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unstable machine?

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juane414

Member
Joined
May 2, 2006
Location
Wisconsin
I just got an older 9600gso folding on my desktop (see sig) and ran it all day yesterday getting about 2000ppd. Today I tried running the gpu client but I keep getting the following error in my FAHlog:

Folding@home Core Shutdown: UNSTABLE_MACHINE

What's the deal? I put my gpu back to stock settings but I'm still getting the error. I have my cpu overclocked slightly from 2.1ghz to 2.3ghz but I only have the stock cooler at the time being. Is it possible it doesn't like my overclocked cpu? I've been folding on this machine for a couple of weeks with the cpu at 2.3ghz and have never encountered this error.

What gives?
 
Did you check your overclock for stability(P95, ibt etc) since any overclock no matter how small may cause instability if it is not optimal.
 
Did you check your overclock for stability(P95, ibt etc) since any overclock no matter how small may cause instability if it is not optimal.

All I've done to check stability is fold. It could be that my brisbane just doesn't want to be overclocked. Unfortunately, I have a cheap motherboard that doesn't allow me to increase voltage so if it won't run stable I'll just have to go back to stock. I've thought about upgrading my cpu to a Phenom X4 950e or a similar Athlon II, but I plan on building a new system next winter so I'd rather save my money for that.
 
That seems like it is the problem. When overclocking be sure to use stability testing software like Prime95 and Intel Burn Test.

What motherboard are you using?
 
That seems like it is the problem. When overclocking be sure to use stability testing software like Prime95 and Intel Burn Test.

What motherboard are you using?

It's the vista system in my sig. I didn't think there would be any stability issues with a 200mhz overclock. I had this same CPU overclocked to 2.5ghz before my motherboards croaked last year. I supposed it could be the motherboard or my cheap Kingston value ram. Not expecting this to be a big overclocker but anything above the stock 2.1ghz would be nice.
 
A 48 sp G94 GPU isn't capable of completing all the WUs. It's going to have U_Ms on a lot of them.
 
A 48 sp G94 GPU isn't capable of completing all the WUs. It's going to have U_Ms on a lot of them.

So... do I just keep trying until it gets a work unit that it can handle? I've done some folding on my 8600m gt on my laptop and I've never encountered this problem before.
 
I'm totally baffled by this. The 9600gso was folding fine just the other day... then I started getting this unstable machine business. I set the gpu and cpu back to stock settings, uninstalled the graphics driver and reinstalled it, I uninstalled Rivatuner, and I uninstalled all FAH applications and reinstalled the gpu client. I tried running the gpu client again just now with everything at stock and I still get the unstable machine error. Is it possible that my gpu is defective? It's brand spanking new. Does anyone have some ideas for me to try?
 
depends... what does your log say about the WU's you successully completed, and are the ones you failed different from those? if so, the card may not be good on the WU's you are getting Unstable Machine on... and the servers are just spitting out the ones now, that you card fails on.
 
depends... what does your log say about the WU's you successully completed, and are the ones you failed different from those? if so, the card may not be good on the WU's you are getting Unstable Machine on... and the servers are just spitting out the ones now, that you card fails on.

Yea, I think it's just a conflict with the WUs that the server is giving out at the moment. I did some google searching on the errors that I'm getting and other people have had the same problem with some GPUs not working with certain WUs. I guess the only thing I can do is wait until new WUs are available. The only other thing I can think of is that my GPU doesn't like the fact that its fan is unplugged. I replaced the stock fan with another 80mm fan and I have the new fan plugged into the PSU, not the 2-pin connector on the GPU itself. The card has been staying super cool though, at 35C idle and 44C load, so I'm pretty sure it's not a overheating problem.
 
do you have screen saver enabled ?
you can use evga precision tool (latest version) to up the voltage and see if it helps.
 
Well I ended up having to reinstall Windows for other reasons, and instead of installing the update version of Vista that I have I left it with XP for now. After reinstalling FAH GPU3 and the nVidia drivers, the gpu is folding just fine now. It could be that the WUs being given out by the sever right now are compatible with my GPU but the previous ones were not, or it could have been a driver issue or a problem with Vista. For now, I'm just going to leave XP on here and see how it does. Thanks for the help everyone.
 
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