50 BTC if you write a complete guide on GPU mining on Ubuntu using ATI

[Mahkul]

On the two-card system I get:

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:~/Downloads/poclbm$ ./poclbm.py --user=user --pass=pass
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./poclbm.py", line 20, in <module>
    platform = cl.get_platforms()[0]
pyopencl.LogicError: clGetPlatformIDs failed: invalid/unknown error code

:/

[1714044575]

1714044575

[1714044575]

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1714044575

[Fractality]

Thanks for the great instructions! At least I got pyopencl to compile. However, poclbm only shows 256MHash on GPU one and a paltry 2MHash on GPU two. It is a HD 5970, so I think it should do about 500 250MHash on each of them?

Any idea what could be wrong? What I did differently was maybe loading the latest drivers from ATI, with that grep command I get

grep "ATI Proprietary Linux Driver" /var/log/Xorg.0.log
[    13.543] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Version Identifier:8.81.5
[    13.543] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Release Identifier: 8.812                                
[    13.543] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Build Date: Jan  4 2011 21:31:36

could that be the problem? I tried to disable crossfire, too, not sure how to check that.

I did not use the export DISPLAY=:0 line, what does it do?

[Raulo]

On the two-card system I get:

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:~/Downloads/poclbm$ ./poclbm.py --user=user --pass=pass
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./poclbm.py", line 20, in <module>
    platform = cl.get_platforms()[0]
pyopencl.LogicError: clGetPlatformIDs failed: invalid/unknown error code

Check
$ cd /opt/ati-stream-sdk-v2.1-lnx64/samples/opencl/bin/x86_64
$ ./CLInfo

first.

[Mahkul]

On the two-card system I get:

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:~/Downloads/poclbm$ ./poclbm.py --user=user --pass=pass
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./poclbm.py", line 20, in <module>
    platform = cl.get_platforms()[0]
pyopencl.LogicError: clGetPlatformIDs failed: invalid/unknown error code

Check
$ cd /opt/ati-stream-sdk-v2.1-lnx64/samples/opencl/bin/x86_64
$ ./CLInfo

first.

I am logged in via two ssh tunnels as the same user at the same time. On one of them this returns PASSED! On the other one:

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:/opt/ati-stream-sdk-v2.1-lnx32/samples/opencl/bin/x86$ ./CLInfo 
./CLInfo: /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so: no version information available (required by ./CLInfo)
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'cl::Error'
  what():  clGetPlatformIDs
Aborted

[Raulo]

Thanks for the great instructions! At least I got pyopencl to compile. However, poclbm only shows 256MHash on GPU one and a paltry 2MHash on GPU two. It is a HD 5970, so I think it should do about 500MHash on each of them?

The other one is your CPU.

Any idea what could be wrong? What I did differently was maybe loading the latest drivers from ATI, with that grep command I get

A few things.

I did not use the export DISPLAY=:0 line, what does it do?

I would check this first. :0.0 is the first GPU, :0.1 is the second one, etc. :0 is "all of them". If you have :0.0 in your environment, only one will be used.

Also, Check if the card is correctly setup in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. It should have two Device sections.

grep "ATI Proprietary Linux Driver" /var/log/Xorg.0.log
[    13.543] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Version Identifier:8.81.5
[    13.543] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Release Identifier: 8.812                               
[    13.543] (II) ATI Proprietary Linux Driver Build Date: Jan  4 2011 21:31:36

could that be the problem? I tried to disable crossfire, too, not sure how to check that.
[/quote]

It's a very recent driver but check the other suggestions first.

[Raulo]

I am logged in via two ssh tunnels as the same user at the same time. On one of them this returns PASSED! On the other one:

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:/opt/ati-stream-sdk-v2.1-lnx32/samples/opencl/bin/x86$ ./CLInfo 
./CLInfo: /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so: no version information available (required by ./CLInfo)
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'cl::Error'
  what():  clGetPlatformIDs
Aborted

It has to work first before getting into poclbm.py.

Why does it look for /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so? Do you even have   /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so? Do you have LD_LIBRARY_PATH correct? Also, set DISPLAY=:0 to make sure it is correct.

If it does not help, give output of

$ ldd ./CLInfo 

[Fractality]

Whoa, thanks! I missed the -f --adapter=all part in generating the xorg.conf. Now I have ~270MHash on each GPU.

If I mine successfully, I'll be sure to send some coins along.

[Mahkul]

I am logged in via two ssh tunnels as the same user at the same time. On one of them this returns PASSED! On the other one:

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:/opt/ati-stream-sdk-v2.1-lnx32/samples/opencl/bin/x86$ ./CLInfo 
./CLInfo: /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so: no version information available (required by ./CLInfo)
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'cl::Error'
  what():  clGetPlatformIDs
Aborted

It has to work first before getting into poclbm.py.

Why does it look for /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so? Do you even have   /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so? Do you have LD_LIBRARY_PATH correct? Also, set DISPLAY=:0 to make sure it is correct.

If it does not help, give output of

$ ldd ./CLInfo 

I think I have had too much of alcohol this evening. Of course I didn't export the Library path on that console window...

Thank you so much for this again! Bitcoins sent, as you know.

On a side note, is there any easy way to upgrade those drivers that I installed via the system->administration thing? I have no VNC access to that machine, only SSH. Thanks in advance for any help with that.

[humble]

I've posted a guide, which may be helpful to some, over here.

[Raulo]

On a side note, is there any easy way to upgrade those drivers that I installed via the system->administration thing? I have no VNC access to that machine, only SSH. Thanks in advance for any help with that.

You can always login with X support via

Code:

ssh -X your_host

and

Code:

$ /usr/bin/jockey-gtk

runs the System->Administration->Hardware Drivers thingy.

Probably a better option to update is to remove those drivers altogether

Code:

$ sudo apt-get remove --purge fglrx fglrx_* fglrx-amdcccle* fglrx-dev* xorg-driver-fglrx

and install the ones from the ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-update.

[Mahkul]

On a side note, is there any easy way to upgrade those drivers that I installed via the system->administration thing? I have no VNC access to that machine, only SSH. Thanks in advance for any help with that.

You can always login with X support via

Code:

ssh -X your_host

and

Code:

$ /usr/bin/jockey-gtk

runs the System->Administration->Hardware Drivers thingy.

Probably a better option to update is to remove those drivers altogether

Code:

$ sudo apt-get remove --purge fglrx fglrx_* fglrx-amdcccle* fglrx-dev* xorg-driver-fglrx

and install the ones from the ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-update.

I removed the old drivers using the remove command there and I installed the ones from ppa by performing this:

Code:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
$ sudo apt-get install fglrx
$ sudo apt-get install fglrx-amdcccle
$ sudo apt-get install fglrx-modaliases

However, now when I try to use aticonfig:

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:~/Downloads/poclbm$ sudo aticonfig --initial
sudo: aticonfig: command not found

Where did it disappear? Or is this a path issue or a missing package?

EDIT:

I read somewhere that this could be due to the xorg driver missing. I tried to install it, but this is what I got:

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:~$ sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx
[sudo] password for mahkul: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 xorg-driver-fglrx : Depends: fglrx but it is not going to be installed
E: Broken packages

Any thoughts?

[Raulo]

aticonfig should be in the fglrx package. xorg-driver-fglrx is an old package. But these drivers work (or not) by magic and there are millions of possibilities of conflicts between version so something might have got broken.

What is the result of

Code:

$ ls -l /etc/alternatives/aticonfig

I have a symlink to  /usr/lib/fglrx/bin/aticonfig

Try running 

Code:

$ sudo /usr/lib/fglrx/bin/aticonfig  --initial

[Mahkul]

aticonfig should be in the fglrx package. xorg-driver-fglrx is an old package. But these drivers work (or not) by magic and there are millions of possibilities of conflicts between version so something might have got broken.

What is the result of

Code:

$ ls -l /etc/alternatives/aticonfig

I have a symlink to  /usr/lib/fglrx/bin/aticonfig

Try running  

Code:

$ sudo /usr/lib/fglrx/bin/aticonfig  --initial

I tried both:

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:~$ ls -l /etc/alternatives/aticonfig
ls: cannot access /etc/alternatives/aticonfig: No such file or directory
mahkul@mahkul:~$ sudo /usr/lib/fglrx/bin/aticonfig  --initial
[sudo] password for mahkul: 
Unable to open /etc/ati/control, please reinstall the driver.
/usr/lib/fglrx/bin/aticonfig: No supported adapters detected
mahkul@mahkul:~$ 

[Raulo]

Well, something is broken with the fglrx driver installation. I told you not to touch it if it worked

What is the result of?

Code:

$ dpkg -l |grep fglrx

Also, what happens if you try to install fglrx driver again?

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install fglrx

[dingus]

May I ask if this guide will work for multiple ATI 5970s?

[Mahkul]

Well, something is broken with the fglrx driver installation. I told you not to touch it if it worked

What is the result of?

Code:

$ dpkg -l |grep fglrx

This:

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:~$ dpkg -l |grep fglrx
ii  fglrx                                2:8.801-0ubuntu1~xup~maverick                   Video driver for the ATI graphics accelerators
ii  fglrx-amdcccle                       2:8.801-0ubuntu1~xup~maverick                   Catalyst Control Center for the ATI graphics accelerators
ii  fglrx-modaliases                     2:8.801-0ubuntu1~xup~maverick                   Identifiers supported by the ATI graphics driver

Also, what happens if you try to install fglrx driver again?

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install fglrx

This:

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:~$ sudo apt-get install fglrx
[sudo] password for mahkul: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
fglrx is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 257 not upgraded.

[Raulo]

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:~$ dpkg -l |grep fglrx
ii  fglrx                                2:8.801-0ubuntu1~xup~maverick                   Video driver for the ATI graphics accelerators
ii  fglrx-amdcccle                       2:8.801-0ubuntu1~xup~maverick                   Catalyst Control Center for the ATI graphics accelerators
ii  fglrx-modaliases                     2:8.801-0ubuntu1~xup~maverick                   Identifiers supported by the ATI graphics driver

This is exactly as it should be.

Code:

mahkul@mahkul:~$ sudo apt-get install fglrx
[sudo] password for mahkul: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
fglrx is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 257 not upgraded.

Also correct.

I don't know. Was there any error when installing fglrx? Something is broken. You may have some crap left from previous drivers.

I have the following links

Code:

$ ls -l /etc/ati
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 26 2011-01-07 13:52 /etc/ati -> /etc/alternatives/ati_conf
$ ls -l /etc/alternatives/ati_conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 2011-01-07 13:52 /etc/alternatives/ati_conf -> /usr/lib/fglrx/etc/ati

You have an error about missing /etc/ati/control so there is something not installed correctly there. Check what package owns the final link

I have

Code:

$ dpkg -S  /usr/lib/fglrx/etc/ati
fglrx: /usr/lib/fglrx/etc/ati

Remove the package (if it is not fglrx). Remove fglrx and install again.

Or try

Code:

$ sudo mv /etc/ati /etc/ati.bak
$ sudo ln -s /etc/alternatives/ati_conf /etc/ati
$ mv /etc/alternatives/ati_conf /etc/alternatives/ati_conf.bak
$ sudo ln -s  /etc/alternatives/ati_conf -> /usr/lib/fglrx/etc/ati

[Raulo]

May I ask if this guide will work for multiple ATI 5970s?

Worked for me (after I unsuccessfully tried stock Ubuntu fglrx drivers).

[Mahkul]

@Raulo just so you know I reinstalled Ubuntu and followed your guide again. The cards are working perfectly now. Thanks again!

I think someone should add a link to this thread in the main m0mchil's miner's thread (like there is one there for doing it with nVidia).

Cheers for your help!

[gwern]

I just went through this tutorial to get GPU mining working on my Dell studio 17 laptop with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5600/5700 & running Ubuntu 10.10. Tutorial basically works (pocl is giving me between 44-49 megahashes), but it has some rough edges.

1. The final instruction assumes you already have 'bitcoind -server' running. I hadn't realized that the RPC was not optional (and had been assuming the RPC stuff was there for people who were parts of a pool) until someone mentioned the '-server' option and I saw there was no such option in the poclbm code.
2. the 'export' library path stuff seems incomplete. I kept getting a libOpenCL.so.1 error with poclbm (which I knew I had installed as part of the tutorial's directions), and eventually slocate told me where it was and I did another export command which went like `export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/nvidia-current/:/opt/ati-stream-sdk-v2.2-lnx32/lib/x86/:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH`
3. hardwiring the paths is a little annoying because I had to rewrite all the filepaths (I'm on i386). Maybe this could be turned into a genuine pastable script
4. the tutorial advised me to the 2.1 SDK, but this seemed to lead to odd problems which went away with 2.2. On the other hand, I hadn't rebooted so I'm not entirely sure what was going on there.