Ubuntu Natty Narwhal 11.04 Mining Guide / HOWTO

[Inaba]

Yeah I totally agree.  I will try to make it a priority asap.  I've not had good luck in the past with running Linux from a USB for anything that requires reliability though.  Probably a failing on my part, but it is what it is

[mintymark]

I have followed these instructions and had quite a few problems (some due to the peculiariteis of ubuntu 11.04).

First problem is that after last boot, X doesnt come up and this also prevents sshd  from working. It is possible to get a working system by holding the shift key and selecting recovery and restart the x server. I presume this is caused by some incompatibility between Ubuntu 11.04 and the xorg.conf generated by ati-config.

I have not solved this yet.

Next problem is as I am using 6990's I need sdk 2.4, but gave an error when poclbm was run, it is necessary to change the contents of /etc/OpenCL/vendors/atiocl32.icd, to make it the same as the biggest library name in the sdk.

But now, although aticonfig sees all 3 6990 cards, poclbm does not see any of them , just the cpu. I puzzled as to why that should be.

Any suggestions?

[mjhorn]

But now, although aticonfig sees all 3 6990 cards, poclbm does not see any of them , just the cpu. I puzzled as to why that should be.

Any suggestions?

I'm in the exact same boat as you, everything seemingly is installed correctly, but clinfo / poclbm only sees my CPU. My setup is Ubuntu 11.04 (though I also tried 10.04 and 10.10 previously with the same results) with the 2.4 sdk, and 11.5 catalyst drivers.

[mintymark]

Since posting this, I have realised that the strange boot method means that the xorg.conf actually being used is a much abbrievated one, without any of the GPU info in it.

So perhaps that explains that. aticonfig does not use xorg.conf so its hardly surprising it knows about the adapters but nothing else does .

So I am going to put my full xorg.conf here the one I would like to use but in fact it just crashes X or something, and see if anyone has any comments:

Section "ServerLayout"
   Identifier     "aticonfig Layout"
   Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
   Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
   Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[2]-0" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0"
   Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[3]-0" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[2]-0"
   Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[4]-0" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[3]-0"
   Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[5]-0" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[4]-0"
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
   Option       "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"
   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
   Option       "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[2]-0"
   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
   Option       "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[3]-0"
   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
   Option       "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[4]-0"
   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
   Option       "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[5]-0"
   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
   Option       "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
   Driver      "fglrx"
   BusID       "PCI:19:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"
   Driver      "fglrx"
   BusID       "PCI:18:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[2]-0"
   Driver      "fglrx"
   BusID       "PCI:11:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[3]-0"
   Driver      "fglrx"
   BusID       "PCI:10:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[4]-0"
   Driver      "fglrx"
   BusID       "PCI:7:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[5]-0"
   Driver      "fglrx"
   BusID       "PCI:6:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
   Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
   Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
   DefaultDepth     24
   SubSection "Display"
      Viewport   0 0
      Depth     24
   EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0"
   Device     "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"
   Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"
   DefaultDepth     24
   SubSection "Display"
      Viewport   0 0
      Depth     24
   EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[2]-0"
   Device     "aticonfig-Device[2]-0"
   Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[2]-0"
   DefaultDepth     24
   SubSection "Display"
      Viewport   0 0
      Depth     24
   EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[3]-0"
   Device     "aticonfig-Device[3]-0"
   Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[3]-0"
   DefaultDepth     24
   SubSection "Display"
      Viewport   0 0
      Depth     24
   EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[4]-0"
   Device     "aticonfig-Device[4]-0"
   Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[4]-0"
   DefaultDepth     24
   SubSection "Display"
      Viewport   0 0
      Depth     24
   EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[5]-0"
   Device     "aticonfig-Device[5]-0"
   Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[5]-0"
   DefaultDepth     24
   SubSection "Display"
      Viewport   0 0
      Depth     24
   EndSubSection
EndSection

Any suggestions on what to do with this aticonfig generated file to make it more palletable ?

[mjhorn]

For what it's worth, my xorg.conf is essentially identical to yours, except for only have a single 6990 vs. your 3. I have no boot issues using mine:

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "aticonfig Layout"
        Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
        Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
        Option      "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
        Option      "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
        Option      "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"
        Option      "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
        Option      "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
        Option      "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
        Driver      "fglrx"
        BusID       "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"
        Driver      "fglrx"
        BusID       "PCI:4:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
        Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
        Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0"
        Device     "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"
        Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
        EndSubSection
EndSection

[marcus_of_augustus]

If you can get a terminal up do a

Code:

$less /var/log/Xorg.0.log

scroll down just a little and you'll see where the PCI addresses are detected ... one of those addresses will have an asterisk, *, next to it ... this is your default display adapter.

Make sure that address is the one in the base "Device" section of xorg.conf

Code:

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
        Driver      "fglrx"
        BusID       "PCI:3:0:0"    <----------- put default PCI address here
EndSection

Because the PCI addresses change when cards are moved around, new cards, added, change slots, etc, what I do is delete all other reference to devices, screens and monitors except the default one (i.e. begin with minimal xorg.conf that references only the default adapter address and run

Code:

$aticonfig --initial -f --adapter=all

and it populates all the other instances as necessary.

E.g. begin with this

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "aticonfig Layout"
        Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
        Option      "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
        Option      "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
        Option      "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
        Driver      "fglrx"
        BusID       "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection 

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
        Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
        Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
        EndSubSection
EndSection

where the BusID in section "Device" is that of the default device asterisked in "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" .... and run a "aticonfig --initial --adapter=all -f"  as detailed above ... reboot or restart X and see what you got ...

[mjhorn]

minute_of_angle, I tried your suggestion and in the end the xorg.conf was repopulated with the same sections that were present prior to deletion. Still having the same issue in that fglrxinfo detects the card correctly, but clinfo / any of the miners are unable to do so.

[marcus_of_augustus]

minute_of_angle, I tried your suggestion and in the end the xorg.conf was repopulated with the same sections that were present prior to deletion. Still having the same issue in that fglrxinfo detects the card correctly, but clinfo / any of the miners are unable to do so.

If

Code:

aticonfig --lsa

returns all the cards as present then the fglrx drivers have loaded

try a
$export DISPLAY=0:

and see if the CLinfo sees it. If not you problems are with OpenCL .... which SDK?

Have you set the env. variables correctly ... for SDK2.1 installed at /opt/

Code:

ATISTREAMSDKROOT=/opt/ati-stream-sdk-v2.1-lnx64

Code:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/ati-stream-sdk-v2.1-lnx64/lib/x86_64

[mjhorn]

The --lsa flag does correctly return the cards. I'm using SDK 2.4 since I've got a 6990 and from what I can tell nothing prior supports it. The DISPLAY and other various environment vars are set correct to no avail.

[Inaba]

If aticonfig --lsa is working, poclbm will see it.  However, if it's not seeing it, it's not in your xorg.conf file.

Redo: aticonfig --initial -f --adapter=all

Then reboot.  Does that fix it?

[mjhorn]

Below is the output after trying aticonfig --initial -f --adapter=all again along with a reboot

sudo aticonfig --lsa
* 0. 03:00.0 AMD Radeon HD 6990
  1. 04:00.0 AMD Radeon HD 6990

* - Default adapter


poclbm/poclbm.py
No protocol specified
Wrong platform or more than one OpenCL platforms found, use --platform to select one of the following

•     AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing
[1]     AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing


poclbm/poclbm.py --platform 0
No protocol specified
No device specified or device not found, use -d to specify one of the following


•     Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU          430  @ 1.80GHz

poclbm/poclbm.py --platform 1
No protocol specified
No device specified or device not found, use -d to specify one of the following

•     Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU          430  @ 1.80GHz

[Inaba]

Are you sure you have the SDK installed properly?  Might try going back and doing it again.

Which file did you install?

[Strom]

Well whenever you get the time to do that I would greatly appreciate it! Not having to buy hard drives for each machine would lower power consumption and usb drives are cheaper.

You can buy an extra 8GB USB drive and then install ubuntu on that. It's also possible to install ubuntu on a smaller USB drive, but that is not in the scope of this guide.

[mintymark]

minute_of_angle, I havent tried your suggestion yet, but it seems to me this type of thing may fix it so I will.

However in the meantime I have been trawling Xorg.1.log.old

Thought I was really onto something there segmentation fault and all, but turned out to be me pushing the power button to turn the machine off.

Going to try your suggestion MOA now (or should I abbreviate that to just '  ?)

[mintymark]

So heres a funny thing.

Removed all BusId instances in the xorg.conf, except the 2 for the device I was using. Rebooted all seemed the same.

But ssh *was* running, unusual. aticonfig --list-adapters sasy it cant help me unless there is an xserver. Expected, then about 2 minutes into the session,. the xserver comes up on the screen.

Now, aticonfig reports all devices, and poclbm reports a single Cayman GPU. (not a pair)

Trying to figure what this means.

[mintymark]

Correction, all Busid removed except the 1st, device "PCI:19:0:0"

[mintymark]

Ok, changed the busid for the other one for that adapter. This time there is about 5 minutes of flashing and its clear that continuous attempts are being made to start the X server. I cannot read what flashes on the screen, it flashes thane goes black for about 3 seconds. Writing is white on black.  This time, it doent seem to be giving up, which is obviously what happened last time, but maybe it will.

So obviously last time I had the Id of the device in the adaptor I was not using.

[marcus_of_augustus]

Correction, all Busid removed except the 1st, device "PCI:19:0:0"

Okay make exactly this (nothing else) this your new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "aticonfig Layout"
        Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
        Option      "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
        Option      "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
        Option      "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
        Driver      "fglrx"
        BusID       "PCI:19:0:0"
EndSection 

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
        Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
        Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
        EndSubSection
EndSection

and then run

Code:

$aticonfig --initial -adapter=all -f

and then print out what your new /etc/X11/xorg.conf looks like ... or just reboot and it should work.

[mintymark]

It never did start. I edited the xorg.conf to remove the last buid statement, and the xserver came up at once.

But, like before only a single Cayman device is seen by poclbm.

[marcus_of_augustus]

It never did start. I edited the xorg.conf to remove the last buid statement, and the xserver came up at once.

But, like before only a single Cayman device is seen by poclbm.

From what you are saying you are removing only the BusID line ...

remove the whole sections ... "Monitor" "Device" "Screen" ... that do not belong to getting the default display up. After you get that up and stable you can build on it ... the other crap is just confusing it since you have heaps of graphic adapters and no monitors .... just get ONE screen working.