Too many invalid results

Message boards : Number crunching : Too many invalid results

Author	Message
S@NL - John van Gorsel Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 5 Jul 99 Posts: 176 Credit: 121,699,501 RAC: 55,105	Message 1296482 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 7:19:49 UTC
	I have some issues with this host. Basic hardware of this pc (I7 990X/GTX580) has not changed since July 2011. On September 27 I noticed that this host produced around 20 invalid results per day. Before that, it produced 2 or 3 invalids per week. The only change to that pc around that time was that it ran Einstein and MilkyWay tasks as well because of a lack of Seti work. No issues with Einstein and MilkyWay tasks. Temperature of the card was constant at 60°C (MSI Afterburner), fan is on Auto. When a GPUGrid task ended with an error on September 30, I upgraded the nVidia driver from 301.41 to 306.23. Driver 301.41 was running since the end of May this year, the x41g was installed in March this year. A week ago, I cleaned and reseated the card but the problems still occur. I now noticed that Pending Validation and Pending Validation Incluclusive are seperately mentioned on my account page so it it somewhat easier to compare hosts. This host shows almost 40% of the total tasks are inconclusive where my other hosts are between 5 and 13%. Suggestions on what else I should check or change are welcome. ____________
	ID: 1296482 ·

Mike Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 17 Feb 01 Posts: 19787 Credit: 21,961,341 RAC: 29,725	Message 1296492 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 9:42:01 UTC
	Your card always find more spikes than your wingmen. Maybe cleaning the fan and/or reseat the cards might help. ____________
	ID: 1296492 ·

Bill G Send message Joined: 1 Jun 01 Posts: 241 Credit: 19,692,260 RAC: 18,191	Message 1296503 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 12:14:59 UTC - in response to Message 1296492. Last modified: 18 Oct 2012, 12:19:30 UTC
	I am seeing the same thing here, on both my main crunchers. Many of the invalids have more than 3 responses on them already. That would seem to indicate that the calculations are changing. And they are coming from both CPU and GPU processed tasks. (I was thinking about starting a thread on this but here it is already) Sorry, this is about invalids, not inconclusive results, ignore this post in this thread. ____________
	ID: 1296503 ·

S@NL - John van Gorsel Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 5 Jul 99 Posts: 176 Credit: 121,699,501 RAC: 55,105	Message 1296633 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 17:53:10 UTC - in response to Message 1296492.
	Your card always find more spikes than your wingmen. Maybe cleaning the fan and/or reseat the cards might help. I noticed that. As mentioned, I cleaned and reseated the card a week ago but the problem is still there. Also, there was hardly any dust on the card (the case has inlet filters)
	ID: 1296633 ·

Colin Send message Joined: 21 Feb 10 Posts: 12 Credit: 1,493,271 RAC: 0	Message 1296716 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 21:48:07 UTC
	I have a simliar GPU problem. Both my machine and the card are new. Out of over 1900 tasks, 987 are Validation Inconclusive and only 42 are Valid. I have no idea what to do about this. If I could turn off GPU usage I could just let 4 processors run tasks. Since I received a notice about overloading the servers, I will discontinue the particiaption of this machine until I hear something. Otherwise the GPU works fine, operating two screens flawlessly. Colin ____________
	ID: 1296716 ·

Sten-Arne Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 1 Nov 08 Posts: 2762 Credit: 8,399,816 RAC: 22,636	Message 1296723 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 21:58:11 UTC - in response to Message 1296716. Last modified: 18 Oct 2012, 22:02:22 UTC
	I have a simliar GPU problem. Both my machine and the card are new. Out of over 1900 tasks, 987 are Validation Inconclusive and only 42 are Valid. I have no idea what to do about this. If I could turn off GPU usage I could just let 4 processors run tasks. Since I received a notice about overloading the servers, I will discontinue the particiaption of this machine until I hear something. Otherwise the GPU works fine, operating two screens flawlessly. Colin Just turn off GPU work. Your account/SETI@home preferences. Choose the venue for the computer in question, and turn "Use NVIDIA GPU" (or ATI if you have such a card) to NO (untick). Your computer will stop requesting new GPU work, but if you still have GPU work in your cache, it will still run those you already have. ____________ /The grumpy old Swede. "I'm so old, that 98% of all trees in the forest, are younger than I am"
	ID: 1296723 ·

Wiggo Send message Joined: 24 Jan 00 Posts: 1663 Credit: 64,368,436 RAC: 53,718	Message 1296731 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 22:36:46 UTC - in response to Message 1296716.
	I have a simliar GPU problem. Both my machine and the card are new. Out of over 1900 tasks, 987 are Validation Inconclusive and only 42 are Valid. I have no idea what to do about this. If I could turn off GPU usage I could just let 4 processors run tasks. Since I received a notice about overloading the servers, I will discontinue the particiaption of this machine until I hear something. Otherwise the GPU works fine, operating two screens flawlessly. Colin No need to be so drastic, you just need to find out why your GTX560Ti is throwing those invalid results. It could be anyone of a few reasons for it like the driver, heat, video voltage or the PSU isn't quite up to the job but with the right details like PSU ratings, load running temps and what voltage GPU-Z reports under load so a solution can be found. As for the driver I've heard of problems with that early driver version that you are using, I use 285.62 with mine. Cheers. ____________
	ID: 1296731 ·

Fred J. Verster Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 21 Apr 04 Posts: 3232 Credit: 31,585,541 RAC: 0	Message 1296749 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 23:13:10 UTC - in response to Message 1296731.
	I have a simliar GPU problem. Both my machine and the card are new. Out of over 1900 tasks, 987 are Validation Inconclusive and only 42 are Valid. I have no idea what to do about this. If I could turn off GPU usage I could just let 4 processors run tasks. Since I received a notice about overloading the servers, I will discontinue the particiaption of this machine until I hear something. Otherwise the GPU works fine, operating two screens flawlessly. Colin No need to be so drastic, you just need to find out why your GTX560Ti is throwing those invalid results. It could be anyone of a few reasons for it like the driver, heat, video voltage or the PSU isn't quite up to the job but with the right details like PSU ratings, load running temps and what voltage GPU-Z reports under load so a solution can be found. As for the driver I've heard of problems with that early driver version that you are using, I use 285.62 with mine. Cheers. I've noticed this too, although not every task has different signals found, unlike this WU. And this one, 19 and 20 Pulses. Similar amount of signals. Also similar outcome? So far: Validation inconclusive (22) · Valid (119) · Invalid (0) · Error (0) . And this was only my ATI host, CPU=i7-2600; GPUs: 2x HD5870; PSU 1000Watt. No problems with overheating CPUs and/or GPUs, no PSU troubles nor dust as I cleaned all 4 GPUs. [GTX470; GTX480; 2x HD5870GPUs]?! That's almost 20% Inconclusive, even 1% is too many! ____________ Knight Who Says Ni N!, OUT numbered.................
	ID: 1296749 ·

Grant (SSSF) Send message Joined: 19 Aug 99 Posts: 5291 Credit: 41,849,947 RAC: 32,420	Message 1296793 - Posted: 19 Oct 2012, 4:22:54 UTC - in response to Message 1296731.
	As for the driver I've heard of problems with that early driver version that you are using, I use 285.62 with mine. 275.33 works for me. GTX 560Ti factory overclock. No problems (although it does run very hot). ____________ Grant Darwin NT.
	ID: 1296793 ·

S@NL - John van Gorsel Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 5 Jul 99 Posts: 176 Credit: 121,699,501 RAC: 55,105	Message 1306146 - Posted: 14 Nov 2012, 18:11:06 UTC
	In the mean time I tried manual fan settings to rule out cooling issues. I set the fan to 75% which lowered the GPU temperature from the original 61°C to around 57°C. Unfortunately this didn't help at all. Still seeing way too many invalid results. I now changed the power supply to a slightly bigger but supposedly more stable version (less ripple) The "old" power supply is a CoolerMaster 800W Silent Pro Gold, the new one a Seasonic 860W Platinum. The CoolerMaster is not a bad PSU according to some reviews but the ripple/noise on the power signal is high compared to the Seasonic. Since all of the invalid tasks on this pc show more spikes then the valid tasks, maybe the power supply is the culprit. ____________
	ID: 1306146 ·

S@NL - John van Gorsel Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 5 Jul 99 Posts: 176 Credit: 121,699,501 RAC: 55,105	Message 1306156 - Posted: 14 Nov 2012, 18:31:03 UTC
	One addition: this same pc ran a few dozen tasks on Seti Beta with similar results. It runs "stock beta", so one task at a time using the x41z application.
	ID: 1306156 ·

S@NL - John van Gorsel Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 5 Jul 99 Posts: 176 Credit: 121,699,501 RAC: 55,105	Message 1317533 - Posted: 20 Dec 2012, 10:35:01 UTC
	The GTX580 used in this host is a factory overclocked MSI card. Increasing the fan speed did reduce the GPU temperature to values below 60°C which should be fine but the validation errors remained. The card is running at stock speeds for a month now and I haven't seen a single validation error. Since the GPU temperature was rather low, the memory temperature may have been too high. Next I will check the condition of the cooling paste and replace it if necessary.
	ID: 1317533 ·

Message boards : Number crunching : Too many invalid results