Hello All,

I have already searched in the internet - but without any success. Therefore I do now this post.

I'am running Milkyway since last december on a Windows 7 (home premium) system with Core I7-2600K @3.4GHz (no overclocking) and Radeon HD 5870 with 2GB memory (GPU Clock 850MHz, Memory 1200MHz). Sandybridge Asus P8Z68-V PRO with the latest BIOS. All works well (also the work units (WU) using the GPU). Since one week following situation:

1)Recommended BOINC version 6.12.34. Sometimes a GPU WU (normally running of about 1 minute) stops at (lets say 90%) and never ends. Therefore I stop the WU in the BPINC manager manually. Then other GPU WU's starts and ends normally. If I restart the never ending GPU WU, this WU does not occupy any GPU memory (GPU memory keeps zero) and runs and runs without ending. In other cases this faulty GPU WU cannot be restarted, because 'Waiting for GPU Memory' appears.

2)I have reinstalled the BOINC manager (no change on the previous behaviour)

3)I have installed the latest experimental version 7.0.15. No problems with never ending WU's. No 'Waiting for GPU Memory'. That means: here I can leave the computer over night and all works very well.

But one problem remains:
Leaving BOINC (also with disconnect from client) keeps the faulty WU of BOINC 6.12.34 or sverall task of BOINC 7.0.15 in the task manager. My BOINC options do not allow to keep the WU in the memory after leaving BOINC. To be clear: the most WU's are ended with leaving BOINC. But from time to time one or more WU's keep in the task manager. This tasks are not running (no CPU). With BOINC 6.12.34 it was always milkyway_separation_0.82_windows_x86_64__ati14.exe (or milkyway_separation_1.02_windows_x86_64__opencl_amd_atimilkyway_separation_1.02_windows_x86_64__opencl_amd_ati.exe). Now with BOINC 7.0.15 I have seen milkyway_separation_1.00_windows_x86_64.exe.

These tasks cannot be killed. I checked the authorities, uses different tools like process explorer or system explorer besides the normal task manager of Windows 7. I tried at command level the TASKKILL /f /PID ... But no way to get killed this processes. Even a shutdown is not possible, because the processes cannot be stopped and computer hangs. Therefore I have to switch of the power to get rid of this tasks. After restart all is normal again.

With other projects (Einstein or Poem) no problems.

Question:
With BOINC 7.0.15 I have no problems with running Milkyway. But I do not like at all to switch power off instead of normal shutdown. How can I get rid of this tasks? Any similar experience with this topic available?

Best Regards,
Robert.

How often does this happen? When did it start happening?

Once in a while I see them get stuck in the drivers but it's pretty rare (except on the 7970 where DWM crashes every few hours and tasks get stuck)

Hi Matt,

I think you are right! I have installed the latest driver for the GPU (Catalyst 12.1). I'am not 100% sure any more. But this could be actually the time slot beginning with the problems.

It happens very often. Rough estimation: every 2 hours one case.

At the moment I run POEM. This works fine. POEM uses only 35% of the GPU, whereas Milkyway goes up to 90% and in rare cases up to 98% -> this is really perfect for stability and cooling tests :-) but also my system is then a little bit noisy (except I open the window with minus 10 degrees outside in Germany...)

Have a nice day,
Robert.

I have the exact same problem with wu's hanging on GPU only. This not an issue with wu's processed by the main CPU.

I have tried removing one Graphics card at a time thinking it was related to a hardware issue. The first remaining card seemed fine for 1 hour. Then when I rebooted (manually as shutdown does not) and replaced the card with the 2nd one, I was able to duplicate the problem after 30 minutes.

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme
i7 3960x at 3.3 GHz (turbo at 3602 MHz)
32 GB Kingston KHX1600C9D3/4GX DDR3-1600 (667 or 800 MHZ not sure)
(2) MSI ATI HD 7970 Graphics cards

Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Catalys 12.3
MSI Afterburner 2.2.0 Beta 14

I have the exact same problem with wu's hanging on GPU only. This not an issue with wu's processed by the main CPU.

I have tried removing one Graphics card at a time thinking it was related to a hardware issue. The first remaining card seemed fine for 1 hour. Then when I rebooted (manually as shutdown does not) and replaced the card with the 2nd one, I was able to duplicate the problem after 30 minutes.

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme
i7 3960x at 3.3 GHz (turbo at 3602 MHz)
32 GB Kingston KHX1600C9D3/4GX DDR3-1600 (667 or 800 MHZ not sure)
(2) MSI ATI HD 7970 Graphics cards

Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Catalys 12.3
MSI Afterburner 2.2.0 Beta 14

Matthews Folding re-read message #53315, it specifically addresses the 7970 cards.

Short update (initial problem with hanging Milkyway GPU WU's still appears):

1)I have Catalyst 12.1. After uninstalling and reinstalling an older driver 11.12 problem still appears. Therefore it seems not be a problem of the driver update [http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=591&pid=335&psn=&lid=2&leg=0#] => SAPPHIRE VAPOR-X HD5870 2GB GDDR5 PCIE.

2)Same issue now also with BOINC 7.0.15.

3)appears for every 20 GPU WU's. Shuting down the computer (restart, because hanging during shutdown caused by hanging GPU WU's), restart leads to a normal execution of the hanged WU's.

Short update (initial problem with hanging Milkyway GPU WU's still appears):

1)I have Catalyst 12.1. After uninstalling and reinstalling an older driver 11.12 problem still appears. Therefore it seems not be a problem of the driver update [http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=591&pid=335&psn=&lid=2&leg=0#] => SAPPHIRE VAPOR-X HD5870 2GB GDDR5 PCIE.

2)Same issue now also with BOINC 7.0.15.

3)appears for every 20 GPU WU's. Shuting down the computer (restart, because hanging during shutdown caused by hanging GPU WU's), restart leads to a normal execution of the hanged WU's.

I have read that any version about 11.9 benefited gamers only and some versions 11.12 specifically were anti crunching! SOME people have found 12.1 to work for them, but for me it did not except on one pc! Also the Boinc Beta's are now up to 7.0.18, it has fixes for problems found in earlier versions. Oh and in Windows the ONLY way to reset a gpu is to reboot the whole machine, there is NO reset for just the gpu in Windows machines!

Short Update:
latest GPU driver removed and old driver reinstalled (AMD Catalyst 11.9, driver for ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series of 08.09.2011, version 8.892.0.0) => still the same problem.

Update:
with AMD Catalyst 12.6 and BOINC 7.0.31 the described problem is solved. Runs without any errors again...

Update:
with AMD Catalyst 12.8 and BOINC 7.0.33 runs without any errors...