Cuda Instal on macOS High Sierra

MaxHancock

I am using my iMac (late 2013) with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780.  I've used it in the past with DAZ and it worked great. 

I've upgraded to macOS High Sierra and installed what I believe to be the latest CUDA driver: CUDA Driver Version 9.0.222,  which seems to have been an update from 3 days ago.  

It is not working.  DAZ does not recognize the GPU. Anyone else have this problem? 

Mac System Preference says that an update is Required.

So, is there no newer version yet?  

Totte

Your screen shot says "Update required", I guess you need to update the GPU driver with the latest driver too.

MaxHancock

In the past, the CUDA driver is the only thing I need to install for DAZ to use the GPU on my Mac.  

9.0.222 is the very latest driver.

The big blue button on that preference screen isn't actually active, and doesn't go to any update page.  And as you see there is a message saying there are no new updates. 

I did see a MACOS driver update... but that is for macOS High Sierra 10.13 (17A365),  and I am on 10.13.1 (17B48).

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/125379/en-us

There must be a big difference because that Installer won't even let me attempt to install it on this version of High Sierra. 

I guess I need to wait for an update! I'll try and reach out to NVIDA to confirm this.  

I'll also need to learn out to uninstall it... anyone know? 

MaxHancock

Update. 

Talking with Nvida, they asked me to download this update instead for 10.13.1, which I did, and it worked. 

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/126538/en-us

However CUDA driver is still not working, or it is stating that it needs an update (same as attachment in first post). DAZ studio is still not using my GPU.  

Nvida is looking into it, and I'm waiting for a response. 

 

Totte

What does the logs in Studio say about Iray and GPU? Sometimes there are hints in there about what's wrong.
You find the under Help -> Troubleshooting -> View log file...

 

MaxHancock

Interesting. I never thought to look there.  Here's what I see...

From troubleshooting, it looks like its supported. But is it active?

I see from the hardware panel, under render settings, there's no option to select it there like there used to be. So, I assume the GPU is not being used. 

 

 

Totte

But the logfile itself - Iray logs very nice everty yhomg it does

MaxHancock

Totte said:

But the logfile itself - Iray logs very nice everty yhomg it does

huh? 

MaxHancock

After speaking with Nvidia support, they asked me to do this: 

open a Terminal window and type the following command please and report or upload a screenshot of what it spews out?

kextstat | egrep -i 'size|nvda|nvidia|geforce'

Which gives me this information (attached). 

Apparently I'm missing, or not using the "web driver" which is needed. 

I was pointed to this Forum thread that had instructions to fix my issue:  

https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1025945/mac-cuda-9-0-driver-fully-compatible-with-macos-high-sierra-10-13-error-quot-update-required-quot-solved-/?offset=4

I will try this and report back here. 

Totte

MaxHancock said:

Totte said:

But the logfile itself - Iray logs very nice everty yhomg it does

huh? 

If you do Help -> Troubleshooting -> Show logfile in DAZ, it will open in TextEdit, and you can search for Iray for example

 

MaxHancock

Good news!  Following the instructions, I got from Nvida and that forum post (linked above), I was able to resolve my issue with the CUDA driver.  

I would just note here that if you do a manual uninstall of the native driver, you should be very careful not also to delete files that other applications are using. Delete only those in the instructions.  Some things to delete are files, while other things are entire folders, which might have files that other apps, like Wacom, use. Be careful. 

Also, macOS High Sierra has increased security, so Control-Click Open files to bypass the mac from blocking the installs. 

As you can see (from the attachments), my CUDA driver no longer has an "update needed" message and the GPU are found in DAZ Studio. 

If you are using Mac High Sierra, the files to download are here:  

 

Webdriver:

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/126538/en-us

Latest Cuda Install: 

http://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-9.0.222-driver.html

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I'll repeate the instructions here for archive: 

Right now the macOS' native graphics driver that help the system communicate with the nVIDIA GPU, is still not updated to the really compatible version. So what we have to do here is to install the "web version" of the driver, which is an OFFICIAL version from nVIDIA, it's just not a "native version" from Apple.

In quick view, what I have done to solve the problem:
1. Uninstall the incompatible "native version" CUDA from my Mac.
2. Download and install the latest "web version" of NVIDIA DRIVER and CUDA from nVIDIA's website.

Let's go in a more detailed how to fix this tutorial:
STEP 1. UNINSTALL THE MACOS CUDA DRIVER
Navigate and delete all CUDA existing native drivers and related components installed on your Mac (by right-clicking at Finder on the dock and selecting "Go to folder...":
- /System/Library/Extensions/CUDA.kext
- /Library/Frameworks/CUDA.framework
- /Library/LaunchAgents/com.nvidia.CUDASoftwareUpdate.plist
- /Library/PreferencePanes/CUDA/Preferences.prefPane
- /System/Library/StartupItems/CUDA/
- /Developer/NVIDIA/CUDA-5.0
- /usr/local/cuda

OR you can try the method that use Terminal to do that from here: http://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-installation-guide-mac-os-x/index.html#uninstall

After step 1, make sure to do a restart to really get your Mac to a fresh state.

STEP 2. DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE NVIDIA DRIVER
- First, download and install nVIDIA driver for macOS 10.13 here: http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/126157/en-us
If you upgraded to macOS 10.13.1, download and install this instead: http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/126538/en-us
Select the option NVIDIA WEB DRIVER if you been asked.
- Second, download and install nVIDIA CUDA support for macOS here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-9.0.214-driver.html
(all these above links are updated to the newest version up to the day I post this)

These installations may require you to restart your computer several times, just go ahead.

...After Restart,  it's done!