I have 2 machines, each with 4 GT240 cards in them, all but one is 512MB, and one is 1GB. Due to the memory size, I can only run one WU per card; they run around 70% utilization. SO: I found 3 1GB GT240s on eBay, and bought 'em, intending to run 2 (or more) WUs/card.

I installed the 3 "new" cards with the old 1GB card in one of my machines (running NV 275.33). Win 7 detected the cards as "different" from the old ones, and decided to d/l and install 29x.xx (I forget which one exactly). This of course screwed things up, so machine crashes with BSOD (fleeting, so I can't read the error). (Also (and annoyingly) Win7 doesn't put the d/l driver install package where NVIDIA usually puts it, so I can't remove it from the system).
SO I uninstalled all the NVIDIA stuff in "Programs and Features" and reinstalled 275.33 from scratch. And it works OK with 1 card. But > 1 gives me the BSOD at startup. So I believe the drivers were not properly cleaned by what I did.

SO: what can I do about this? I have killed the automatic driver install of new h/w at startup, but it is too late for me here. I need to know how to really clean out the NVIDIA drivers (if that is possible). Alternatively, I could save my BOINC folder, reinstall WIN 7 from scratch, and copy it back (I know there was a thread about that, but I can't find it at the moment).

Any suggestions are welcome! Either on how to clean the drivers, or a link to the thread on moving BOINC around.

Thanks!

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Try:
http://phyxion.net/item/driver-sweeper.html

Do BSOD happen if you put several of your older GT240 512MB cards in?
May be a hardware/PSU issue?

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 

I have 2 machines, each with 4 GT240 cards in them, all but one is 512MB, and one is 1GB. Due to the memory size, I can only run one WU per card; they run around 70% utilization. SO: I found 3 1GB GT240s on eBay, and bought 'em, intending to run 2 (or more) WUs/card.....

With anything less than a 4xx (Fermi) card there is no point in trying to run more than 1w/u per card. ;)

Cheers.

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exactly the 2XX cards are not capable of running more than 1 WU

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

exactly the 2XX cards are not capable of running more than 1 WU

I disagree, having a GTS250 on one machine and a GTX275 on another, both 1GB and both capable of running 2 WUs. Both are running 6.10(Fermi).

D/l Driver Sweeper from the above link, uninstall Nvidia, run Driver Sweeper twice. Once to clean everything, which requires a machine recycle and the other to check that everything is clean. I would also suggest that you check the program files ensuring that all Nvidia directories have ben removed. Install clean version of Nvidia. This has worked for me many times in the past through various OS, including Win7, before Nvidia put the clean install option in their installer.

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I don't buy computers, I build them!!

Its not they're not capable of running 2 at a time its just that they take much longer doing that than running just 1 at a time (in other words, you'll get better a production rate just running 1 at a time).

Cheers.

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If you want to see what the BSOD said, which is essential information by the way, check Windows Event Viewer: Right-click Computer->Manage->Event Viewer. It'll either show as a Critical or Error event type.

No Computer icon on the desktop? Then it may be in Start, at the top.
Or you can enable it, by right-clicking the desktop, personalize, Change desktop icons (in the left menu), check Computer->Apply->OK.

When you get BSODs with the new cards in, it more sounds like a big problem with drivers or the hardware. There's really no need to go reinstall Windows, that's just a waste of time. Cleaning out the old drivers is the first thing to do, in Safe Mode, with Driver-Sweeper (or similar).

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I have 2 machines, each with 4 GT240 cards in them, all but one is 512MB, and one is 1GB. Due to the memory size, I can only run one WU per card; they run around 70% utilization. SO: I found 3 1GB GT240s on eBay, and bought 'em, intending to run 2 (or more) WUs/card.....

With anything less than a 4xx (Fermi) card there is no point in trying to run more than 1w/u per card. ;)

Cheers.

Actually, with 1 WU/card I get about 75% GPU utilization, with 2 I get about 95% GPU utilization (says EVGA Precision), so running 2/card gives roughly 25% more RAC - not a lot, but not insignificant, either.

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Ageless: yeah, it is (was) a driver problem because Win 7 upgraded me (badly) from 275.33 -> 29x.xx; I decided to can the system, it is easier. Especially as I got the darn thing in such a state that it won't boot at all now (ain't I clever?). I'll regen the system (on a different drive) and then use the current drive as the repository for the BOINC progs and data.
That should work...

Cliff: Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm beyond that now (see above). I'll keep it in mind though, for the next time I screw up.

Anyone got the "move BOINC" thread link for me?

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Actually, with 1 WU/card I get about 75% GPU utilization, with 2 I get about 95% GPU utilization (says EVGA Precision), so running 2/card gives roughly 25% more RAC - not a lot, but not insignificant, either.

When I tested it on my gtx260 it took much longer doing 2 wus, but I have no idea why the gpu % said. Have you actually tested the times doing 1 vs 2?

it was test a long time ago. yet we still hear about people running 2WU at a time on the 2XX cards. As was stated before the 2XX don't have, for a lack of a better word, the hardware necessary, to cleanly run 2 WU's at a time. IIRC the only 2XX card that is capable of 2 WU's at a time is the 295 and that is due to it being a dual core.

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

Actually, with 1 WU/card I get about 75% GPU utilization, with 2 I get about 95% GPU utilization (says EVGA Precision), so running 2/card gives roughly 25% more RAC - not a lot, but not insignificant, either.

When I tested it on my gtx260 it took much longer doing 2 wus, but I have no idea why the gpu % said. Have you actually tested the times doing 1 vs 2?

Right now I have a GTS250 running 2 on my A-SYS and it's running @ 79%. Prior to this, if I remember correctly, it took approx 15-25 minutes for a task. Now estimated run times are between 20 minutes to 2:30 hrs depending on the task. I do know that if I dropped it, RAC goes way down almost immediately and has an awfully hard time catching back up.

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I don't buy computers, I build them!!

Actually, with 1 WU/card I get about 75% GPU utilization, with 2 I get about 95% GPU utilization (says EVGA Precision), so running 2/card gives roughly 25% more RAC - not a lot, but not insignificant, either.

When I tested it on my gtx260 it took much longer doing 2 wus, but I have no idea why the gpu % said. Have you actually tested the times doing 1 vs 2?

Times are so variable for WUs, I never tested that on these cards - because of the driver screwup by Win7, it wasn't running long enough for me to develop a sense of how much longer a given WU might take at 2/card vs. 1/card.

The fact that utilization went from ~75% to ~95% would suggest some advantage. Clearly, adding a 3rd WU has no headroom, though, even though there is room for it in memory.

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Excuse me if I did not get this right.
But, you are saying that 7 just went ahead and self loaded the drivers when you installed the new cards?

I have one rig running 7, and I don't recall it doing anything when I stuffed the GPUs in without asking.

Or, did you err and tell it to go ahead?

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Excuse me if I did not get this right.
But, you are saying that 7 just went ahead and self loaded the drivers when you installed the new cards?

I have one rig running 7, and I don't recall it doing anything when I stuffed the GPUs in without asking.

Or, did you err and tell it to go ahead?

Windows will install the default drivers for any new device that you install on your machine. Have you ever noticed the little computer in the notification area when Windows comes up after installing a new card? When you elect to install the Nvidia drivers with a clean install, the default will be removed. When you have Windows Update search for updates, you should notice in the optional section whether to select the default drivers for you cards or not.

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I don't buy computers, I build them!!

I've got Windows to notify me about updates, but nothing gets installed unless i select & then authorise it.
Plugging in new hardware results in the system only installing drivers that it already has, if it requires new drivers it asks before downloading & installing them.

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Grant
Darwin NT

don't agree. I ran 2 WU on two 285's for a long time and it was for sure faster.

Andy

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Excuse me if I did not get this right.
But, you are saying that 7 just went ahead and self loaded the drivers when you installed the new cards?

I have one rig running 7, and I don't recall it doing anything when I stuffed the GPUs in without asking.

Or, did you err and tell it to go ahead?

What happened was I got the "Found New Hardware" popup on boot and it went to "Installing Hardware" and then went out to MS to get what turned out to be 29x.xx instead of using the onboard 275.33 - it didn't ask me at any point if I wanted to get drivers from MS. In the past, I have never seen such behavior when it already has onboard a suitable driver. Also, it must have had an unresolved conflict with the 275.33 drivers somehow, to cause my problems.

Windows Update will include more recent drivers, but they don't have to be installed, if not wanted.

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