADS
08:12:27: OS Version: 5.3
08:12:27:Has Battery: false
08:12:27: On Battery: false
08:12:27: UTC Offset: 1
08:12:27:        PID: 1015
08:12:27:        CWD: /var/lib/fahclient
08:12:27:         OS: Linux 5.3.0-40-generic x86_64
08:12:27:    OS Arch: AMD64
08:12:27:       GPUs: 1
08:12:27:      GPU 0: Bus:1 Slot:0 Func:0 AMD:5 Tahiti XT [Radeon R9 200/HD 7900/8970]
08:12:27:       CUDA: Not detected: Failed to open dynamic library 'libcuda.so':
08:12:27:             libcuda.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or
08:12:27:             directory
08:12:27:     OpenCL: Not detected: clGetPlatformIDs() returned -1001
08:12:27:***********************************************************************
08:12:27:<config>
08:12:27: 
08:12:27: <fold-anon v='true'/>
08:12:27:
08:12:27: 
08:12:27: <allow v='127.0.0.1 192.168.1.0/24'/>
08:12:27:
08:12:27: 
08:12:27: <power v='full'/>
08:12:27:
08:12:27: 
08:12:27: <passkey v='********************************'/>
08:12:27: <user v='NodCom'/>
08:12:27:
08:12:27: 
08:12:27: <slot id='0' type='GPU'/>
08:12:27:</config>
08:12:27:Switching to user fahclient
08:12:27:Trying to access database...
08:12:27:Successfully acquired database lock
08:12:27:Enabled folding slot 00: READY gpu:0:Tahiti XT [Radeon R9 200/HD 7900/8970]
[91m08:12:27:ERROR:No compute devices matched GPU #0 AMD:5 Tahiti XT [Radeon R9 200/HD 7900/8970]. You may need to update your graphics drivers.[0m
08:12:28:WU00:FS00:Starting
[91m08:12:28:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Failed to start core: OpenCL device matching slot 0 not found, try setting 'opencl-index' manually[0m
08:12:29:WU00:FS00:Starting
[91m08:12:29:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Failed to start core: OpenCL device matching slot 0 not found, try setting 'opencl-index' manually[0m
08:13:29:WU00:FS00:Starting
[91m08:13:29:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Failed to start core: OpenCL device matching slot 0 not found, try setting 'opencl-index' manually[0m
08:14:00:8:127.0.0.1:New Web connection
08:14:04:37:127.0.0.1:New Web connection
08:15:07:WU00:FS00:Starting
[91m08:15:07:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Failed to start core: OpenCL device matching slot 0 not found, try setting 'opencl-index' manually[0m
08:17:44:WU00:FS00:Starting
[91m08:17:44:ERROR:WU00:FS00:Failed to start core: OpenCL device matching slot 0 not found, try setting 'opencl-index' manually[0m

Definitely looks to be an OpenCL error then. But, if this has been a known issue for a longer while, why has it not been solved I wonder?

The missing OpenCL issue is fairly common.

Please try:

sudo apt-get ocl-icd-opencl-dev

sudo shutdown -r now

NodCommander · March 13, 2020

8 hours ago, Gorgon said:
The missing OpenCL issue is fairly common.

Please try:
sudo apt-get ocl-icd-opencl-dev

sudo shutdown -r now

The first command yields an error, roughly, "Incorrect action ocl-icd-opencl-dev".

Metallus97 · March 13, 2020

8 hours ago, Gorgon said:
The missing OpenCL issue is fairly common.

Please try:
sudo apt-get ocl-icd-opencl-dev

sudo shutdown -r now

so do I only need this or this+AMD drivers?

Windows7ge · March 13, 2020

I have some experience with this. I'm not home at the moment though to get you all the details.

I don't know about folding but for BOINC you do need both the AMD driver and the opencl component. Weather you need the Legacy or PAL driver depends on your GPU.

The argument to install the opencl driver from the AMD driver package is usually:

./amd-gpu-pro-install --opencl=legacy,pal

I'll help further when I get home.

Gorgon · March 13, 2020

1 hour ago, NodCommander said:

The first command yields an error, roughly, "Incorrect action ocl-icd-opencl-dev".

Could be “apt install opencl...”

Metallus97 · March 14, 2020

22 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

I have some experience with this. I'm not home at the moment though to get you all the details.

I don't know about folding but for BOINC you do need both the AMD driver and the opencl component. Weather you need the Legacy or PAL driver depends on your GPU.

The argument to install the opencl driver from the AMD driver package is usually:

./amd-gpu-pro-install --opencl=legacy,pal

I'll help further when I get home.

Thank you! I will try them tips as soon as possible!

Windows7ge · March 15, 2020

OK here we go. I was going to help last night but the forum quite literally died. Now I've gotten this working on both 18.04.3 & 19.04 so it's my expectation that you should be able to get it going on 18.04.4 & 19.10.

NOTE: You may run into kernel/driver incompatibilities. If this happens you'll have to run an earlier kernel.

The most proper method of getting OpenCL going on Linux would be through ROCm. This is basically an open source development of the OpenCL driver. Unfortunately I've never gotten this working myself for BOINC. I do plan to test it again for Folding though so it could work here.

What I did get working is as I said, during the driver installation add the OpenCL argument:

./amdgpu-pro-install --opencl=legacy,pal

You can find other options using the help option:

It's also mentioned on the AMD website when you go to install the driver: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-lin-19-10-unified

All of this worked for me to getting BOINC working. I expect Folding should work under a similar enough principal which I will test on Ubuntu Server if ROCm fails me.

NodCommander · March 15, 2020

On 3/14/2020 at 12:56 AM, Gorgon said:

Could be “apt install opencl...”

Nope.

9 hours ago, Windows7ge said:
OK here we go. I was going to help last night but the forum quite literally died. Now I've gotten this working on both 18.04.3 & 19.04 so it's my expectation that you should be able to get it going on 18.04.4 & 19.10.

NOTE: You may run into kernel/driver incompatibilities. If this happens you'll have to run an earlier kernel.

The most proper method of getting OpenCL going on Linux would be through ROCm. This is basically an open source development of the OpenCL driver. Unfortunately I've never gotten this working myself for BOINC. I do plan to test it again for Folding though so it could work here.

What I did get working is as I said, during the driver installation add the OpenCL argument:
./amdgpu-pro-install --opencl=legacy,pal
You can find other options using the help option:

It's also mentioned on the AMD website when you go to install the driver: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-lin-19-10-unified

All of this worked for me to getting BOINC working. I expect Folding should work under a similar enough principal which I will test on Ubuntu Server if ROCm fails me.

Thanks, but all this does not make any amount of sense to me. I see in your Terminal screenshot you have it opened in your Downloads folder. Okay, but where did you get the downloaded files from, the AMD site? I went there and downloaded the files meant for Ubuntu and tried to run the command you wrote from the Downloads folder, but the Terminal just responds with that it cannot find the file or directory. There seem to be at least one step missing in your written guide there.

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Folding + AMD GPU + Linux = Impossible?!

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