Bad Installation Experience for Cuda 5.5: 40 minutes of my life wasted, recommendations.

Accelerated Computing CUDA CUDA Setup and Installation
1
  1. I downloaded 32 bit versions.
  2. I downloaded 64 bit versions.

Complaint 1: ^ It’s not clear which ones will work and what the difference is from the download links.

  1. I installed 32 bit cuda toolkit version… it failed… complaining that it wasn’t suited for windows 7 64 bit… I suspect the 32 bit toolkit might be needed for 32 bit cuda/ptx mode.
    It did leave files not sure what. (Installation folder should be: C:\Install\NVIDIA) not C:\NVIDIA anyway… the install failed because driver not suited.

  2. I download latest install 3.26… and install it…

  3. I install 64 bit cuda 5.5 toolkit… it installs but then it shows older drivers 3.20 or 3.19 or something NOW I AM CONFUSED ???

ARE THESE SPECIAL DEBUG DRIVERS ? DOES 3.26 have debug drivers ?!

!!! PLEASE SPECIFY IF DRIVERS ARE SUITED FOR DEBUGGING/PROFILING !!!*********

During installation I choose not to install the older drivers just to see what would happen.

  1. Installed NVIDIA NSIGHT 3.1

Visual Profiler DOES NOT WORK, Performance Analysis does not work.

  1. Re-installed CUDA Toolkit 5.5 this time did install drivers.

  2. Visual Profiler still not working.

  3. Reinstalling drivers removed NSIGHT from visual studio…

Apperently now I have to reinstall NSIGHT that might correct it.

Question remains if it will work or not.

Also why are drivers and nsight include with the toolkit ?!? It’s seems one big mess… multiple download links containing the same thing… wasting harddisk space, download time and decompression time.

Also why does installer first unpack a secondary setup program. THIS IS AGAIN WASTING TIME.

Perhaps there is also another technical reason like having to disable something.

THIS IS WHOLE HASSLE IS MAIN REASON WHY I AM RELUCTANT TO UPDATE TO A NEW CUDA VERSION is the same messy shit as always.

!!!

YOUR MISSION NVIDIA IS THE FOLLOWING:

  1. BE MORE CLEAR HOW TO INSTALL IT SUCCESSFULLY. Automation is nice BUT NOT WHEN IT FAILS.

I could probably have be more successfull at installating it with PROPER INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS and perhaps different packageS: DRIVER, TOOLKIT, NSIGHT just like it was with previous version.

YOUR SECOND MISSION IS:

  1. BRING DOWN INSTALLATION TIME FROM 60 MINUTES back to 10 MINUTES at MOST !.

I shall now spent 11 more minutes trying to get THIS TO WORK.

2

I AM NOW OFFICIALLY EXTREMELY ANNOYED WITH NVIDIA.

Nsight was re-installed.

However it says:

NO DEVICES AVAILABLE.

Always some stupid problem.

Perhaps I should BREAK MY NVIDIA GRAPHICS CARD IN HALF.

And BUY A HASWELL PROCESSOR AND STICK WITH INTEL PROGRAMMING WHICH AT LEAST WORKS OUT OF THE BOX.

PERHAPS I WILL COME BACK TO NVIDIA WHEN THEY HAVE THEIR OWN PROCESSOR THAT WORKS OUT OF THE BOX WITHOUT ALL KINDS OF QUIRCKS.

MY TIME BUDGET FOR TODAY IS UP.

PERHAPS I WILL TRY TO DEBUG YOUR INSTALLATION MESS TO FIGURE OUT WHY IT S NOT WORKING TOMORROW.

3

Hello,

What is your workstation configuration?
My recommendations

  1. go to driver page,download the latest GTX driver for your card and install it.
  2. go to the cuda zone downloads and download the cuda toolkit (choose the appropriate version (64/32 bit Linux/MAC/Windows)) for your operating system.
  3. Install the cuda toolkit, but without the de device driver which is included.

(If you think this is messy try to setup the cuda on a optimus laptop on linux :) )

4

funny, I have installed CUDA on at least 8 different Windows machines with GPUs from a 460 to the K20, and had no issues.

This works if you follow the instructions correctly;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0nhePeHwFs

If you find GPU programming too hard, then you can send your GPU to me rather than break it. I will put it to good use.

Oh and please use MORE CAPS, as IT REALLY HELPS TO UNDERSTAND YOUR PROBLEM.

5

Hello,

The 32bit package can be only installed on 32bit system.
If GPU is shipped after CUDA package, you might want to install the latest driver from driver package. For example, Geforce 700 series isn’t supported by driver comes with CUDA 5.5 RC package.

6

The next day:

I took some time to read the setup guide (is only available after installation funny enough).

And it contained some text: “a reboot might be necessary”.

Well since today my computer rebooted that was already done.

The result is:

  1. Visual Profiler still not working.

  2. NSight 3.1 Profiling is working.

  3. Apperently Geforce Experience is offering a new updated driver ? Maybe that might fix the visual profiler problem whatever it is ?

@RYluo: My card is GT 520, so Geforce 700 has nothing to do with it.

Also not quircky stuff like WPF disable was needed ? Though maybe it’s already disabled… I think so… not sure… documentation didn’t mention it ?

Is WPF disablement still needed ???

7

THE WORST OF THE WORST IS YET TO COME:

The supplied drivers apperently cause Internet Explorer 9.0 to crash continously on startup in an almost never ending loop because of the stupid web restore feature and such.

Fortunately I was barely able to get it working by simply starting multiple instances hoping that one of them wouldn’t crash or didnt have time to crash yet.

By going to advenced options and choosing: “software rendering instead of gpu acceleration” the crashing has seemed to stop… indicating a clear problem with the GPU drivers !!!

8

Hello,

I suggest do completely remove the nvidia drivers and then re-install the latest driver available for your card, then try to install the cuda toolkit.

If there are still problem, then I would consider as well that the card is damaged.

9

Hello,
It’s a good way to uninstall nvidia drivers as pasoleatis’s suggestion. List steps below.

1.Go to Device Manager → Display adapter → Select NVIDIA graphical card → Properties → Driver → Uninstall → Check the box “Delete the driver software for this device” → Click Ok
2. After driver is completed removed, click “Scan for hardware changes”. The native in box graphical driver will be installed. Click and expand Display adapter, ensure “Standard VGA Graphics Adapter” is present.
3. Download the latest driver via Official Drivers | NVIDIA
4. Install the driver
5. Go to %systemDrive%\ProgramData\NVIDIA Corporation\CUDA Samples\v5.5\bin\win64\Release
6. Run sample named deviceQueryDrv.exe in cmd. If no error, it means CUDA driver is installed successfully.
7. Run sample named deviceQuery.exe in cmd. If no error, it means CUDA runtime is installed successfully.

10

There is a serous compatibility issues with old Nvidia cards and new software (e.g., new versions of TensorFlow). I don’t think such setup will work, I spent days trying to troubleshoot this.