Windows 10 Update Killed FAH

[Nert]

I'm running Windows 10 and FAH with a GTX 750 TI and a GTX 970. I just installed a mandatory update and now FAH will not run. I get an error message that says "FAHcore21.exe - System Error The program can't start because OpenCl.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem." Advanced control seems to show that things are running. But, when I look at GPU-Z, temps and utilization show that nothing is going on. Thanks for nothing Microsoft. Arrogant f'ing bastards. I'm going to have to consider converting to Linux and running my windows apps in a VM. This is very frustrating.

What do I have to do to get my system folding again ? Uninstall and re-install ? I'm not happy about losing 8 hours of folding time. Any way to recover the folding that's already done ?

Sorry about the rant. Thanks for the help

[bruce]

(You'd probably have to aim that Rant at MS.)

The program that the word "reinstall" is talking about is the drivers, not FAH.

Install the drivers from NVidia. Their diver package includes OpenCL (and CUDA). Apparently Microsoft package doesn't.

(If I had to guess, I'd say that the vast majority of folks working for Microsoft believe that the purpose of a GPU is to update video images on your screen, and their version of the driver can still do that.)

If you're talking about the "work that's already been done" (including uploading) it's permanently on the servers. If you're talking about the partial WU that was in progress when the MS update was installed, Sorry, but it's gone.

For the most part, Microsoft's semi-new policy of automatically installing updates whenever they want to is safe except if drivers are being updated. I've turned that feature off and make the changes manually when no WU is in progress. This was the subject of a number of complaints when Win10 first came out.

[toTOW]

Never trust Windows Updates for GPU drivers ...

Grab them on the nVidia, and reinstall them !

[Nert]

Some news on this front. I clicked on my Nvidia Control Panel and it showed that there was a driver already installed, but that there was a newer one available. I updated the driver and un-paused FAH ... No system Windows error messages, and it looks like FAH is working again. The CPU core resumed where it left off. The GPUs are now working on different units than before all this started. So, I guess the previous units were were dumped.

I have Windows set up so that it asks me when to install updates. The update that Microsoft pushed out is a "major update" .... it really took a long time to complete. Looking back on it, I should have finished the units in progress before applying the Windows update. That way I wouldn't have wasted electricity on work that couldn't complete.

I really am disappointed in Microsoft's behavior not FAH. FAH is just the user of the operating system. I guess the long term solution to avoid a repeat of this nonsense is to fold under Linux and run Windows in a VM. Unfortunately, that's a big change for me and will take a lot of planning and research to implement.

Thanks for the help. I'm glad that I'm back contributing to the science of this project.

[Kjetil]

Never trust Windows Updates for GPU drivers ...

Grab them on the nVidia, and reinstall them !

Whit TH2 you most reinstall gpu drivers.

[APR Folding]

When it comes to Nvidia GPU's and drivers I have a few recommendations.

Provided you are running a low vulnerability system and keep an up-to-date antivirus and antispyware program and provided ALL your core drivers are up-to-date and functioning properly you can do what I describe below. I can recommend a good utility that comes with a systems security package. It's Iolo's System Mechanic Professional. (I do not work for them nor do I have a financial interest in the company. I've just learned to trust the products over the years.) Learn to use it and it'll keep Windows running great. For the "all your core drivers" comment go to the Windows device manager however you please and be prepared to be bored. Run the web update check for all the core drivers. If you've not done this before you'll learn most don't update, but critical ones often do. It's worth doing for a stable system foundation.

Back to the Nvidia driver packages. Be certain your have the correct driver. I avoid the GeForce Experience updater. I recommend manually finding your video driver package. If using a laptop get the Mobile or "M" suffix version of your video card. Always use the Custom (Advanced) installation path and check the box for the Clean Install. The installer package does a great job of removing the active threads of the old installation and installs the new. The only problem is that even a good utility like SMP will leave alone the older driver installation package that is saved to disk. The location name changes whether you ran Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or older before upgrading to Windows 10 and whether you did a clean install or not. You can open File Explorer to peruse the Nvidia folders and find the version listings if your OS install has been around awhile, then delete them manually if you need the disk space. That will free up an average of 800-900 MB per old driver package. If you're good on disk space you can leave it alone. Once all is said and done, and whether the installer wants you to reboot or not, reboot. After things have settled down run your system utility (I'm referring to the SMP here) and let it do it's thing. I tend to go further than simply the recommended procedures. You'll discover how to use them to optimize your OS over time. It's pretty safe and will warn you before you do something you might regret. If you run SMP go to the "Manage System Configuration" and then "Remove Installed Programs". It's like using Windows own Programs and Features to remove installed programs but with a few nice twists. Nvidia's installer leaves junk afterwards, mostly invalid file references which clutters your registry and drive. They're marked in red and easily removed safely.

I believe in optimizations on the SW side. It saves me a lot of money over time and gives me the glitch free speed to do my work or play my games. It also has the benefit of maximizing the throughput and output of the F@H client.

HTH. Happy computing.

[bruce]

When it comes to Nvidia GPU's and drivers I have a few recommendations.

Provided you are running a low vulnerability system and keep an up-to-date antivirus and antispyware program and provided ALL your core drivers are up-to-date and functioning properly you can do what I describe...

I agree.

This forum focuses on FAH, which uses either the CPU (with drivers that became stable long, long ago) and GPUs (which undergo frequent design changes which must be supported by changes to the drivers).

When a new GPU is first introduced, you'll need to update its drivers a few times as the manufacturer provides better an better support ...
... but NOT every driver update is useful from our perspective. Many of the updates are aimed at a specific game or two and don't change anything FAH is doing.
Nevertheless, as you say, once your drivers are "up-to-date and functioning properly" stop updating them.

[Foxbat]

I will also say that even Folding with a Linux distro like Ubuntu can occasionally cause you to re-install the NVIDIA drivers before the GPU slot works after an update. That's why I tend to ignore the update box on my two GPU boxes until I can spend an afternoon or evening getting things back to normal.

[bruce]

The main difference is that Microsoft chooses to make updates an opt-out setting and then nags you if you change it. Linux sets it as an opt-in choice and isn't too obtrusive of telling you when there are updates.

[Nert]

Here's some additional information: When I installed Windows 10 initially, I set the option to disable driver updates. I just checked the system again and found that the option to install device drivers got re-enabled somewhere along the way. I know that I didn't do this. So, I'm assuming that one of Microsoft's update resets this option. I'm guessing that the "th2" update mentioned by Kjetl did this. Just thought I'd add this tidbit in case anyone happens to have the same problem.

[7im]

As a general service notification, and to help Windows 10 users running FAH keep running FAH uninterrupted, the latest "rollup" cumulative patch reset a number of my customized settings. For example, you may find that your restore points are all gone because MS disabled that feature again. So if the latest update broke something, as it did in my case, I had no options of using a saved restore point to fix it. MS broke the computer and then made sure it couldn't easily be fixed. Thanks? I had to contact MS to get a special "fixit" batch file to reset some settings and let the update run again. Works now, but a huge PITA.

[toTOW]

This Fall update has caused many troubles ... Microsoft even removed the possibility to do a fresh install from the updated ISO for a couple of days because of the issues you describe. They claim that updates from Windows Updates were not affected, but some glitches might also have surfaced with it.

[bollix47]

FYI - http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft- ... er-update/